The annual meeting of the UIC Terminology Group was held in Warsaw from 18 – 19 October 2012 at the invitation of Polish Railways (PKP). The Terminology Group, which is composed of terminologists, translators, international affairs managers and technical experts, was welcomed by Ms Agnieszka Gajewska, Director of International Affairs at PKP.
Within the framework of the Terminology Group, UIC coordinates the translation work of 25 languages and is in charge of updating the RailLexic database in English, French and German. The same database is used for creating the RailLexic CD-ROM with so far 22 languages and editing the trilingual UIC Railway Dictionary containing English, French and German.
This year’s Terminology Group meeting served as a forum to exchange the latest developments and best practices in the field of terminology and to decide on priority projects to be implemented in the near future.
This meeting was also the occasion to learn more about the member’s activities in the field of terminology. The Japanese delegate presented the online retrieval system of technical railway terminology implemented by the Railway Technical Research Institute (RTRI). Another presentation gave an insight into how terminology work was carried out at the Swedish Transport Administration (Trafikverket). OSJD’s representative gave an overview on activities and languages used in the OSJD bulletin and documents. The group members warmly welcomed RZD’s delegate, since RZD had joined the group after a long absence. The Russian delegate gave an overview of RZD’s newly designed website and relevant information on topics related to terminology.
Moreover, the trilingual ERTMS Glossary which had been published this year by UIC was presented at the meeting. This glossary was initiated and developed by UIC’s Control-Command, Signalling and Operations Sector in close cooperation with the Terminology Unit. RailLexic has been updated and enlarged amongst others by terms and definitions coming from this field. These and other new terms have been delivered by UIC and can from now on be translated by the members of the Terminology Group.
Furthermore, the participants could exchange experiences about different ways of organising the translation process according to their needs. Finally a discussion took place about the timeframe in which the translation work of the new and updated terms could be finished.
The workshop on the second day gave participants the opportunity to discuss in detail functionalities and features of the web-based tool for terminology input and to learn how to use it. This interface which was especially created to meet the needs of the Terminology Group members, enabling them not only to retrieve terms and definitions but also to input them and to search for terms not yet translated.
Finally, a visit was organised to OSJD’s Headquarters in Warsaw. The delegation of the UIC Terminology Group was welcomed by Mr Kálmán Somodi, the Executive Secretary of the OSJD Committee. First he underlined the importance of cooperation between OSJD and UIC in favour of railways. Then he explained to the delegates the modus operandi and role of the OSJD in the development of international freight and passenger traffic and the creation of a common railway transport environment in the Eurasian region. He placed particular emphasis on the development of the pan-European transport corridors and interoperability issues.
