[Summary]
The internet became a mandatory tool for translators as “a vital
and endless source of information”, as stated by Marcel Grangier,
the head of the French Section of Central Linguistic Services,
which means he was in charge of organizing translation matters
into French for the linguistic services of the Swiss government.
He explained in January 1999: “To work without the internet is
simply impossible now. Apart from all the tools used (email, the
electronic press, services for translators), the internet is for
us a vital and endless source of information in what I'd call the
'non-structured sector' of the web. For example, when the answer
to a translation problem can't be found on websites presenting
information in an organized way, in most cases search engines
allow us to find the missing link somewhere on the network.” His
services also offered an online directory called “Dictionnaires
Électroniques” (Electronic Dictionaries) with links to most
quality dictionaries available for free on the web.
***
The internet became a mandatory tool for translators as “a vital
and endless source of information”, as stated by Marcel Grangier,
the head of the French Section of Central Linguistic Services.
Marcel Grangier was in charge of organizing translation matters
into French for the linguistic services of the Swiss government.
He explained in January 1999: “To work without the internet is
simply impossible now. Apart from all the tools used (email, the
electronic press, services for translators), the internet is for
us a vital and endless source of information in what I'd call the
'non-structured sector' of the web. For example, when the answer
to a translation problem can't be found on websites presenting
information in an organized way, in most cases search engines
allow us to find the missing link somewhere on the network.
Our website was first conceived as an intranet service for
translators in Switzerland, who often deal with the same kind of
material as the Federal government's translators. Some parts of it
are useful to any translators, wherever they are. The section
"Dictionnaires Électroniques" [Electronic Dictionaries] is only
one section of the website. Other sections deal with
administration, law, the French language, and general information.
The site also hosts the pages of the Conference of Translation
Services of European States (COTSOES).”
"Dictionnaires Électroniques" is a extensive directory of free
dictionaries available online, with five main sections:
abbreviations and acronyms, monolingual dictionaries, bilingual
dictionaries, multilingual dictionaries, and geographical
information. The index could also be searched by keywords. It was
later transferred on the new website of COTSOES.
According to Marcel Grangier, “we can see multilingualism on the
internet as a happy and irreversible inevitability. So we have to
laugh at the doomsayers who only complain about the supremacy of
English. Such supremacy is not wrong in itself, because it is
mainly based on statistics (more PCs per inhabitant, more people
speaking English, etc.). The answer is not to 'fight' English,
much less whine about it, but to build more sites in other
languages. As a translation service, we also recommend that
websites be multilingual. (…) The increasing number of languages
on the internet is inevitable and can only boost multicultural
exchanges. For this to happen in the best possible circumstances,
we still need to develop tools to improve compatibility. Fully
coping with accents and other characters is only one example of
what can be done."
Maria Victoria Marinetti was a translator from French to Spanish
living near Geneva, Switzerland, with a doctorate in engineering
from Mexico. She wrote in August 1999: “I have access to a large
number of global information, which is very interesting for me. I
can also regularly send or receive files back and forth. The
internet allows be to receive or send general and technical
translations from French into Spanish, and vice versa, and to
correct texts in Spanish. In the technical or chemical fields, I
offer a technical assistance, as well as information about
exporting high-tech equipment to Mexico or to other Latin American
countries.”
As for multilingualism, "it is very important to be able to
communicate in various languages. I would even say this is
mandatory, because the information given on the internet is meant
for the whole world, so why wouldn't we get this information in
our language or in the language we wish? Worldwide information,
but no broad choice for languages, this would be quite a
contradiction, wouldn't it?"
In 2000, the internet was multilingual, with half of its users
having a mother tongue other than English, but the language
barrier was far from gone. If any language was now available on
the web, many users were monolingual, and even plurilingual users
couldn’t read all languages. Bridges were needed between language
communities to improve the flow of information in other languages,
including by offering better translation software and by offering
tools for all languages, and not only the dominant ones.