MET workshops
Beyond terms: best practices in concept-oriented terminology management
Summary: The concept of terminology, the specialized vocabulary of a specific discipline, is well known. However, not all language professionals might be fully familiar with the different aspects of terminology management – the research, collection, description, and consistent reuse of terms and their associated concepts – and with the mechanisms of term formation. This introductory workshop will provide participants with a better understanding of these aspects and other cultural and non-linguistic factors that can affect terminology, its usage and its comprehension. It will also show how motivated terminology choices can increase precision in the source language, facilitate successful translation and improve communication.
Developer and facilitator: Licia Corbolante
Purpose: The workshop will provide principles and examples aimed at increasing terminology awareness in professionals who are directly or indirectly involved in terminology choices but have not yet had any formal introduction to the subject.
Description and structure: Two parts, each with practical examples from different disciplines and, if applicable, some short hands-on exercises.
Part 1. Understanding and identifying concepts and terms:
- Basic principles: the term-oriented vs concept-oriented approach
- Benefits of terminology management
- Working with concepts and terms in monolingual vs multilingual environments
- Criteria and priorities for concept and term identification
- Terminology research (e.g. concept analysis, researching new vs existing concepts, selecting target language terms, assessing terminology resources)
- Writing or editing definitions
- Interaction with stakeholders, experts and users
Outcome skills: At the end of the workshop, participants will be able to identify, classify, and prioritize user- and reader-oriented terminology, will be familiar with best practices for researching and using terminology more efficiently and consistently, and will have acquired insights into discussing terminology issues with non-linguists.
Pre-workshop information: None required.
About the facilitator: Licia Corbolante is an Italian terminologist who has been working in the localization field since the early 1990s, including 20 years as a language specialist and terminologist at a major international tech company where she was instrumental in defining Italian localization and terminology management standards. She currently works as an independent terminologist and cultural specialist in Italy, with a special focus on education and training. She was responsible for a major update of the IT entries of one of the main English-Italian dictionaries, is a regular contributor to the Technical Information workgroup at UNI (Italian Standards Organization), and has received wide recognition for her blog Terminologia etc., where she posts regularly on terminology, translation, localization and cultural communication. Licia Corbolante holds a degree in translation from the University of Trieste, Italy, and a diploma of advanced studies in applied linguistics and marketing from the University of Salford, UK.
