Terminology in multilingual multinationals

1. Terminology in multilingual multinationals A matter of metadata management Prof. Dr. Frieda Steurs Dr. Hendrik J. Kockaert

2. Language use in multinationals • Need of global coordination as a source of competitiveness • Language = ultimate barrier to aspirations of cross-national harmonisation

3. Do multinationals need multilingualism? • Priority in this study to multinationals’ Internet sites • Internet sites highlight language use in world wide business • The language choices multinationals make depend on their needs to communicate with • consumers • stakeholders in the international business traffic

4. Lingua franca & multilingualism • Economics of language: • Lingua franca facilitates trade and reduces costs • ROI accrues with increasing number of trading partners using the same language • Costs linked to multilingualism • Translation • Learning foreign languages

5. Standardization versus Localization • Standardization approach • Multinationals reduce costs • Homogenise promotion across all their markets • Distribute similar produce across all their markets • Globalisation leads to homogenisation of cultures and business practices (Levitt, 1983)

6. Standardization versus Localization • Localization approach • Multinationals adapt their produce and services • Multilingualism to be practiced: • Markets remain culturally differentiated • Consumers are to be satisfied (McCarthy & Sharpiro 1983)

7. Standardization + Localization • Standardization approach: • Corporate visual identities in source language (Melawar & Saunder 1999) • Localization approach: • 68% of internationally advertised brand names use standardized strategy • 11% use standardized lingua franca (Duncan & Ramaprasad 1995)

8. Industrial produce More B2B traffic Long-range & technical Consumer produce Emotional consumers’ appeal (Brugaletta 1985) Standardization + Localization(Cavusgil & Zou 1993)

9. Globalised market advertisement produce Melted cultures cross-border homogeneity Market locales Linguistic & cultural identities/ sensitivities Geostylistic translation Standardization + Localization

10. Dualism: multilingualism & lingua franca • This dualism seems to be generally practiced in multinationals • Lingua franca use in B2B spheres • production stages • in-house and external terminologies • Foreign language use • adapted to consumers’ locale

11. Interaction • How do multilingualism and lingua franca interact? • Multinationals’ terminologies • Internet promotion campaigns (A. Pym 2003)

12. Hypothesis • Multilingualism disappears in favour of planetary use of one lingua franca • Culturally and linguistic divergent markets melt into one planetary market English = means of communication Translation and terminologies = redundant

13. English Multilingualism Hypothesis

14. Reality • Parallel rise of both lingua franca and multilingualism: • International, standardized, ISO English • Translation needs • Globalisation seems to advantage this rise

15. English Multilingualism Reality

16. Diversity Paradox • Globalisation • Efficient lingua franca in cross-cultural communication • Technologies • Software development • Standardization • Efficient multilingualism: local terminologies • World-wide access to regional specialties • Need of even further specialization of regional produce • International trade of locales has become easy

17. Diversity Paradox

18. Translation & Terminology • Needs to adapt to this reality: • Cross-border produce and services in English Translate into customers’ locale:

19. Translation & Terminology • Customers’ locales: • Geostylistic differences • Climate, accessibility • Culturally divergent • Market type • Developing countries versus high-tech markets • Financial and economic status • Confucianism, Christianity, Islam, ...

20. Translation & Terminology • Translation = conditio sine qua non for successful anchorage of all the products • Planetary level • Global lingua franca practiced by multinationals • Locale level • Effective local language use practiced by customers

21. New developments Products’ diversity

22. Cross-national products • Produced separately from world’s locales • Lingua franca independent from local languages • ISO, Technical English • Technologies • Software development • Language technologies • Industries

23. Locale products • Produced locally • Local language • Dutch (BE), French (FR), ...

24. Trends in Language needs • Lingua franca • Language technology • ICT • Translation & Terminology • Marketplaces • Consumers (actual language users)

