LINGUIST List 11.394

Thu Feb 24 2000

Calls: Translating/Computer, Multilinguae congress

Editor for this issue: Jody Huellmantel <jodylinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. Nicole Adamides, Translating and the Computer 22nd Conference
2. Jokin Garatea, Multilinguae: IT in lesser used langs

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		22nd Conference 
	"Translating and the Computer"
	 16-17 November 2000
 One Great George Street, London, SW1

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The annual conference "Translating and the Computer" has been an
important forum for Machine Translation and Translation Aids users over
the past 21 years. The conference is one of the few international events
which focuses on the user aspects of translation software and as such
has been particularly beneficial to a very wide audience including
translators, business managers, researchers and language experts.

Against the background of an increasingly multilingual society and the
all-encompassing impact of information technology, this year's
conference will address the latest developments in translation (and
translation-related) software. 

This call for papers invites abstracts of papers to be presented at the
conference. The papers (and the presentations) should focus on the user
aspects of translation or translation-related software rather than on
research and development issues. Presentations accompanied by
demonstrations are especially welcome.

TOPICS

The range of conference topics includes (but is not limited to)
* use of Machine Translation (MT) systems
* machine-aided translation and translation aids
* memory based translation
* controlled languages and their use in MT
* speech translation
* terminology
* localisation
* translation aids for minority languages
* multilingual document management/workflow
* experience of companies using translation software
* translating and the computer: the new millennium challenges
* the Internet and translation aids

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

Authors are requested to submit an extended abstract (between 500 and
1000 words) of the paper they would like to present. Extended abstracts
should be sent by post, fax or email before 22 May 2000 to:

Nicole Adamides, Conference Organiser
ASLIB, The Association for Information Management
Staple Hall, Stone House Court, London, EC3A 7PB
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7903 0000 Fax: +44 (0) 20 7903 0011
Email nicole.adamidesaslib.co.uk WWW: http://www.aslib.co.uk

The full-length versions of the accepted papers will be included in the
conference proceedings. 

Multilinguae congress.
A way to promote the use of ITs, Multimedia and
language industries in lesser used languages.

San Sebastian, Spain 
8-9 November 2000

Papers and/or workshops (of up to 30-45 minutes duration) from
academics, software and multimedia developers and distributors,
experts in the digital distribution channel and information
organisations (including libraries, government, and the private
sector) are sought for presentation at the congress. All papers &
presentations should be designed for non-specialist audiences, and
connect theory and practice.

Abstracts of up to 500 words should be sent to me directly
(garateagaia.es) for consideration by the committee, before end of
march (31st of March).

BACKGROUND

Within the European Union, there are more than 40 autochthonous
languages in everyday use. Of these, only 11 are official languages of
the Union: Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek,
Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and Swedish. In addition, Irish is a
"treaty language".

Of Europe's 370 million citizens, nearly 50 million speak a language
other than the official language of the State in which they
live. These other languages are an integral part of our cultural
heritage. They include some of the oldest languages in the Western
world, and most of them have rich cultural, literary and folk
traditions.

Technology is simply one of the tools with which we involve as
community members in learning and using minority languages in our
daily lives. It is also a link with the culture that surrounds most of
us today and which is so attractive to the younger generations. What
we would like to present, briefly in this Congress is that new
technologies have, among others, the potential to:

* Document and promote culture and minority speech
* Help to revitalise language
* Promote the status of the language as a viable medium of communication
 expand and strengthen minority language communities by creating an
 audience and purpose for writing in minority languages
* Make Minority language resources available beyond educational
 institutions.
* Expedite production and distribution of relevant, quality Minority
 language materials and resources.
* Provide opportunities to create multimedia projects
* Excite learners to become motivated, engaged in the learning process
 and producers in the target language.
* Aspects of multi-modal capability include integrated text, sound, and
 graphics which are suitable for a range of learner types
* Increase student-student communication and collaboration
* Enhance and expand instructional strategies
* Build upon/enhance existing and effective pedagogy
* Promote literacy skills
* Promote computer literacy. Computers add to the study of minority
 language, and computer skills that are learned transfer to other courses
 and aspects of students' lives.

For all the above mentioned we must have a clear idea of the following
statements:
* The market is there. 50 million of potential European users/buyers, as
 minority speakers.
* The industry is there but a bit dispersed and not very well known.

OBJECTIVES
The organisation of the Multilinguae International Congress, which is
organised by GAIA, the Telecommunications Cluster of the Basque Country
and will be co-financed by the European Commission (DG XXII), intends,
on the one side, to facilitate contacts between small and medium
European companies, technologists, content providers, and researchers
belonging to the Multimedia and Software sector working for Minority or
endangered languages (if we are talking about IT, apart from English
almost all languages of the world), and, on the other side, to provoke
the utilisation of this Multimedia tools by the education,
administration bodies and end users coming from minority communities.
The general objective of the MULTILINGUAE congress is to develop
channels, links and activities between institutions representing similar
collectives in different cultural and geographical areas where minority
languages are spoken for interchange of experiences, best practices and
for the realisation of joint actions with a view to promoting Multimedia
Development and the Linguistic Diversity of the EU. All this, providing:
competitive expansion of the companies of the sector, the development of
new business activities, promotion of employment and innovation in the
creation of support infrastructures for the European Linguistic
Diversity and for technological and socio-economic development, by
giving incentives to investment in research, training and inter-regional
and inter-company co-operation.

Why organise the Multilinguae international congress?
It will take more than conferences to keep most European Minority
Languages from becoming extinct. If all it took was conferences, then
the minority languages would not be in the sad condition that most of
them are in now because many of them have been exposed to conferences
before. If not conferences, what then? Lots of different approaches have
been tried. These are not startling innovations; what we need is a
critical mass of committed people, and this critical mass can only be
created through continuous capillary infiltration of information and
encouragement. This conference is intended to be a part of such an
effort. It will be disseminated not only to those who attended of the
sessions, but to a much wider audience consisting of Minority and
non-Minority individuals and institutions because of its needed market
oriented approach.

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Jokin Garatea GAIA
International Department C\ Camino Portuetxe, 14
Email: garateagaia.es Edificio Ibaeta 1
 20018, San Sebastian
 Spain
 Tel. +34 943 31 66 66
 Fax. +34 943 31 10 66
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