De Computer als Hulpmiddel voor de Terminologische Problemen bij de Commissie van de Europese Gemeenschappen

The official languages of the Communities have to be treated on a basis of equality. Rules and regulations adopted by the Community are valid in all the Member-States. Therefore,every Institution has recourse to a translation service. Translators cannot be familiar with the terminology of all the different areas the Commission deals with. Much time is spent on terminological search work. The sources, however, are often incomplete, outdated, in-accessible or difficult to manage. In order to increase the efficiency of the translation process, a terminological database, called EURODICAUTOM, has been developed by the Commission.Via the computer the user has direct access to all stored terminological information. EURODICAUTOM is a simple, flexible and dynamic system, where the search procedure has been attuned as much as possible to the method used by the translator. The underlying idea is that, if a complete answer to a problem cannot be given, incomplete answers, ordered according to decreasing relevance, can be of some help to the user.The author concludes by saying that terminology is an area, which is always in movement and therefore requires a dynamic, practice-oriented and multi-disciplinary approach.