The Institut Telecom and Terminology

In the context of the system for enriching the French language, France's General Terminology and Neology Committee regularly publishes new recommendations.

> August 2010 – The General Commission of Terminology and Neology has recently published a list of vocabulary relating to IT, culture and broadcasting (Official Journal of 15th August 2010).
While the term rétrolien (trackback), should have no problem establishing itself among bloggers, its definition remains a little obscure, notably because it uses the term, bloc-notes (for "blog"), a term we all know is not really used.
The term, mobilisation éclair (flash mob) has the advantage of being easily understood, unlike its English equivalent, but the length of the term may be a drawback.
The question of the day is this: in the definition of mobilisation éclair, what do you think of the simultaneous use of the adjectives, "impromptu" and "informed".
Read the view of the Commission on vocabulary relating to IT and the internet (in french)
Read the view of the Commission on vocabulary relating to culture and communication (in french)

> July 2010 – The General Commission For Terminology and Neology has just published a list of vocabulary, mainly concerning culture and communication (Official Journal of 22 July 2010)
It includes terms such as télé-poubelle (trash TV) or télévision de rattrapage (catch-up TV) which were already widely used. Also featured are écran fragmenté (split screen) and collage (mash-up) which still have some way to go before they are firmly established.
Technophiles will be delighted to learn that the term longue traîne (long tail) is officially recognised in reference to the economic model, while artists will be pleased to see the terms performance and performeur (or performeuse) officialised (although you might be well advised to check out the Official Journal definitions to make sure you use them properly).
Notice published in the Official Journal of 22 July 2010

> December 2009 – New telecommunications vocabulary list from the General Commission For Terminology and Neology
In the list you will find the definition of the first-level internet domain acronyms (the familiar .com, .fr, .org ...), of course, but also a more daring neologism with the word ordiphone which we can hope to see replacing smartphone for all those iPhones, Blackberries and others.
Mention should also be made of the appearance of the term turbocode! Turbocodes are an invention of the Institut Telecom, having been created by Claude Berrou and Alain Glavieux from Télécom Bretagne in Brest in 1993, and are today widely used in telecommunications systems such as UMTS or ADSL 2.
For more about the new vocabulary list

> July 2009 - No more Green IT, in French we now say “Eco-TIC”
In the Official Journal of 12 July 2009, the General Commission for Terminology and Neology published the term écotechniques de l’information et de la communication and  éco-TIC, as equivalents of “Green IT”.   
Official Journal of 12 July 2009

> April 2009 - The first list of terms used in postal activities
The Commission preferred the French word "suivi" rather than "traçage" as a translation of "tracking", although it recognized that the latter term was virtually the only one used amongst professionals (traçage, traçabilité, traceur (particularly in medicine) ... There is a whole family of terms currently emerging.
Notice published in the Journal Officiel of 22 April 2009

> June 2007 - Opinion of the French General Commission of terminology and neology
The Official Journal of 16 June 2007 published a few telecommunications vocabulary terms. In particular, it focuses on the object known by the trademarks of Livebox, Freebox, Neufbox, etc. which can now be termed a multiservice box ("boîtier multiservice" in French). It also defines the notion of "triple service" and "quadruple service" (equivalents of triple play and quadruple play).
To find out more

> April 2007 - Opinion relative to computing vocabulary
Of particular note is the official recognition of terms that are sometimes already in widespread use (such as "entrepôt de données" for "data warehouse"), or are sometimes very new ("réalité de synthèse" for "virtual reality", whereas many people might have expected to see the term "réalité virtuelle").
To find out more

An example : "passe-livres"...

	Field	Definition	English equivalent
Passe-livres masculine noun	Culture	The practice of leaving a book in a public place to be picked up and read by others, who then do likewise	Bookcrossing

 

What is terminology?

 

Terminology is the body of technical terms relating to an art or science.

ICST (Information and communication science and technology) technology is a difficult challenge :

• firstly the field of information and communication science and technology is evolving very rapidly,
• secondly, the majority of terms are initially given in American English, before some of them are given a French equivalent.

Terminology has a real use dimension !

Researchers, engineers and industry must understand that the terminology they employ is a major element in the relevance of their work, the quality of their communication and the marketing of industrial products and services.