The study of the experience and the good practices in the Member States, where similar terminology structures exist, providing relevant information to the users, if necessary, will be realised by hiring an external consultant. It will cover famialirization with the structure and the activity of similar units. The study will provide information regarding the content of their databases, the objectives for their setting-up, the methods of their building-up and operation. Besides, a visit on site by two TRC staff members to some of the Member States that are subject of the study has also been provided.
Such study activity will enable the terminology centre to share the experience and adopt good practices from EU Member States in building-up a terminology database in the field of EU legislation in Bulgarian language. Such activity will assist in improving the TRC capacity and will confer stability to its development by introducing good practices. In this way, the equal access to information will be ensured for all users, as well as easier finding of terms and unification of the terminology when working with acquis.
Activity progress:
The study of the experience and the good practices in the Translation and Coordination Centre at the government office of the Czech Republic in Prague, the German Standardisation Institute in Berlin, the Romanian translation centre in Bucharest, the "IT, Terminology and Documentation Office" at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany in Berlin and the Institute for Translation and Terminology at the University of Applied Sciences in the city of Cologne, Germany, assisted in determining the conditions and methods in elaborating the multilingual terminology database.
Preparing an analysis and assessment, with the participation of an external consultant and on the basis of a questionary developed by the Translation and Revision Centre, of the needs of the officials from the central, regional and municipal administrations of more profound knowledge and work with the websites of the EU institutions and the uniform terminology used there.
The analysis report will contribute to identify the specific needs and prepare targeted training in compliance with the needs of the officials from the structures of the central, regional and municipal administrations. The analysis will be used as fundamentals to develop the training modules, determine the specific subjects and provide adequate training.
Activity progress:
The analysis of the needs, made jointly with the Consultancy Company „New Eye” OOD, was prepared on the basis of an accomplished questionary study involving 843 representatives of the central, regional and municipal administrations and structured interviews with 30 of them. On the basis of the summarized results of the analysis, the TRC experts, jointly with the Institute of Public Administration (IPA), are developing training modules and organizing the trainings implementation in conformity with the needs of the target group.
The project foresees that up to 10 of the TRC staff members to pass, within the periods fixed in the project, the relevant rotation trainings in the field of terminology problems in the translation and work with the normative acts of the European Union.
It has been planned that the trainings will be carried out at the terminology units of the European Commission, the Parliament, the European Court of Auditors, the Translation Centre for the bodies of the European Union and other EU institutions, which expressed their willingness to provide such special training. Their duration will be determined depending on the capacity of the terminology units (up to 20 days).
Such special training will enable the staff of the Centre to get acquainted with the methods of work established at the relevant terminology units of the EU institutions and to acquire the necessary experience in view of the subsequent creation, development and maintenance of topical and user-oriented terminology database in the field of the acquis. This activity will enhance the TRC capacity.
Activity progress:
The special training permitted to the TRC staff to get acquainted with the operating mechanisms established at the terminology units of the EU institutions and to acquire the experience required for the development and maintenance of topical and user-oriented terminology database in the field of the EU legislation (acquis communautaire).
Upgrading the software to work with TRADOS, the programme for computer assisted translation, and creation of new software product.
In view of the effective utilization of this programme by the TRC staff members, all of them must pass the relevant special training to work with TRADOS 8, which will be provided by the official product representative for Bulgaria - Iventica OOD.
The programme for computer assisted translation of texts TRADOS is a world leader among the systems for managing multilingual content and computer assisted translation. This is a technology assisting the translation work, by using the translation memory and terminology base which accumulate, update and provide translation solutions appropriate to the specific context. When working with documents in more than one language this programme enables the acceleration and facilitation of the working process by using the terminology already translated and stored.
The Translation and Revision Centre has currently 15 licences for TRADOS 5 - a programme which is not maintained any more and has no field of application. Therefore, it is necessary that these 15 existing licences are upgraded and it is necessary to develop a software product to work with TRADOS 8 (the updated product version).
The upgrading and development of such software product will enable saving the entire database of the Translation and Revision Centre, not only in the acquis field, but also in respect of the translated Bulgarian legislation. This product will secure the unity in the translation of legislative acts by standardizing text segments in the various language combinations, as well as expression in percentage of translation reliability.
