Terminology at Uni_Lu

2702
13064737_10154919248844698_1774177506619993697_o
TermCoord Trainees on their visit to the University of Luxembourg in May 2016 – Picture taken by Francesca Bisiani

The collaboration between the Terminology Coordination Unit at the European Parliament and the University of Luxembourg is in its third year. Since 2013, students enrolled in the Master Programme in ‘Learning and Communication in Multilingual and Multicultural Contexts‘ can choose a new module on Terminology called ‘Translation and EU Terminology‘.

The students’ knowledge is enriched in topics such as practical terminology management in a multilingual organisation like the EU, the role of terminology in the linguistic consistency of legislation in 24 languages valid in 28 countries, or the administration by ten institutions of an interactive multilingual database containing around 11 million terms which is fed by hundreds of translators in all official languages.

uni lu crop

Members and collaborators of TermCoord and terminologists of the European Parliament hold lectures in English, French and German. The professors discuss aspects ranging from the practical uses of terminology in the multilingual legislative processes in the EU (Rodolfo Maslias) to legal terminology in a multilingual environment (Violina Stamtcheva) and, at the end, students get to experience a hands-on terminology project using the IATE database (Viola Pongracz). This final part focuses on the usability of information systems for terminology. It shows how usability can become an issue when users encounter problems that are often linked with inconsistent terminology. The students also learn more about the latest approaches to term mining and lexicography, adapted to the latest trends and the new globalised media reality (Maria-Pia Montoro), Terminology and Ontologies in the semantic web (Carolina Dunaevsky), and are introduced to the use of terminology in an IT context with a special focus on SEO, Search Engine Optimization (Francesco Rossi).

In addition to courses on terminology, students have the possibility to undertake a one-month study visit in the Terminology Coordination Unit of the European Parliament. In doing so, they can put to practice the knowledge acquired during classes by participating in terminology and communication work, together with the TermCoord permanent staff. In the terminology department, students can carry out terminology research, work in the IATE (InterActive Terminology for Europe) database and learn not only about terminology, but also the practical use of terminology research. In the communication department, students can write articles for the TermCoord website on topics such as terminology, languages, translation and culture; conduct interviews with terminologists, and help organise training sessions and workshops. One of the highlights of the study visit in the communication department is writing the IATE term of the week article on a term that exists in the IATE database and is related to current issues and daily news.

Here is a booklet with abstracts of master’s thesis defended by the students in the summer 2016 session.

This is the way to apply for a study visit in the Terminology Coordination Unit.

Written by Raluca Caranfil
Communication Trainee at TermCoord
Journalist & Student at the University of Luxembourg