European Commission's terminology teams
WHO WE ARE
The terminology teams of the Commission’s translation and interpreting services provide up-to-date terminology content to enable our translators and interpreters to produce high-quality translation and interpretation during multilingual policy-making processes. We also help develop terminology tools and provide terminology-related training.
DG Translation (DGT)
DGT’s Data Management Unit has a Terminology Coordination Sector that works specifically on common terminology.
DGT also has a terminology community consisting of terminologists in translation units (full-time and part-time) and terminology coordinators in the Data Management Unit.
The community meets regularly to:
- discuss ongoing terminology work
- share experiences
- update members on technological advancements and relevant interinstitutional developments.
DG Interpretation (DG SCIC)
DG SCIC has a small central terminology team, consisting of one full-time terminologist and several rota terminologists coming from the ranks of SCIC staff interpreters. It also has a network of terminology correspondents – Terminologica – composed of representatives from all interpretation units. Terminologica members serve in their respective booths as contact points on terminology and meet in a plenary 4 times a year.
WHAT WE DO
- We’re dedicated to improving and expanding the content of IATE (EU’s terminology management system) through multilingual terminology projects.
- We maintain the network of terminologists within our services.
- We advocate the use of tools and technology in terminology work.
- We cooperate on terminology and terminology tools with our interinstitutional colleagues.
- We share our knowledge through terminology-related training courses, workshops and presentations designed to equip translators, interpreters and terminologists with the skills and knowledge they need.
- We cooperate with external experts to address skills gaps in various fields.
- We actively participate in and contribute to a range of working groups, as well as national and international events and conferences.
IATE TRAINING MATERIAL
- EU Terminology for all (pdf)
- IATE brochure: Standard view
- IATE brochure: Interpreters’ view
- IATE basics for interpreters (60 min)
EU LANGUAGE TOOLS
| Digital Europe language tools |
AI-based language services, made available in the EU under the Digital Europe programme for use by EU institutions, public administrations, academia, small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), NGOs, Digital Europe programme projects and EPSO candidates. They offer both web pages and APIs for machine-to-machine access. |
EU TERMINOLOGY RESOURCES
| IATE | Official EU terminology |
| EUROSTAT | Various thematic glossaries |
| EuroVoc | Catalogue of EU vocabularies |
| European Food Safety Authority glossary | Food safety glossary |
| Fish commercial names | European Commission commercial designations database |
| Fishing gears | European Commission fishing gears database |
| ECB glossary | European Central Bank glossary |
| EUNIS database | Online biodiversity database |
| TARIC | EU customs database |
| ECHA termbase | European Chemical Agency termbase |
EXTERNAL TOOLS AND RESOURCES
External terminology resources