Terminology is constantly increasing its importance in the academic world.
On Wednesday, 9 November 2022, TermCoord participated online in the I-Land Seminar Series, organized by Francesco Nacchia and Giuseppe Balirano at the University of Naples “L’Orientale”.
These series of seminars aim to cover specific topics linked to the Centre’s research interests. Issues linked to identity and diversity were explored through a variety of approaches drawing on language. Future seminars will discuss society, culture, art, history, geography, environment, migrations, diasporas, sexuality and gender.
Yourterm, the official EP website for the collaboration of TermCoord with Universities on Terminology, was presented during the seminar. Francesco Nacchia (professor at the Unior), moderator of the meeting, explored the main topics together with Rodolfo Maslias, (Head of Unit of TermCoord, European Parliament), Sofia Bertini, (coordinator of the project Terminology without Borders, European Parliament), Federica Vezzani, (Postdoc researcher at the University of Padua), and Alberta Boschi, (PHD student and researcher at the University of Naples “Parthenope”).
Each co-host briefly presented their contribution to the theme of the seminar: Terminology without Borders.
During the conference, Rodolfo Maslias explained the important role of terminology in the European Parliament. TermCoord’s Head of Unit and Sofia Bertini presented the initiative Terminology without Borders that consists in creating a network of universities working with TermCoord on terminology projects in several different fields.
The main goal of Terminology without Borders is to facilitate communication “by tailoring terminology to citizens’ needs”, providing multilingual termbases created in collaboration with universities and professional linguists. In order to better achieve this goal, the Terminology Coordination Unit embraced the FAIR project and supports its application as a working tool for the terminology projects.
During the seminar, Federica Vezzani explained her contribution in the development of the Fairterm application, a free tool for the compilation of multilingual terminological records. This Web application has been designed to meet the FAIR principles (Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, and Reusability) for research data and has been implemented according to the de facto ISO TC/37 SC/3 standards currently in force for terminology management.
In the framework of Terminology without Borders projects, the use of Fairterm application helps to ensure the consistency among the YourTerm projects and to harmonize the terminological workflow between partners, creating a global network of universities and language professionals, translators, linguists and terminologists from all around the world.
In this context, the University of Parthenope has been collaborating with TermCoord for multiple years now and has provided some interesting and “delicious” articles for the I-ATE Food Term of the Week. These articles are mostly related to the agri-food domain. Alberta Boschi, a PHD student and researcher investing the language variation in the food field, participated in the discussion, focusing on her personal experience as a terminologist. She investigated the terminology of new eating habits. She underlined the importance of the strong relation between linguists and experts of the related field. She has also participated in Yourterm FOOD project with the University of Partenope, promoting the high quality of European food, which is deeply linked to local traditions and cultures.
The seminars aim to encourage speakers to reveal insights, introduce adopted methodologies, highlight pitfalls and expand knowledge in a given area.
The critical approach adopted during the seminar encourage students and linguistic experts to further their knowledge and take a lively part in the discussion.
You can watch the recording on You Tube: link.
Written by: Sofia Bertini
Born in Italy in 1996 and always surrounded by a great variety of cultures and languages, she is a trainee at the Terminology Coordination Unit. Sofia Bertini holds a Master’s degree in Modern Languages for International Communication and Cooperation at the University of Padua, majoring in English and French language in 2021. Constantly enjoyed integrating into international communities, both during an AFS exchange program in the USA and Erasmus Program in Paris at the Sorbonne University, her interests mainly focus on terminology and specialized translation. Passionate about justice and European Union Law matter, she graduated with a Master’s thesis on the terminology of global terrorism based on FAIRterm, a free tool for the compilation of multilingual terminological records. She speaks fluently Italian, French, and English. During her studies, she participated into different Termcoord’s Terminology Without Borders projects in 2020 and 2021. She also has a deep knowledge of the music field, as she attended the Conservatory of Music of Parma until 2019.