#Head of the French Section of the Swiss Federal Government's Central Linguistic
Services
*Interview of January 14, 1999 (original interview in French)
= How did using the Internet change your professional life?
To work without the Internet is simply impossible now. Apart from all the tools
used (e-mail, 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.
= How do you see the growth of a multilingual Web?
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 isn't wrong in itself, because it's mainly
based on statistics (more PCs per inhabitant, more people speaking English,
etc.). The answer isn't 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.
= How do you see the future?
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.
*Interview of January 25, 2000 (original interview in French)
= Can you tell us about your website?
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 electronic dictionaries (Dictionnaires électroniques) are
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).
= What exactly is your professional activity?
I'm head of the French Section of the Swiss Federal Government's Central
Linguistic Services, which means I'm in charge of organising translation matters
for all the linguistic services of the Swiss government.
= What do you think of the debate about copyright on the Web?
There's a problem here and the solution isn't obvious. It's a pity the battle
against this kind of fraud will eventually justify, along with other abuses, a
"Web police," which sadly is very far from the spirit in which the Web was
created.
= How do you see the growth of a multilingual Web?
We now have a multilingual Internet. We have to build it up and ensure it's easy
to access, which'll probably take a bit longer.