DO Newsletter: January/February Issue 2009
Interview
Bart Defrancq:
Linguist, expert of EU terminology
Bart Defrancq has worked for the Development Office for more than ten years hosting tailor-made seminars on EU terminology for groups of professionals and workshops on terminology management for officials of the European institutions.
What does a participant learn in your EU terminology seminar? First of all, the participants learn what the EU terms are about. I try to present the terminology in a systematic way by comparing the meanings of different terms that are similar. And my seminars also include a critical assessment of how and why certain terminologies are used.
What is so special about EU terminology? EU terminology often reflects the will of the negotiators to avoid national terminology. It also contains more compromises than national terminologies; there is more vagueness.
Who is participating in the EU terminology seminars? Especially participants from non-EU Member States – for example, Russia, Turkey or Azerbaijan. The majority are translators but some are lawyers.
These seminars have been very successful. What is your recipe? I think the participants appreciate that, as a linguist, I know what their needs are. Most people also like the systematic presentation of terminology, where they learn more about the differences and difficulties. And then they seem to like my critical approach.
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