Our purpose is to briefly introduce two terminology centres in the Nordic countries, and to describe how and under what conditions they were established, how they have developed and changed over the years and to present our view of their future. We also wish to raise some of the factors that, in our opinion, are important for the infrastructure of every terminology centre, whether already in operation or yet to be established. We hope the experience of two Nordic countries could be of use to European countries planning to establish a terminology centre of their own. A detailed presentation of TNC and TSK is provided in the appendix.

What should a terminology centre do?

The history and experiences of TNC and TSK are, in our opinion, valuable when we try to think of what a terminology centre should do and what are the prerequisites for its survival in the present situation of internationalized communication. With strong influences from abroad on so-called minority languages such as Swedish and Finnish - both on the general language and on various languages for specific purposes (LSPs) - it is extremely important that there are professional linguists and terminologists working on what could be called language surveillance and maintenance. Since their efforts need to be coordinated and recognized as important, this type of work is best carried out in a national centre or an ethnic centre. But what should such a national terminology centre do? In general terms, we could say that terminology centres should work on:

- recording the language actually used in various subject fields

- keeping track of new developments in both terminology theory and practice

- influencing the development of national languages by issuing guidelines for their use

- participating in public discussions as well as in terminology projects and LSP research projects

- collaborating with all institutions involved in terminology work, LSP research or general language maintenance

- being a source of inspiration to everyone doing terminology work, whether as part of their daily routine or at less frequent intervals.

The great variety of terminological services offered by TNC and TSK under these general headings could be said to be included in a more or less "complete terminology centre". The selection of services to be offered is greatly determined by the "mission" of the terminology centre and by the general needs identified in the country and language community in question. This may vary from year to year and is also dependent on the financial situation of the centre.

What are the major similarities and differences between TNC and TSK?

A comparison of TNC and TSK shows that they have quite a number of similarities but also some differences with regard to organization and functions.

Similarities

* Both organizations are the only terminology centres in their country with either officially recognized or de facto gained national status.

* Both organisations have been established on the initiative of technical associations, engineers and inventors.

* Both are non-profit member associations.

* Both organizations carry out the same type of terminological activities and offer similar services, such as management and realization of various kinds of terminology projects, collection of terminological material, phone-in term inquiry service, library services, training and consulting services, term bank activities (Termdok and TEPA), development activities, publishing activities. In addition, both are engaged in international cooperation in the field of terminology.

*The activities of both organizations are very much influenced by the countries' membership in the EU; TNC and TSK are involved in introducing Swedish and Finnish terminology into Eurodicautom.

Differences

* TNC is officially recognized by the Swedish government, but TSK is not officially recognized by the Finnish government.

* TNC receives a grant from the Ministry of Industry, Employment and Communications, whereas since 1995, TSK has not received financial support from the government.

* With its 20 employees TNC is a much bigger organization than TSK, which has only 8 employees.

* TSK's activities are very much influenced by the bilingualism of the country: according to the statutes TSK's task is to promote the compilation and publication of terminologies in Finnish and Swedish; the association has two official languages and the services are directed to both Finnish speaking and Swedish speaking customers.

There is also another important infrastructural difference which has an impact on the terminology centres and their activities: in Finland terminology is taught at universities as a discipline in its own right, while in Sweden, no formal terminology training is offered although on occasion lectures in terminology are given within the programmes of translation studies.

How can a terminology centre survive?

Favourable scientific tradition

What then is the infrastructure that can be used to build up a terminology centre and to help it survive? It helps to have a scientific tradition in the country in question. In Sweden and Finland there has been a strong tradition of systematizing and categorizing knowledge and this tradition has certainly contributed to the establishment of TNC and TSK. Another part of the scientific tradition is that in Sweden and Finland, skills in foreign languages are widely respected and taught at many levels of both basic and professional education.

Even if there is a tradition generally favourable to terminology work, there is nonetheless in each particular country a need for specific ideas with regard to what a terminology centre should do. If the basic ideas are correctly chosen from the beginning, if they are flexible and open, there will be no reason to change them later on. This gives continuity to the activities of such a centre which is important for its reputation. Rapid or drastic changes are not expected in institutional work and if their work is appreciated by others, terminology centres tend to become institutions. This stability in maintaining the basic ideas should never prevent a terminology centre from changing the forms in which terminological data is managed and presented. New technologies offer new possibilities for products which can provide facilities not previously considered. One example of this is the Nordterm-Net project (www.nordterm.net), the main result of which will be a virtual crossroads where the Nordterm bank, a collection of the most important terminologies available in the Nordic countries, and the Nordterm Forum, will constitute the main features. Therefore, continuity in basic ideas should be supplemented with a continuous search for development, for improvement in products, working methods etc.

