Ionian University visit to the TermCoord Unit

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corfu 50Last Wednesday, the 16th of October 2013, the Terminology Coordination Unit had the pleasure of hosting a group of students from the Translation and Interpretation Department of the Ionian University, situated on Corfu Island, Greece. The students first paid a visit in the Greek Translation Unit and then had the opportunity to see the Schuman Chamber in the Schuman building. Afterwards they went to the library, where they attended three presentations. Jochen Richter, head of the Multilingualism and External Relations Unit, gave the students a presentation on the European Parliament, its structure and the tasks of each unit. He also mentioned employment opportunities for translators at the EU and explained the system of EPSO contests. Rodolfo Maslias, head of the Terminology Coordination Unit, gave the students an insight into the work of his unit and also presented the unit’s external and internal website. He emphasised the unit’s external web presence and the importance of TermCoord’s work being made visible to all terminologists and translators. Last but not least, Maria José Palos Caravina, terminology coordinator at the Translation Centre, presented the terminology work done at the Translation Centre and outlined future projects. Before leaving the Schuman building, the translation students visited the offices of the Terminology Coordination Unit and got an insight into the daily work flow and tasks of the unit’s staff. The Greek students and their coordinator were very satisfied with their visit and expressed their profound interest not only in cooperating with Terminology Coordination Unit, but also in participating in the IATE academic cooperation project.

Here are some comments from the students of the Ionian University, Department of Foreign Languages, Translation and Interpreting and their professor, Zoi Resta:

During the study visit we had the opportunity to get valuable information regarding our profession, not only as translators but also as interpreters. The innumerable dictionaries and the other resources that were presented by the speakers can be really helpful when preparing our glossaries for interpreting at a conference and, of course, when translating any kind of text. Apart from these, we got a hint about the difficulty of the work of terminologists and of the long, detailed process needed in order to find the translation of a term in a specific context and enter it in a public database. Furthermore, the presentation about the function of IATE, as well as the information regarding the opportunities of someone to work as a translator or a terminologist at DG TRAD offered the students new impetus for their studies. I hope more students could have the opportunity to receive this useful information. Who knows, maybe next time the presentations will take place in Corfu…!

Zoi Resta

Really interesting visit, with educational and professional material and motivation for a more terminology-oriented management of both interpreting and translation. It was clear that in order to achieve quality, especially in multilingual environments, terminology must be taken into account, so ‘try searching first’ which is already known among translators, should certainly be part of all translators’ lives. Thank you for providing us with useful tools and ideas!

Eleni Iliadou

I found the information on DocHound, IATE, Scoop it and the glossary links very useful. Needless to say, your work and your effort to provide sufficient terminology are a source of inspiration. I would like to thank you for giving me the opportunity to clarify certain questions that I had before the visit and listen to the members of the Unit as they shared their thoughts and professional experience with us.

Rafaela Panagou

 

Katerina Karavasili