ARCHIVESHISTORIQUES
DELACOMMISSION
COLLECTION RELIEEDES
DOCUMENTS "COM"
COM(76)705
Vol.1976/0209

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COMMISSION OFTHEEUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
COM(76)705final.
Bruaselia.23Deoeaher1976*
COMMUNICATION FROMTHECOMMISSION TOTEECOUNCIL
Planofaction
fortheimprovementofthetransferofinformation
■betweenEuropeanlanguages
C0M(76)705final

I · '. ■ '/!·' ·'
.. Plan ofaction . ; ■'» 1
forthe'improvement ofthetransfer ofinformation
between theEuropean languages
1.Purpose ,'
1.1.General
TheEuropean Community comprises amultilingual group of
peoples seeking integration ,whichHs nonetheless ,continuous
andprogressive .
Themultiplicity oflanguages ,which isapermanent feature ,
represents apriceless heritage ofcivilization foritreflects
7 thevariety ofcultural backgrounds ofournations .
Butthis linguistic diversity poses problems indaily lifewhich
hamper theongoing process ofintegration andthesmooth operation
' ' oftheCommunity institutions .Immense efforts areneeded -long
before agreement isreached -simply tounderstand eachother in
these multilingual settings .Onecould never quantify thecost
ofcommunication andassess theinevitable wastage oftime and
intellectual effort inthis environment ,letalone thesumof
frustration that ensues .
Despite endeavours toreduce thenumber ofpages ofdocuments
andthenumber oflanguages into which translations are
requested ,theCommission isfaced byalevel ofdemand which
isincreasing atarate ofsome 10%peryear .Tocopewith
this demand ,theCommunity institutions have hadtoestablish
extremely large translation services ,probably themosthighly
staffed intheworld .
{r s"''•

Evenso,inordertofacilitatethetranslation process,
particularly ofrepetitivetextswhichcanbesimplyconveyed
fromonelanguagetoanother,itseemshighlydesirabletomake
useofawiderangeofworkingtools,someofwhichareavailable
andsomebeingdeveloped.
Suchtoolsrangefromthedictionary andmultilingual thesauri
totheterminology bankandcomputer-aided translation systems.
Theyareexpensivetodevelopanduse.Butthescaleofthe
Community'spresentandforeseeablelinguisticactivitiesis
suchthatthesystematic useofmultilingual toolscannotbut
leadtosavingsinthelongterm.InthisrespecttheCommunity
isinanexceptional situation.
Backqround
Dictionaries,cardindexesandsomeautomatedinstruments have
%
beenusedintranslationforaverylongtime.Inthelast
thirtyyears,thecomputerhasarrivedtocompletetherange.
In1950-60therewassomethingofanobsession,particularly in
theUnitedStates,forexperimenting withautomatictranslation .
Attheendofthatperiod,theauthorities reducedtheir
financialbackingandresearchdeclined.
Buttheperformance levelswhichhavenowmadethecomputeran
irreplaceable toolhavecontinuedtoimprove.Memorieshave
becomemorecapaciousandthememoryunitlessexpensive ;.Access
hasbecomemorerapidandlesscostly.Theinformation storedis
betterorganized anddataretrievalcanbemoresophisticated ,so
thatitisnowpossibleto"process"themostcomplexlanguage
structures .
Directaccesshasbeenrefinedtosuchapointthatdialogue
withdatasystemsanddatacanreplaceconsultation ofreference
books,sortingthroughindexcardsandafairproportionof
repetitiveintellectual work.

SoyeralresearchcentresIntheCommunityhavetackledthe
problemofcommunication betweendifferentlanguages.The
.Commissionitselfhaspursuedcertainlinesofresearchon
linguisticproblemsattheIspraEstablishment oftheJoint
ResearchCentre.Thetranslationserviceshavebeguntobuild
upaterminology bankandthescientificinformationservices
havesetupamultilingual informationretrievalsystemfor
metallurgy.
Morerecently,undertheCommunity'sfirstplanofactioninthe
fieldofscientific andtechnicalinformation anddocumentation
adoptedbytheCouncilin1975,theobjectofwhichistosetup
,...<aEuropeaninformationnetworkunderthetitleof"EURONET",the
Commissionhasbeenstudyingthepossibilities ofapplyingvarious
toolsandmethodstothetransferofscientific andtechnical
information fromonelanguagetoanother.Someofthesemethods
havealreadyprovedtheirworthinpracticeandseveralofthe
Community'sadvisorycommittees/particularly CIDSTandCREST(*),
agreethattheinstrumentsdesignedtofacilitatethetransfer
ofscientificandtechnicalinformation havebeendevelopedto
suchapointthattheyshouldnowbeturnedtoaccountinother
fields. i
2.Basicprinciples
ObviouslytheoperationoftheCommunity'sinstitutions couldnot
failtobesubstantially improved,fromtheefficiencypointofview,
bythegradualapplication ofcomputerized methodstothetransferof
information betweentheCommunitylanguages.TheCommissionhasthere­
foredecidedtoinitiateathree-yearplanofaction,tocomeinto
forceasearlyas1977,inviewoftheriskthatpresentconditions
intheinstitutions maybeaggravatedbytheaccessionofnewmember
countries.
(*)CIDST:CommitteeforScientific andTechnicalInformation and
Documentation .
CREST:Scientific andTechnicalResearchCommittee.