Strong financial supporter

The most important factor for the survival of a terminology centre is, of course, the existence of strong and benevolent financial support. Both TNC and TSK have had several financial supporters over the years. TNC started with financial support from different enterprises, organizations and two academies. Today TNC has more solid and direct support from the Swedish Government through the Ministry of Industry, Employment and Communications. In the past few years, this support has counted for between 35 and 50 % of the total turnover, and it is meant to ensure that TNC is not forced to become a completely commercial organization. Instead, TNC is, and should remain, a non-profit association, and its main aim should be to contribute to the preparation of technical terminology appropriate for Swedish conditions. This means that TNC should influence Swedish terminology and the special languages of technology and engineering on a rather general level, which justifies the large state support. In addition, since 1995, TNC has successfully won several European Commission contracts, which have significantly increased TNC's turnover.

The first financial supporters of TSK were its member organizations and the Ministry of Education. Gradually TSK won contracts on special terminology projects e.g. in order to compile vocabularies or to offer other kinds of terminological services for both the public and private sector. These contracts were an important factor for the future development of TSK. In 1993, the regular financial support given by the Ministry of Education ended when the cooperation contract with the National Institute for Domestic Languages was not renewed. This change in the funding was an important step towards TSK becoming a commercially-based organization. However, the member organizations and the directors of TSK considered it very important that TSK should remain a non-profit association, and this ideology was in clear contradiction with the new financial situation of TSK. In order to keep TSK's basic role and functions in line with the statutes, the directors of TSK have actively tried to find financial supporters among the public organizations, but no permanent solutions have been agreed upon yet. From the beginning of 1995, one of the major financial supporters of TSK has been the European Commission: in several calls for tender organized by the Commission TSK has succeeded in winning contracts which, for several years, have constituted up to 50 % of TSK's total turnover. The contracts with the Commission have been crucial for the survival of TSK, but the basic financial situation at the national level still remains very delicate.

TNC's and TSK's experiences clearly show how important public support is to the existence of terminology centres. To our knowledge there is, in fact, no terminology centre in Europe which is organized purely as a profit centre, which sends a clear signal to any new centres to be established in EU-countries. Public support is of relevance not only for the survival of a terminology centre but also for the quality of its work. As noted by Stellbrink (1993:298): "Terminology work is too labour-intensive and the direct benefits of terminology are too limited for terminology to be organized as a profit centre. If high-grade terminology were priced on a full-cost basis, it would be too expensive to purchase and if terminology were marketed at an affordable price, its quality would be too low grade to afford."

Member of a cooperation network

A third important factor for the survival of a terminology centre is that it should be an active part of a network of organizations working within similar subject fields. The particpants in this network will, in principle, motivate the existence of the others since they form a group with something in common. The cooperation networks are needed both nationally and internationally. On a national level it is important to work in close cooperation with the organizations that represent subject field expertise, i.e. private companies and professional associations, universities and technical schools, research institutes and standardization bodies. Equally important are contacts with language specialists, i.e. institutes and organizations that are involved in general language planning, special language research, translation studies and translation services, language technology. Both TNC and TSK have, over the years, succeeded in establishing and maintaining good relations with many such national partners.

In order for a terminology centre to survive, it is important to have contacts with similar organizations in other countries too. For example, the Nordterm cooperation has been a most valuable inspiration and source for development of methods, tools and products. Nordterm is an association of organizations and societies in the Nordic countries which are engaged in terminology work, training and research. The nucleus of Nordterm is composed of centres of terminology (DANTERM-centret in Denmark, TSK in Finland, Íslensk málnefnd in Iceland, RTT in Norway, TNC in Sweden and Nordisk Samisk Institutt as the Sami representative). In addition to these, a large number of organizations and individuals take part in Nordterm activities. The principal objective of the association is to promote cooperation in the field of terminology and to ensure the Nordic countries' role in terminology development at an international level by coordinating efforts and developing joint strategies.

Manifold competence

A necessary survival factor for a terminology centre is to build up and maintain a unique competence that makes the centre capable of producing results that are of high quality and are useful and valuable to others. The nature of a terminologist's competence was discussed recently in a seminar arranged by Nordterm. The general understanding in the discussion was that terminology competence can be viewed from three different angles:

1. user competence (familiarity with a subject field and with the correct use of the terminology of this field)

2. competence in terminology theory

3. competence in terminology work

It is very rare for a terminology centre to have "user competence" in all the fields that may potentially be dealt with. "User competence" has to be incorporated in the work via active contacts with external subject field specialists.

