USING THE INTERNET AS A TRANSLATOR’S

REFERENCE TOOL• Ana Gabriela Castro

• Daniela Brandon• Gabriela Valery• Iliana Sfeir

November 2, 2009

• Our presentation’s source of

information

• Introduction

• Why use TermLinks?

• Flexible system

• Convenient collection of links

• What’s next

• Conclusion

• Invitation

GENERAL CONTENT

OUR PRESENTATION’S SOURCE OF INFORMATION

• It is important to make clear the

fact that the information that will be

presented in short was taken from the

article Using the Internet as a

translator’s reference tool, developed

by Janet Gomez and which you can find

in our Seminario de Traducción

handout.

INTRODUCTION• The staff of the Office of the Patent

Cooperation Treaty at the World Intellectual

Property Organization (WIPO) is required to

translate highly technical, paten-related

texts in all subject areas, in which they’re

not necessarily experts.

• One of WIPO’s main resources and invaluable

tool is the Internet. However, the task to

find the most relevant information is not such

a straightforward process as it might seem.

INTRODUCTION• As a result of the complex process that it

could be to have access to the most

accurate information while using the

Internet, WIPO developed a system,

structured as an Intranet site, easy and

direct access to the most relevant

electronic information that its staff

requires.

• The organization named this site TermLinks.

WHY USE TERMLINKS?

• TermLinks provides its users the

possibility to have direct access to

tried and tested sites known to be a

reliable source of information.

• TermLinks encourages its users to make

full application of the electronic

reference resources available.

• TermLinks gives its users greater

confidence in their use of the Internet.

• TermLinks helps its users to save time.

WHY USE TERMLINKS?

• Useful research work done by translators that are

part of WIPO’s staff is not duplicated or lost.

• TermLinks helps to obtain maximum benefits from the

wide range of terminological resources available on

the Internet.

• TermLinks makes possible that the most appropriate

terminology is used.

• TermLinks help its users to improve their overall

translation quality.

• Finally, TermLinks assure its users a reliable work

and assures the clients a better service.

FLEXIBLE SYSTEM• Termlinks is a flexible system devised by translators for

translators.

• A clear, simple menu is positioned to the left of a large

area displaying the selected site. It contains general

headings such as “dictionaries”, “legal resources”,

“prior art”, etc. .

• Within WIPO it is possible to use Termlinks to provide

access to relevant electronic resources. These include,

for example, guidelines for newly recruit translators,

guides to using various CD-ROMs, and legal documents such

as the Patent Cooperation Treaty and Regulations.

CONVENIENT COLLECTION OF LINKS

• TermLinks provides a convenient

collection of links to sites which are

considered useful and relevant.

• It has been built up through team

effort, and the continued sharing of

resources is fundamental to its

development.

• Translators can comment on the content

at any time and be involved in the

assessment of existing links.

CONVENIENT COLLECTION OF LINKS

• Links to both monolingual and

multilingual sites are provided.

• It helps to confirm terms, to find

definitions, to looks at terms in

context, to check spelling and to verify

if some words are trademarks.

WHAT’S NEXT?• TermLinks is under constant review.

• There is the need of an evaluation

process which encourages the translator

to consider the relevance and

reliability of a site before submitting

information into TermLinks.

• After the evaluation, the recommended

sites are added as a part of an updating

session.

WHAT’S NEXT?• WIPO is considering short trainings

sessions for translators that are not

familiar with TermLinks.

• The TermLinks concept can be applied to

other organizations, companies or

freelance translators.

• TermLinks is presented with a user-

friendly interface and it has helped

WIPO to use the Internet as a reference

tool more efficiently.

CONCLUSION• TermLinks is an Intranet site, developed by

WIPO which seeks to make easier the lives of

the organization staff by being a reliable

source of information among other benefits that

include time saving, reliable work, appropriate

terminology and others already specified.

• As future translators, this information is a

good point of reference or even an invitation

to create our own database of useful links when

translating.

INVITATION• As Gomez also said it in her article,

we invite you to apply TermLinks

concept, so that we can utilize the

Internet as an efficient reference

tool.

REFERENCES• Janet Gomez. (2000).Using the Internet

as a translator’s reference tool. Guide of

Seminario de Traducción.