4
Itmustfirstbemadeclearthatthisplanofactiondeesnot
concerntrueresearchanddevelopment,butaseriesoftests,pilot
experiments,andtrialapplications usingsystemsdesignedelsewhere
andselectedonthebasisoftheirpositivefeaturesandtheir
developmentpotential.Thereisnosystemnortechniquecapableof
solvingallproblemsatonce.Thepresentfirstgenerationofcom­
puterizedinstrumentswillundoubtedly befollowedbyasecond
generationofmoresophisticated ones.
\
Consequently,whilepavingthewayfortheadventofthefuture
systems,advantageshouldbetakenofthefacilitiesofferedbysystems
alreadyattheoperational orpreoperational stage.Butforthe
reasonsmentioned,itwouldbeunwisetoconsideronlythelatter,or
onlyoneofthem.\
Consequently,theCommissionintendscombiningtheprogrammeof
applications withacontinuousreviewofprogresswiderwayandactive
supportforthedevelopmentofnewsystemsinthemembercountries,In
orderthatsuchsystemsbegearedtomeettheneedsof'theCommunity
inacoordinated manner.
3.Planofaction
_ \
TheCommissionwillundertakeacoherentplanofactionon
.severalfronts:
-automaticpre-translation ofunprocessedtextsdraftedin
naturallanguage, -.,■-
-automatictranslationoftextsdraftedinlimitedsyntax,,s*
-terminology banks,
-multilingual thesauri,
-technicalinfrastructure ,
-assessmentofappliedresearch,
-encouragement ofmultilingualism .

.Automaticpretrsnslation oftextsinnaturallanguage
TheprogrammehasbeenplannedInthelightoftwoconsiderations :
I
(1)Inthepastthedevelopment ofautomatictranslation systems
forscientifictextshasfocusedmainlyontheRussian/English'
languagepair,whichisofnoparticularinteresttothe
Community.
(2)Disregarding thequalityofthetextsuppliedbythemachine,
ncautomatictranslating systemcanoperateproperlyinany
sectorwithoutasubstantialinitialinvestment,equivalent
totheestablishment ofamultilingual dictionaryforthe
sectorinquestion.
TheCommissionthereforeintendstointroduceaninitialtriedand
testedsystemintoitsdepartments andbringingitfirstofall
tothepilot-experiment stageandthentotheoperational stage
foronepairofCommunitylanguagesandonespecializedfield.
Ifexpectations arefulfilled,thesystemwillbeextendedto
includeotherspecializedfieldsandotherCommunitylanguages.
Thus,theinitialsystemwillbegraduallyconvertedintoa
EuropeaninstrumentbelongingtotheCommunityandwillbe
capableof:
-rapiddrafttranslations incertainfields,allowing,for
instance,anengineertograspthesubstanceofadocument
withoutnecessarily understanding allthenuances;
-translations ofsufficientqualitytopassdirectlyto
checkingorrevision,asiscurrentlytheprocedurefor
draftspreparedbytranslators.