What is definitely needed is "competence in terminology work" and this competence embraces at least the following:

- competence in how to apply terminology theory in practice (e.g. competence in how to analyze concepts, how to write definitions, knowledge of the difference between concept and term)

- competence in multilingualism (e.g. competence regarding analysis of equivalency among concepts and concept systems in various languages and international harmonization of concepts and terms)

- competence in the management of terminology projects, i.e. structuring of information, ability to cooperate with various experts and competence in social relations, competence regarding the use of information technologies

- competence in source evaluation

An important general skill for a terminologist is to be a good team worker.

What are TNC's and TSK's prospects?

Looking back over the history of TNC and TSK, and also to the future of our organizations what are, in our opinion, the biggest threats and challenges?

Threats

One of the threats is that national languages tend to lose ground in favour of English in certain subject fields, both in scientific research and in business activities (so called domain loss). This trend can, however, also be favourable for us, i.e. when researchers and professionals within one subject field realize that they cannot use their mother tongue to converse about their field on a national level, that they cannot participate in the public debate, that they will have difficulty applying for national funding for projects within the field etc., this may lead to an awareness that terminology work is needed within their specific field.

A serious threat is of course if the financial supporters withdraw their funding. This may result in poorer quality terminology work, which may have negative consequences for other activities on a national level, such as professional communication, translation, standardization.

Many business organizations still consider terminology work to be competitive and they concentrate solely on their in-house needs; this approach takes jobs away from the terminology centre and may also cause problems in the business organizations' communication with society in general. However, at a later stage the development of competing terminologies, may be favourable to a terminology centre whose guiding principles are coordination and harmonization.

Terminological expertise depends on a rather small group of people and training takes time before a terminologist is fully qualified. Problems will arise if key persons leave or are transferred to other posts.

Challenges and opportunities

Some of the major challenges that TNC and TSK share include providing terminological services to the European Commission (updating Eurodicautom and offering a term inquiry service), which serve as an excellent starting point for a more integrated far-reaching cooperation. However, this comprehensive cooperation may result in a concentration of almost all of our resources, while other important tasks receive too little attention.

Interest in language matters, translation, clear and efficient communication has clearly increased among people in general due to Finland's and Sweden's membership in the EU. It has lead to a heightened concern for our languages in general and terminology in particular.

Although it is easy today for a business organization to buy commercially available software to set up an in-house terminology data base, it is not as easy to enter data in a structured and organized manner and to manage the data base. This is an opportunity for TNC and TSK to market new services since both organizations have many years' experience in term bank building (Termdok, TEPA and the Nordterm bank).

Nordic know-how in the field of terminology can also be widely used abroad.

Concluding words

Establishing and developing terminologies is an ever-expanding task, as new experiences, new ideas and new concepts from abroad, especially in the scientific and technical fields, have to be transferred into national languages. This is, of course, largely a domestic affair; however, for communication with the outside world, professionals have to rely upon the efforts of other people to establish and consolidate special terminologies in their own languages. This is the crux of the matter. In all language areas, terminology centres are needed. Otherwise, we must rely upon specialized and skilled translators to find out the most apt equivalents to the vernacular terms in question. So, from our point of view, we can only welcome the establishment of many more terminology centres!

References

Stellbrink, Hans-Jürgen. 1993. "Selling Terminology at a Price - The Wrong Approach." In: K-D Schmitz (ed.). TKE'93: Terminology and Knowledge Engineering. Frankfurt: Indeks Verlag, 292-299.

Appendix

Historical background of TNC and TSK

Tekniska nomenklaturcentralen (TNC) - The Swedish Centre for Technical Terminology (www.tnc.se)

The first step towards establishing a Swedish terminology centre was taken in 1936 when a committee for nomenclature of the Academy of Engineering Sciences was established to meet the need for adequate technical terminology in Swedish. The initiative was taken by engineers, especially inventors and standardizers. The nomenclature committee was to have the function of a clearinghouse.

Five years later, in 1941, a centre for technical terminology was established on the basis of the committee and with statutes laid down by the government.

Today TNC is a non-profit association with approximately 90 members, among whom are governmental agencies, organizations, industrial enterprises. In addition to its member fees, TNC is financially supported by the Swedish Academy, the Royal Academy of Agriculture and Forestry and the Royal Academy of Sciences. In order to be able to preserve its basic function as the national Swedish Centre for Technical Terminology, TNC also receives a grant from the Ministry of Industry, Employment and Communications.

