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TRANSLATION
ACTIVITIES PRESENTATION
Section
Congress (Minneapolis 1999)
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Context of the
project
- A few years ago, the Canadian Society
for Electrical and Computer Engineering was amalgamated
into IEEE Canada, which inherited then the double role of
being the Canadian national scientific body for
Electrical Engineering as well as Region 7 of IEEE.
- This transformation was agreed to by
IEEE, which had then started to reflect on its place as a
"transnational" scientific body.
- Although Canada is to a large extent
an English speaking country. The French speaking
population is significant, particularly in Québec, which
is about 85% French speaking which is the official
language and which counts for about 23% of the Canadian
population.
- In May 1997, at the meeting of the
Eastern Canada Council (ECC), a translation project was
set up to respond to the needs and aspirations of the
"francophone" membership of IEEE Canada.
Objectives of the
project
- Mainly, to have some important
technical and non technical documentation available in
French.
- The project includes
translation from French to English, and into other
languages when needed
- To help retain and even increase the
IEEE membership with documentation and written material
in the vernacular language.
Starting point
- The project had a modest beginning and
aimed particularly at finding out the needs of IEEE
Canada members.
- We found a reliable professional
translator and after doing several simple translations,
such as the bylaws for the St. Maurice and Québec
sections, we acquired some experience.
- We then had a major article translated
to appear in the IEEE Canadian Review, a professional
Journal with general articles published three times a
year and distributed to all IEEE Canada members.
Committee
- In 1998, a committee was set up to
better define the direction the translation project
activities were to take in the future, with the
participation of members from New Brunswick, Québec and
Ontario.
- The objective of this committee is
mainly to define the orientations of the project,
although its members are also called upon from time to
time when there is an urgent need or to translate short
texts.
- In 1999, the committee was enlarged to
have a representative from the three councils of the
region-7 (East, Center and West).
- The committee targeted, among others,
university students as important potential "beneficiaries"
and "clients" for the translations, with the
objective to help them grasp better the advantages of
IEEE.
Documents published
- With the support of the editor of the
IEEE Canadian Review, 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 the Review
web site.
- This included editorials
and technical articles.
- Brochures for employers to support
IEEE
- Awards and Recognition brochures and
documents.
- Biographies
- Region 7 and ECC (Eastern Canada
Council) charters and bylaws (to come)
Support documents
- A glossary of terms has been set up
and is being continuously updated to standardise the
French terms to be used for IEEE and to avoid the use of
different terms by the translators.
Acceptance
- The translation project has become
increasingly accepted by the various groups involved, and
there is good support to move ahead.
- The unfailing collaboration of the
director of Region 7, Dave KEMP, has also helped to move
forward.
Future of the project
- To pursue the objectives of providing
to IEEE members, and especially to students a French
version of the most important working documents as well
as of significant articles and reports.
- To publish more articles in French for
the Canadian Review.
- More exchange with groups outside the
Region-7.
Electronic
communication
- To disseminate information on the
Translation Project activities a web site has been set
up, at "
https://www.ieee.org/trad ".
- Among other things, it
contains information about the project, the name of the
Committees members and some translated documents.
Collaboration and
international outlook
- This participation at the Section
Congress 99, with the collaboration of Celia DESMOND (Region-7
Director elect), is one step in promoting collaboration
and exchanges between IEEE Regions.
- We can discuss
implementation problems, as well as the more successful
aspects of the project and the approaches which 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 this
project.
- Ideas can be exchanged, results and
resources can be shared with other IEEE Regions, in order
to better serve the members and to avoid duplication of
efforts in IEEE around the world.
Keeping contact
- We want to share information and
resources with other groups involved in translation
activities world-wide.
- Please feel free to ask questions or
offer comments regarding this project.
Marc PROVENCHER, P.Eng.
E-mail address: m.provencher@ieee.org
1999-07-26
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