6
Thedevelopment workwillbecarriedoutmainlyattheCommission'' s
ComputerCentreinLuxembourg,byCommissionstaffincollabora­
tionwithconsultants .,
1Specialattentionwillbepaidtothecost/efficiencyratioand
tothetechnicalproblemsposedbytherecordingoftextsand
dictionaries .
Carewillbetaksntoensurethatthedictionaries andother
toolscreatedforthispurposewillbeapplicablelaterinthe
:s,systemsofsubsequentgenerations,thussecuringthebestpossible
returnonthere^ojrees invested.
3.2.Automatictranslation oftextsinlimitedsyntax
'Therearesystemswhichprovideisatisfactory automatictransla­
tionsoftextsdraftedaccordingtolimitedgrammatical rules.
Suchsystemsareparticularly usefulforthetranslation of
summariesinseverallanguagesforinformation retrieval
purposes.'
Itisintendedthataninitialtriedandtestedsystemofthis
typebeappliedtoscientific andpara-scientific textsthe
draftingandtranslation ofwhichareofinteresttothe
Community,thattheextensionofthissystemtootherspecialized
fieldsandtootherCommunitylanguagesbeencouraged,thatjoint
effortsbemadetograduallyliftmdstofthegrammatical con­
straintswhichlimittheuseofthe.system,andifappropriate,
thatsomestafftetrainedirithodraftingoftextswith•
reducedsyntax.
3.3.Terminology ban'«:g
Thecompilingofru.LMlingualterminologyfiles1neschcountry,
eachinstitution orevenbyeachtranslator andInterpreter
separatelyfortheirownuserepresents afantasticwasteof

y
.7
intellectual resources,whichcouldbereducedbysettingup-
terminology bsnksaccessibletoall.
I '
TheCommissionisalreadyinthethroesofestablishing,for
itsowntranslators,aterminology bankwhosereliabilityis
assuredbyastrictvaliditycheck.Subsequentdevelopment
ofthisterminology bank,byextensionofitscontentand
improvementofaccessibility,isprovidedforinthepresent
planefaction,tobecarriedoutincloseliaison,including
theexchangeofavailablecollections,withsimilarprojects
inhandelsewhereintheMemberStatesandsomenon-member
f'
countries.
Oncesuchaterminology bankhasacquiredthenecessaryvolume
andquality,itsusebydirectaccesswillbefarmoreeconomical
thantrackingdownthesameinformationinhugevolumesofprinted
. •$indexes,whicharegenerallyfairlyinaccessible.
Multilingual thesauri
Thesecontrolledmultilingual vocabularies areessentialtools
forthetransferofinformation.Liketerminologydatabanks,
theyareberrefitingfromtheadvancesincomputertechniques.
-1 •
Thebest-knowninternational informationretrievalsystems
arebasedonmultilingual thesauri.Itisessentialto'use
themostmoderncomputerized methodstomanageandusethem
forpurposesofinformationretrieval.
TheCommissionhassubstantialexperienceinthisfieldsince
ithashelpedtodevelophighlyadvancedmethodsofthesaurus
compilation.,v,

'Itseems advisable tocompare andharmonise themethods
developed andused in'theCommission 'sdepartments with various
others advocated bysome International institutions sothat
common guidelines canbemapped out .
Inparticular ,itisurgently necessary todraft recommendations
fortheestablishment ofmultilingual thesauri bycombining or
dovetailing existing monolingual vocabularies inaccordance with
•these guidelines .
5.Technical infrastructure
Anumber ofadditional measures should beundertaken inorder to
situate theplan ofaction inareal operational context .The
main purpose ofsuch measures would betoimprove themethods
used fortheacquisition /handling andretrieval oftexts ,both
upstream anddownstream ofprocessing bycomputer .
They include
improvement ofconventional techniques fortheacquisition of
non-digital documents ,particularly texts ofallkinds ;
-development ofsophisticated tools permitting direct
acquisition andtransliteration oftexts ;
-useofvideo terminals fordirect processing oftexts ;
-development ofsystems forreturning translated texts on
various media ,insitu andatadistance .
6,Assessment andorientation ofapplied research
Themeasures described above must beperiodically reoriented
irithelight ofcurrent research anddevelopment onmultl-
llngualis *. • *• < ■

Particularly inautomatictranslation,therearesomanypersons
involvedandprojectsunderwaythatnewideasandpromising
'■initiatives mayemergeatanytime;thesemustbechannelled
'alongcertainlineswhichcorrespondwiththeactionprogramme
andtakeintoaccounttheevolutionoftheCommunity's
requirements . •..
•i* ■••■■■■■. ■
TheCommissionwillthereforeseethat^limitednumberof
incentivesandencouraging measuresbeadoptedandimplemented
■incollaboration withtheJRCandspecializedinstitutions in
.thoMemberStates. ........
3.7.Promotional measures
Alarge-scaleplanofactionrequirestheparticipation ofalt
;whoaredirectlyorindirectlyconcernedbymultilingualism,
includingteachers,publishers,documentalists ,computer
specialists,linguists,translators,interpreters and
terminolegists,andeventheusersofscientificor,other
information .
1f ,:
Tosecuretheirparticipation,theymustfirstbeidentified,
approached,informedandinterested.Thiscculdbeachieved
throughspecializedpublications andtheorganization ofcourses,
seminarsanddemonstration sessions.
Astartingpointinthisdirectionwillbeprovidedbythe
organization oftheThirdEuropeanCongressoninformation
systemsandnetworks,entirelydevotedtomultilingual problems,
inMay1977.
Staffingandimplementation
Fortheplanningandimplementation ;ofthiswork,theCommission
intendstosecuretheassistanceofa"CommitteeofExpertsforthe
TransferofInformationbetweenCommunitylanguagesCCETIL)",composed
ofspecialists fromtheMemberStatesandtheCommission,selectedfor
theirexperienceoftechnicalproblemsandrequirements atEuropeanlevel