Beginning as a very small organisation, TNC has now grown and currently employs 20 people. Of these, 14 are terminologists with varying educational backgrounds, e.g. information and documentation specialists, engineers, linguists (some of whom have translation backgrounds).

TNC's main objective is to improve specialist communication by promoting the use of technical terminologies appropriate to Swedish conditions.

To achieve this objective TNC

• provides terminological services and supports governmental agencies, organizations and

• enterprises engaged in their own terminological projects

• provides rules and guidelines for writers of technical texts

• collects, records and processes terminological information

• offers lectures and courses on terminology and technical writing

• cooperates with other language planning and terminological institutions on a national and international level

• participates in international standardization within the framework of ISO and CEN.

The traditional target group for TNC's work has always been specialists in various subject fields. To promote the use of adequate terminology, TNC has compiled 75 terminological vocabularies covering terminology from more than 40 subject fields, including geotechnics, paper manufacturing, corrosion, nuclear energy, wooden building manufacturing, textiles, geology, and plastic and rubber production. The majority of these vocabularies include Swedish definitions and term equivalents in English, French and German. Some of them include also Danish, Norwegian and Finnish term equivalents.

Tekniikan Sanastokeskus (TSK) - The Finnish Centre for Technical Terminology (www.tsk.fi)

The historical roots of TSK, The Finnish Centre for Technical Terminology, date back to the early 20th century when most of the Finnish engineers, technicians and architects spoke Swedish as their mother tongue. Technical literature was mainly written in Swedish (or some other European language), and teaching in technical high schools was often given only in Swedish. Gradually the Finnish language began to gain ground both in spoken and written communication. This general development in the linguistic culture of the Finnish society made it necessary to establish Finnish terms for the purposes of administration and various subject fields, including technological fields.

Technical associations and committees were at that time active in producing term lists in which Swedish terms were given equivalents in Finnish. Terminology work was, however, unsystematic and very much dependent on the activity and inspiration of individual persons. By the 1960s Finland's neighbouring countries, Sweden and Norway, had experienced an important step in the development of their terminological activities when systematic terminology work had been organized into national terminology centres (TNC in Sweden and the Norwegian Council for Technical Terminology (RTT) in Norway). This development prompted the Finnish technical associations to strive for the establishment of a similar organization in Finland. An association called Tekniikan Sanastokeskus ry (TSK) was founded in 1974. The general guidelines for the work and activities of the association were stipulated in its statutes. In 1976, the association found its physical home in the premises of the National Institute for Domestic Languages, and a permanent secretariat consisting of one half-time terminologist was established.

During the first 20 years TSK lived a kind of double life as an organization: some of the staff were employed by the Ministry of Education through the National Institute for Domestic Languages and the remainder were employed by the association itself. The system of dual economy and dual organizational structure was a mixed blessing: sufficient funding was ensured by the financial support from the state, but effective planning and organization of the activities were severely hampered. From the beginning of 1994, TSK has been an independent association without any regular organizational or financial connections to the public sector.

Today the registered association behind TSK consists of approximately 100 me-mber organizations which vary from small translation bu-re-aus to big industrial en-ter-prises. The daily work of the association is overseen by a seven-member board of directors and a personnel of eight employees.

According to the statutes the purpose of the association is to promote the compilation and publication of high-quality terminologies in Finnish and Swedish, to increase the know-how and awareness of the principles and methods of terminology, and to provide information about terminological activities and products.

To meet these aims, TSK's activities include:

- management and realization of terminology projects

- training and consulting in terminology

- on-line termbank (TEPA) and in-house termbank (OSTERI)

- phone-in term service

- research and development of methods to be used in ter-minology work

- library specializing in technical dictionaries, vocabu-laries and glossaries

- publishing activities

- participation in international terminology R&D in the framework of NORD-TERM and ISO.

TSK's activities include a whole variety of services, some of which are subject to charge. The services are directed mainly to private and public sector organizations, and they are often provided in the form of customized projects. Nevertheless, TSK is a non-profit organization whose goal is to offer services to anyone in need of terminological assistance.

TSK cooperates actively with its member organizations, as well as with other organizations interested in terminology management. Numerous terminology projects have been carried out by TSK in cooperation with different subject field spe-cialists. The projects and their results have proved that in Finland, there is a constant need for terminological act-ivities based on terminological competence and systematic methodology.