Thanks to its multilingual nature, the European Parliament is the biggest employer of translators in the world. It produces millions of pages of texts each year, and translators do their best to provide the highest possible quality of the final content.

 

With such a great amount of work, any technologies that speed up the translation process are invaluable. However, due to the nature of the texts, translators cannot use tools publicly available on the Internet, because they do not ensure sufficient privacy and security of data. To improve the process, many resources aimed at supporting the organisation of translation projects, faster workflows, greater efficiency and higher quality of translations have been created over the years.

 

What is IATE?

 

IATE (Interactive Terminology for Europe) is an interinstitutional terminology database launched in 1999. It was designed to ensure high communication quality and standardisation of terminology.

 

The diversity of vocabulary and the wide range of fields that the terms in the database refer to are possible thanks to the cooperation between groups of representatives from many institutions taking part in the IATE project:

 

  • European Parliament (entries marked ‘EP’),
  • Council of the European Union (entries marked ‘Council’),
  • European Commission (entries marked ‘COM’),
  • Court of Justice of the European Union (entries marked ‘CJUE’),
  • European Central Bank (entries marked ‘ECB’),
  • European Court of Auditors (entries marked ‘ECA’),
  • European Economic and Social Committee (entries marked ‘EESC/CoR’),
  • European Committee of the Regions (entries marked ‘EESC/CoR’),
  • European Investment Bank (entries marked ‘EIB’),
  • Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union (entries marked ‘CdT’).

 

Access to the database and how it’s organised

 

In 2007, a publicly available version of the IATE database was created, and on 7 November 2018, it was fully rebuilt and upgraded according to the highest standards. To gain access, just visit the IATE website. IATE is not only an extremely useful tool for translators, but also an invaluable aid in learning vocabulary from various fields for language enthusiasts, students and specialists. Thanks to free access, the group of database users is really wide.

 

IATE entries are sorted by domain, industry and reliability level. In addition to the meaning in the given language versions and definition, the context in which the term appears, the source from which it originates, the approval status of the specialists overseeing the project, the creation and last modification dates, as well as any notes that might have been made by the person who created the entry are also available.

 

 

Terminology standardisation: for translators and other specialists

 

As there are 24 official languages of the European Union, a shared terminology database significantly contributes to text consistency and allows getting familiar with the ‘official’ terms prevailing in many languages. IATE also facilitates translation outside the EU institutions and constitutes a reliable reference source for translators all over the world, and even a useful tool for people outside the translation industry. Public administration employees can use IATE when preparing official documents to ensure consistency and precision of the terminology used in communication with citizens and other institutions. With the support of IATE, companies operating on international markets can make sure that their communication with business partners, clients and suppliers is clear and understandable in every business language. Meanwhile, for marketing specialists, IATE is a useful tool for creating multilingual promotional materials, catalogues and websites, helping to reach a wider audience on the global market.

 

IATE contributes to knowledge sharing and facilitates intercultural dialogue, strengthening integration in Europe and outside its borders. Open access supports education, international cooperation and business, promoting transparency and availability values, which are the foundation of the European spirit. Thanks to the cooperation between the EU institutions, this tool reflects the Union’s commitment to building a community that respects multilingualism and equal standards for everyone.