Activity progress:
The specialized product is already put into operation. Furthermore, the IT-administration passed training in working with the server product and the TRC staff members passed training in working with Trados 8. Also, the process of supplying the database with translation memories in English and Bulgarian has started.
Based on the knowledge acquired during the trainings under Activity 3 and on their experience in their past practice, the TRC staff members will develop a terminology database in four languages which includes terms from all 20 fields of the acquis; for that purpose, special software will be developed, with free access via the TRC website. The purpose of this database is to adequately meet the requirements of the Bulgarian literary language in respect of the terminology related to the acquis and to contribute to its unification.
For this purpose it is also necessary to periodically update the TRC website, which will provide free access for the users from the target group of officials from the structures of the central, regional and municipal administrations to the primary and secondary EU legislation, to the decisions of the Court of Justice and Court of First Instance, as well as to the terminology database developed. When updating the website, a feedback opportunity will be provided, so that the users may deliver their recommendations and comments, put questions and receive answers.
The creation of a terminology database in electronic version and the development of appropriate software will enable the free access and use of the database by a large number of users from the central, regional and municipal administrations. This will assist and facilitate their everyday work. The receipt of information via Internet regarding the established terminology will save time and efforts and in the same time will enable feedback to the TRC team maintaining the terminology database.
The TRC website updating will provide for the officials from the central, regional and municipal administrations quick and easy access to the available normative acts of the European Union and to the decisions of the Court of Justice and Court of First Instance. It will also enable the users from the target group of officials from the structures of the central, regional and municipal administrations to access a well structured terminology database, which will secure the uniform use of the already established terminology in the Bulgarian language.
The provided feedback opportunity will make real the dynamic dialogue and discussions on existing terminology problems.
Activity progress:
The database started with 3 000 terms, term combinations, keywords and key expressions from all 20 fields of the acquis consulted with experts from the Institute for Bulgarian Language at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences in order to observe and safeguard the purity of the Bulgarian literary language. This electronic database will enable to easily search and find terminology in the field of the EU legislation.
The access of the state administration servants to the multilingual database of terms, term combinations, keywords and key expressions in Bulgarian, English, French and German will support a more effective popularization and use of the terminology introduced and standardized in the process of translation of the acquis communautaire.
As a result of the developed database, it has been provided to develop a hard copy multilingual dictionary on paper reflecting the developed electronic terminology database. It will cover up to 3 000 terms from all 20 fields of the acquis. Its printing in 500 copies has been planned, as well as its popularization by the media and its free distribution among the central, regional and municipal administrations.
The need of developing, issuing and distributing such a dictionary in support to the officials from the central, regional and municipal administrations was created by:
• the lack until now of such multilingual dictionary, concerning directly the range of problems regarding the European legislation;
•the development of the Bulgarian language in respect of the terminology as a result of the increasingly wide use of the “Eurolect”;
• the necessity of establishing uniform terminology in the field of the acquis communautaire.
Expected results:
Five hundred printed copies of the developed multilingual dictionary in the field of the European legislation.
Distribution of five hundred copies of the multilingual dictionary among the central, regional and municipal administrations (the National Assembly and the Presidency, the Ministries, the State Agencies and Commissions, regional administrations and municipalities).
The performance of this activity covers and is a result of the performance of all previous activities under the project specified above. In response to the needs specified in the analysis carried out under Activity 2, a specific target group will be established among the officials from the central, regional and municipal administrations. This specific target group will include the directors and experts from the departments involved in the coordination concerning EU issues, legal departments, departments in charge of project management and departments for international cooperation needing such training.
In order to adequately meet the needs of the target group, the development of 3 training modules has been planned; their specific contents will be determined after accomplishment of the analysis under Activity 2 and on the basis of its results. The aim of the training modules will be to facilitate searching, finding and working with basic documents of the EU institutions, their websites and the terminology established in the field of the acquis:
• Developing a training module and conducting a training in working with databases related to the EU legislation (CCVista, JurisVista and EUR-Lex), basic documents of the EU institutions forming the acquis, and decisions of the Court of Justice and Court of First Instance, in support to the officials from the structures of the central, regional and municipal administrations, in partnership with the Institute of Public Administration.
