Project Details:
Preparation for the translation of the Green Book
| Project No.: | 2008-007-3-100 |
| Start date: | 2008-07-01 |
| End date: | |
| Division: | Physical and Biophysical Chemistry Division |
To pave the process of using the English original computer source files for the preparation of a structurally identical Green Book document in other languages such as German, French, Italian, Turkish, Japanese or Portuguese. In the long run adherence to the present structure will facilitate generating across-the-languages dictionaries.
Several publishers have approached Commission I.1 asking for the right to publish translations. IUPAC support is required to ensure that the translated documents maintain the exact structure of the electronic source files originally written in English, in particular to preserve the LaTeX files for formulae and tables for uniform appearance throughout the different language versions. In doing so, we would take advantage of the extensive work performed in the past that could be transferred as such to the translated versions.
The project will consist of an initial joint workshop involving all task group members. The aims of this workshop are twofold. First, the participants will learn how to use the LaTeX documents and how to process them. The workshop will enable the participants to practice translations of selected sections of the existing LaTeX files from the English original version.
Secondly, language specific technical questions will be discussed, which are related with problems that might arise during the translation of the electronic documents under the constraint of keeping an identical document structure under LaTeX.
After the workshop, participants will be collected in language groups. A language group will thus have at least one member of this task group project, but might include translators who are not explicitly mentioned as task group members of this project. Language groups will then work autonomously according to a task distribution scheme that was discussed during the workshop. The participants of the workshop are liaison people to the corresponding translation teams and will teach those on how to handle the formulae and tables with a minimum amount of "interference" from translators.
The subsequent majority of the discussions between language groups regarding technical aspects of handling the electronic files will occur via email and video conferencing.
At the end of the translation work, the translated documents will be made available for public review. After a suitable period, specific meetings of individual language groups will be held, in order to finalize the documents and any associated publication details.
* project announcement published in Chem. Int. Sep 2008