Initiating a terminology policy, the case of Turkey: TermTurk project

Abstract

Summary Translation activities have long been on the rise since Turkey committed itself to join the European Union. The majority of the translation activities fall into the category of technical translation in Turkey, which is an indicator of the significance of terminology. Problems encountered in translating technical texts can be solved with the help of terminology databases. Unfortunately, the importance of such databases has not been recognized in Turkey yet. Furthermore, the lack of consistency in terms used in translations stands out as a problem. The lack of established terminology networks for specific fields is also a major problem for the public organizations which are in close contacts with EU bodies. Consistency in the use of terms in translations produced by various departments or institutions is a must for sound translations. Such an inconsistency leads to economic losses due to different interpretations of the same translated texts. In this regard, launching an EU-funded project on terminology called TermTurk became a must in order to attract the attention of private and public bodies to the importance of terminology. Accordingly, this paper presents the TermTurk project as a terminology policy case in Turkey.