• Developing a training module and conducting training in working with the websites of the EU institutions oriented towards the officials from the central, regional and municipal administrations, in partnership with the Institute of Public Administration.
• Developing a training module and conducting training in working with the developed system for specific information search in the terminology database, as well as building-up a HELP system, in partnership with the Institute of Public Administration.
On the basis of the modules developed, training of up to 1 200 persons (400 persons per module) of the target group specified above has been planned.
In the course of their work the TRC staff members have established the existing need of more information regarding the knowledge and the work with the databases containing EU legislation and decisions of the Court of Justice and Court of First Instance (CCVista, JurisVista and Eur-Lex). The development of the training module and the provision of the training will contribute to facilitating searching, finding and working with basic documents of the EU institutions forming the EU legislation, and with decisions of the Court of Justice and Court of First Instance. At the same time, the efficiency of the officials from the target group will be enhanced and, if required, of the magistrates and officials from the judicial system, in their everyday work.
The insufficient knowledge of the functioning and structure of the EU institutions, as well as the lack of knowledge regarding the information, which can be obtained from their websites, make it necessary to develop a training module and provide a training to the officials from the specific target group from the central, regional and municipal administrations for the purpose of improving their knowledge in this field and facilitating their everyday work.
As a result of the developed terminology database, which includes all 20 fields of the EU legislation it became necessary to develop training module and provide training to the target group in working with this web-based browser. Such training will provide information regarding the manner, in which the browser has been structured, as well as its HELP system, and the methods of searching by field of the acquis and by keyword. This training will enable the target group to enhance its efficiency in performing its everyday duties, by observing the uniformity in the terminology entering the Bulgarian language as a result of Bulgaria’s accession to the European Union.
Activity progress:
In accordance with the needs of training declared by the target group, the TRC in partnership with the Institute of Public Administration developed and organised the conducting of training modules in three thematic directions. The direction of highest priority is related to working with terminology databases in the field of the EU legislation, followed by the training in working with databases containing European legislation acts and training in working with the websites of the EU institutions. The trainings will have more practical orientation and will comprise both navigation scheme in using the individual thematic databases, and practical advices for optimum search and orientation in the websites. The trainings started in March 2009.
This activity will be carried out following the selection of the external auditor pursuant to the provisions of the Law on Public Procurement.
This is one of the compulsory and most important activities for each project aiming at observing its proper implementation and the appropriate expenditure of the resources.
Organisation of two press conferences – upon starting of the project, for the purpose of its popularization and upon its finishing, in view of reporting the implementation of the accomplished activities.
Organisation of a seminar on the subject: “Problems in introducing and use of new terms in the Bulgarian language in the process of acquis translation”, with the participation of Bulgarian and foreign lectors.
Participation in TV and radio broadcastings, in order to provide information regarding the terminology centre activity.
Broadcasting of advertising spots on the Internet, as well as advertising in the mass media, in view of popularizing the entire activity under the project and, in particular, the terminology database developed in the field of the acquis, free dissemination of the multilingual dictionary, which includes terms from all 20 fields of the acquis, as well as the training according to the various training modules organised in this regard.
Dissemination of information folders, once in six months (1 000 per edition)
By realising such an activity, the achievement of full transparency and general accessibility of the information in performing the relevant activities under this project will be sought.
The activity will be realised in compliance with the normative requirements.
Activity progress:
The first press conference under the project was held on 10 September 2008. The attention of the mass media and the guests to the press conference was attracted to the multimedia presentation of the goals, activities and expected results of the project.
The event was covered by the Bulgarian News Agency, the Monitor newspaper, the RFI (Radio France International), etc.
Communications addressed to the media are drafted periodically. They reflect various events and stages of the progress under the project.
© All rights reserved 2009. Translation and Revision Centre. www.trc.government.com
Project "Enhancement of the knowledge and the awareness of the officials from the State administration to work with the European Union legislation" implemented under the Operational Programme "Administrative Capacity", co-financed by the European Union through the European Social Fund.