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TRANSLATORS' WEB If you find alternative translations, which one should you use? Did the translator research the term thoroughly? In this example, the homonyms come from different fields, so the domain labels ('nuclear power station' and 'medical science') would differentiate them. In other cases, a clear definition is needed to determine whether two terms are synonyms (and should therefore appear on the same entry) or not (in which case they should appear on different entries, and the difference between the concepts they denote should be made clear). For instance, is fraud the same as swindling, or embezzlement the same as misappropriation? If not, what is the difference between them? Does évasion fiscale mean 'tax evasion' (which is illegal) or 'tax avoidance' (which is legal, although perhaps of doubtful morality)? IATE not only provides you with terms and definitions, it also tells you where they were found. Every term and definition should have a reference to the source that led the translator or terminologist to include it in the database. In a similar way to Google, IATE is an invaluable search tool, providing information that you would otherwise have great difficulty finding, but it is not intrinsically reliable. You should trust information not because you found it via IATE or Google, but because you trust the original source. numerous multilingual glossaries, which had previously existed only on paper, thus greatly reducing search times. However, many of those glossaries merely juxtaposed equivalent terms without defining them. Such 'legacy data' may still be relevant today, so it is included in IATE, even though it doesn't meet our current standards for recording terminological information. Some entries have no definitions, and some references (to paper sources predating the web) are so cryptic (because disk space was at a premium) that no one can decipher them. However, the terms may have the same reliability code (3 stars = 'reliable') as more recently researched data. Tips for using the database Most IATE users specify their target language, but there are advantages to selecting 'Any'. First, the number of languages available and the amount of data provided are indicators of the quality of an entry. (The hit list provides a preview of the term reference, context, term note and definition fields.) An entry containing all 23 official EU languages and extensive data is likely to be the result of a recent terminology project, whereas an entry with just two languages and little data is likely to have been saved by a translator with little further checking. Entries with 4, 6, 7, 9 or 11 languages may date back to a time when that was the number of official languages. Second, your target language may be missing but another language may refer to a source document published in the Official Journal of the European Union, which is also available in your language. If you follow the hyperlink to Eur-Lex, you can then switch languages and display the equivalent document in your target language, or view a bilingual display of any two available language versions. This is particularly useful for EU jargon, for which EU documents are the authoritative source. For non-EU-specific terminology, an original document from an authority in the relevant technical field might be more reliable than an EU document, which may be a translation. Although the hit list gives a preview of certain fields, you need to click on 'Full entry' to see all the information available. If you searched for all target languages, you can then click on the code for your target language to move it to the top of the entry (above the source language). If you searched for a single target language, you can then ask to see all available languages. Full entry display provides access to the 'Feedback' link, so that you can inform IATE terminologists of any errors or omissions you find, which would be greatly appreciated. IATE will never be perfect, but is improving all the time. Used discerningly, it is an essential aid to translation between EU languages. POOLING KNOWLEDGE Translators at the European Commission's DG Translation (below & left) Long-term legacy Vol/52 No/4 2013 © EUROPEAN UNION, 2013 The public version of IATE has 24 languages – the 23 official EU languages, plus Latin – and it will soon have 25, with the addition of Croatian. It was created in 2004, subsuming and replacing the databases previously used by the various EU institutions. The oldest of these – the Commission's Eurodicautom – was created in 1969, and was made available to external users in 1981, well before the advent of the worldwide web in 1990. Eurodicautom provided the Commission's translators with a single access point to its AUGUST/SEPTEMBER The Linguist 25