SCIENTIFIC SEMINAR
STANDARDIZATION AND MANAGEMENT OF TERMS
On December 8, 2005, a scientific seminar organized by the Terminology Centre, Standardization and Management of Terms, took place at the Institute of the Lithuanian Language. The seminar was opened by Stasys Keinys, a researcher at the Institute of the Lithuanian Language, who dedicated his presentation to the sixtieth anniversary of the establishment of the Terminology Commission. Reviewing the activities of the Terminology Commission of the Institute of the Lithuanian Language and Literature and its members, he emphasized that it had continued the pre-war traditions of terminology work, and regretted that in recent years the Institute of the Lithuanian Language and the Terminology Centre had lost some of the functions they had previously held.
Gintautas Grigas, representing the Institute of Mathematics and Informatics, spoke in his presentation Computer interfaces: lexicon and terminology about issues in standardizing computer lexicon and terminology. In addition to terms, the user-interface lexicon includes other words that acquire a particular meaning in the computer environment. For computer users to understand these words, they need to be standardized, just like terms.
In his presentation Problems in the Creation and Systematization of Botanical Terminology and Plant Names, Zigmantas Gudžinskas (Institute of Botany) identified the main tasks and challenges of botanical terminology. He noted that since 2002 new plant names have been created and considered by the Terminology Subcommission of the State Commission of the Lithuanian Language, and that more than 6,000 plant names have already been considered. Names still need to be established for about 3,000 ornamental plants and 1,500 industrial plants.
Alvydas Umbrasas, representing the Institute of the Lithuanian Language, gave a presentation on the Terminology Bank of the Republic of Lithuania, its concept and structure. He said that the creation and development of the terminology bank face obstacles including inactivity on the part of terminology commissions, a shortage of terminologists, specialists’ reluctance to change terms in legislation, and the impact of poor translations of directives on legal acts.
Robertas Stunžinas, representing the Computational Linguistics Group of the Institute of Mathematics and Informatics, gave a presentation on using the largest terminology database, the Dictionary of the Lithuanian Language. Users of the Dictionary make use of only a small proportion of the available search options and most often want all available information about the term they are looking up.
Albina Auksoriūtė, head of the Terminology Centre of the Institute of the Lithuanian Language, presented the European Union project EuroTermBank. The project is coordinated by Latvia’s Tilde, an information technology company in the Baltic States. The project aims to create a terminology bank that will serve as a central database and as an interface with other national or international terminology banks and resources.
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