DEVELOPING NATIONAL TERMINOLOGY POLICIES: A CASE STUDY FROM WALES Delyth PRYS Bangor University, Wales

Reversing Language Shift

Welsh Speakers Increase to 21% (National Statistics Office, 2001 census)

Language Policy for Language Revitalization Key dates and events: Welsh Language Act, 1993 (UK Parliament) Standardized Terminology for the Schools of Wales, 1993 (Schools Authority) Devolved Government to Wales: Welsh National Assembly established, 1998 Publication of Iaith Pawb: A National Action Plan for a Bilingual Wales, 2003 Proposed Welsh Language Measure, 2010 (Welsh Assembly Government)

Iaith Pawb (Everyone’s Language) “We want Wales to be a truly bilingual nation, by which we mean a country where people can choose to live their lives through the medium of either Welsh or English and where the presence of the two languages is a visible and audible source of pride and strength to us all.”

Terminology Policy as a subset of Language Policy Section 4.4 of Iaith Pawb (under Language Tools): “….the importance of developing new opportunities to use the language and ensuring that it is promoted on the internet and in new IT packages” “managing and commissioning projects aimed at standardising terminology and place names and developing a national database of standardised terms”

Language Policies by the Welsh Language Board The Future of Welsh – A Strategic Plan (2005) Information Technology and Welsh: A Strategy Document (2006) Guidelines for the Standardization of Terminology (2007) Etc

Information technology and corpus planning (Section 10 The Future of Welsh) “Corpus planning ….. a field which deals, among other things, with translation, the standardisation of terms and placenames” “Define and establish a function for the Board initially, and subsequently for the Assembly Government, as the national body to co- ordinate the standardisation of terms and place-names. Establish a national database of standardised terms in 2005.”

Information Technology and Welsh: A Strategy Document (2006) “6.1 IT Terminology & Lexicographical resources We recognise the field of standardisation of terminology and lexicographical resources as one of our priorities for the normalisation of Welsh.” “6.4.2 Terminology management We will use our international … networks to examine the potential of forming a national Welsh language standardised terminology database. We will use internationally recognised standards to facilitate the exchange of terminology”

Guidelines for the Standardization of Terminology (2007) A précis of ISO standards localized for Wales: “Adhering to international standards... prepares the Welsh language to take advantage of any technological and sociolinguistic developments in the future.”

Welsh–medium Education Strategy (WAG, 2010) “Education and training through the medium of Welsh cannot function properly without mechanisms to ensure that learners are fully supported by Welsh-medium assessment and Welsh-medium classroom resources… Standardised Welsh-language terminology is needed to ensure consistency across all assessments, qualifications and resources.”

Strategic Objective “SO5.5 To ensure that up-to-date, standardised Welsh-language terminology is available to support all aspects of Welsh-medium provision” -In school education (for 5-19 year olds) -In higher (university) education

Reversing Language Shift

In Conclusion Terminology policies may be viewed as part of the wider field of language planning They are effective in helping to reverse language shift They work best if the national community is actively seeking language revitalization They need to tie in with international standards to ensure best practice in the field