10
Underthisthree-yearplanofaction,theworkwillbe
carriedoutwiththeassistanceofconsultants andthestaffof
theEuropeaninstitutions,inparticulartheCommission'sComputer
Centre.TheCommissionintendstoformasingleteamoflinguists
andcomputerspecialists,drawn"fromits.owndepartments,possibly
otherinstitutions andonsecondment,fromotherspecializedorganiza­
tions,inparticular,specializedorganizations inthemembercountries.
5*Budget
Theexpenditureinvolvedinimplementing thethree-yearplanof
actionisoftheorderof2,750,000 UA,brokendownasfollows(in
unitsofaccount,at1976prices)*:
(1977)(1978)(1979)
Automaticpre-translation of
ofnaturallanguage180.000 360.000 460.000
Translation oftextswrittenin
limitedsyntax110.000 240.000 280»000
Terminology banks70.000 120.000 140.000
Multilingual thesauri 50.000 80.000 120.000
Technicalinfrastructure 40.CQ0 70»000100.000
Appliedresearch30.000 80.000 100.000
: i. -*
Promotion 20.000 50.000 50.000
ι
TOTALî500.000 1.000.000
TffMT TTT'm1.250.000
Λ

1 Annex3
FINANCIALSTATEMENTforthe1977budget
Planofaction
fortheimprovement ofthetransferofInformation
betweentheEuropeanlanguages
PARTI:INTERVENTION APPROPRIATIONS
- ·4
1.Relevantbudgetheadingcode
Item3621
2.Titleofbudgetheading
Projectssupplementary tothethree-yearplanofactioninthe
fieldofscientific andtechnicalinformation anddocumentation .
3.Legalbasis
Actiondirectedtotheimprovedeffectiveness oftheCommission's
staff.
A.Description,objective(s )andjustification oftheproject
Theaimoftheprojectistodevelopcomputer-aided methodsfor
carryingoutpre-translations cftoxt3ofallkindsinthesix
officiallanguagesoftheCommunity. "''
5.Appropriations
In1977:500.000UA
In1978:1.000.000 UA
In1979:1.250.000 UA
Forthefirstyearoftheplan,1977,itislikelythattho
commitmentswillbemainlyconcentrated inthesecondsixmonths;
forthefollowingyears,thecommitmentswillbespreadoutevenly
overtheyear.

Thebasisforcalculation oftheabovefigureswasthonumberof
computerinstructions andthenumberofprogrammeswhichwouldhave
tobecompleted,takingintoaccountpastexperienceinaparticular
field,foodindustry,andforaparticularpairoflanguages,
English-French .
6.Typeofcontrolenvisaged
Testsofqualityoftheservice;moreover,operationscarried
outundercontractwillbethesubjectofreportstobeexamined
notonlybythestaffoftheCommissionbutalsobyanadvisory
committeewhichitisproposedtosetup;thiscommitteewillbe
composedofexpertsoftheMemberStatesaswellasoftheCentralssion.
6.PARTII:COMPLEMENTARY INFORMATION CONCERNING ANEWACTION
7»Totalcostoftheactionduringtheperiodforeseen
••2,750,000 UA
8.Information onthepersonnelandtheadministrative appropriations
neededtocarryouttheaction
Themanagementofaplanofactionofsuchscopewillrequirethe
-reinforcement ofthestaffpresentlyavailablebyasenior
administrator A5/A4,anadministrator A7/A6,anassistant83/B2and
twosecretaries C3/C2;theassistant,administrator andsenior
administrator needtohavesomeknowledgeintheareasbothof
computers andlinguistics .
9.Sourceoffinance
Theappropriations willneedtobeincludedinthefuturebudget;
theyhavebeenaskedforbytheCommissioninitsbudgetproposals
for1977andtheParliament hasincluded500,000UAcf"payment
appropriations forthispulses©onthemubudgetline3621
acceptedbyCouncil*