25. Trends in Translation • Technological discourse in world English • Accessible in home markets via translation • Translation takes over in the consumers’ markets • Where the access to multinationals’ products is a must • Localization = translation + adapting to locale

26. Trends in Terminology • Standardized lingua franca terminology • In-house terminology of multinationals • Technical discourse • Standards • Converted into local market languages • Divergences need fully localized terminology

27. Trends in Terminology • Local terminologies • Specialties • Converted into virtual English • not necessarily seeking to introduce localities

28. Trends in Terminology • Rise of local terminologies • Catalonia • TERMCAT • Québec • Office de la langue française du Québec • Taalunie • Need of standardization • Planetary interoperability beyond customers

30. Multinationals in vivo • In-house terminology management not always consistent • Divergences between successive versions of one product • No terminology management • concept-term relationship not analysed • consistency not checked • Inconsistencies in translated documents

31. Multinationals in vivo • Hypothesis: consistent source-language terminology • Inconsistencies in translated texts • No terminology management

32. Examples • In-house inconsistent terminology • Ford • air bag • airbag • Jaguar • seat belt pre-tensioner • seat-belt pre-tensioner • seatbelt pre-tensioner • seatbelt pretensioner Dimitri Van Gaever. 1999. A Comparative Study of British and American Car Terminology in Owner Manuals

33. Examples • Cross-industry inconsistency • MG/Rover • direction indicator light • Jaguar • indicator • Chevrolet • turn signal and lane change indicator • turn signal • turn signal light Dimitri Van Gaever. 1999. A Comparative Study of British and American Car Terminology in Owner Manuals

34. Examples • Cross-industry inconsistency • Chevrolet • theft-deterrent alarm system • Jaguar, Ford • anti-theft alarm system • Ford • theft alarm Dimitri Van Gaever. 1999. A Comparative Study of British and American Car Terminology in Owner Manuals

35. Alfa Romeo 147 1.9JTD • België toerental voeding draaicirkel tussen stoepen ophanging vooraan • Nederland tpm brandstoftoevoer draaicirkel tussen trottoirs wielophanging vóór

36. Challenges • Efficient terminology policy • In-house consistency • Version management • Translation consistency • Localization consistency

37. Challenges • Metadata management taking account of the diversity paradox? • Globally interoperable terminology • Cross-industry terminology • Controlled English (source language) • Locally accessible terminologies • Translation + localization

38. Challenges • Terminology management • One efficient cross-industry terminology • efficiently translatable and localizable • Accessible locale terminologies

39. Metadata management • Existence of TMS able to • Reposit dual terminology use • Insert necessary complement of terminology localization

40. New developments • Necessary automatic terminology processing • Complemented by • Post-editing in each locale • Using corpus in locale’s language • Using knowledge patterns (Le An Ha, University of Wolverhampton)

41. Adapt

42. Mutscheller

43. Mutscheller "When I use a word", Humpty Dumpty said, "it means just what I choose it to mean -neither more nor less."  (From: Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland) Did you know that well-defined terminology can be one of your most valuable assets? It helps to reduce misplaced orders by up to 30%, facilitates the task of translating your documentation or marketing material and sets you aside from your competitors. Using consistent product terminology and corporate wording helps to strengthen your organisation’s corporate identity. Our cure to inconsistencies in corporate communication is called DICTAP, our proprietary DIssociative Context-driven Terminology Acquisition Process. Using DICTAP, we quickly extract lexical content from previously translated texts, such as manuals, business reports or press releases and enter this terminology into a single, well-structured and easily maintainable multi-lingual database.

44. DICTAP

45. Isolingua What happens if I don't manage my terminology? Although not using terminology management will result in modest short-term savings, the long-term costs of not using it are potentially far larger. As noted above, quality can not be inspected into a product, and without robust terminology management processes, strong consistency is more difficult to achieve.Do not underestimate the importance of consistency in your localized products: post-translation changes can be very costly, especially if they entail production costs for layout, desktop publishing or printing, or engineering time to rebuild compiled components.