TRANSLATION ACTIVITIES Editorial
Canadian Review Journal (Summer 1999)

Editorial -- Translation Activities

For a number of years French-speaking members of IEEE have expressed the desire to have documents in their own language. As a result, in May 1997, at a meeting of the Eastern Canada Council (ECC) in Newfoundland, Adam SKOREK asked me to set up a translation project aimed at responding to the needs of francophones, for the most part members in Quebec. The project had a modest beginning and aimed particularly at finding out the members' needs.

After having found a reliable translator (Consultants Mesar inc. of Shawinigan, in collaboration with a professional translator, Glee JESSEE LAUZIÈRE) and upon doing several simple translations (the charters for the St. Maurice and Quebec sections), we were able to acquire some experience. We then had a major article translated to appear in the Canadian Review. At that time, we ran into a few problems and difficulties relating to the printing of translated texts.

In 1998, I set up a committee to better define the direction the translation project was to take in the future, with the participation of members from New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario. The committee targeted, among others, university students as important potential "clients" for the translations, which could help them better grasp the advantages of IEEE. With the support of the editor of the Canadian Review, Vijay SOOD, we decided to increase the number of articles translated into French. Several were then published in the Review in French accompanied by the original English version and/or appeared on our web site. Now that the translation project has become increasingly accepted by the various groups involved, we will be able to move ahead, with the unfailing collaboration of the director of Region 7, Dave KEMP.

As president of the ECC, and with the collaboration of Celia DESMOND, I will present the project at the Section Congress 99 in Minneapolis in October. We will then be able to discuss certain implementation problems, the more successful aspects of the project and approaches that gave the best results. Along the same line, Mario BARBACCI, of the Computer Society, would like to offer technical translations and is highly interested in our project. Obviously, at the same time we mustn't forget other current IEEE translation needs, such as brochures for employers, the Region 7 and ECC charters, etc.

Finally, if you would like to learn more about the various developments in the translation project, I encourage you to visit the bilingual web site we are currently setting up: https://www.ieee.org/trad. In the meantime, please feel free to send me your comments and expectations regarding this project.

Marc PROVENCHER, Eng.
Chairman ECC and the Translation Activities Committee (Region 7), 1999-2000
E-mail address: m.provencher@ieee.org

Mise à jour : 2000-07-28