Scientific description and attitudes toward language share the notion that both seem to be framed by the same objectivist paradigm. Learning to use or already using a language is mistakenly assumed to be like learning a scientific concept. It is a question of transmitting information from someone who knows to someone who doesn't know yet.
The organisation of language is not the organisation of knowledge. This poses specific problems for translators in highly technical fields such as telecommunications. Alcatel has created a terminological database, ALCTERMS, available to researchers and translators. This data base, presented here, correlates information in six languages according to term, subtopic, topic, and term status. This improves technical translators' and writers' performance since knowledge of technical concepts is more explicit. Further developments include the introduction of phraseological constraints and word collocations.
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