Specialised communication

The research group on Specialised Communication started its activities in the early 1990s with the aim of developing the German legal and administrative language in South Tyrol, first by offering scientific backing to the South Tyrolean Terminology Commission for official terminology standardization, later by supporting terminology harmonisation projects at local and international level. The group has been collecting legal terminology in Italian and German ever since, increasingly including legal comparison with the German-speaking legal systems abroad. The resulting large amounts of terminological data (mainly in Italian and German) have been published in several formats, i.e. dictionaries and online databases.

The largest terminology collection is freely available online in bistro, Eurac Research’s Information System for Legal Terminology. bistro is regularly updated and contains terminological data from the Italian, German, Austrian, Swiss, European and international legal systems pertaining to a range of subdomains of law. Several of the group’s scientific and practical publications offer insights into its activities and provide guidelines for comparing, managing and sharing legal terminology. Today, the research group networks with national and international organisations (e.g. UNI/ISO, RaDT, Interinstitutionelle Terminologiegruppe Deutsch). At local level, the cooperation with some offices of the South Tyrolean provincial administration, first and foremost the Office for Language Issues, is particularly fruitful.

In recent years, the group acquired expertise in two new research fields: knowledge management and specialised translation. It has carried out applied research on multilingual knowledge management in local private companies and public institutions facing issues connected to multilingualism and efficient communication. Furthermore, the research group has increasingly focused on specialised translation, in particular on translation and terminology policies, on translation in public and multilingual institutions and on non-professional translation. These studies are finely tuned towards the local demands but produce theoretical and empirical knowledge that is greatly appreciated by the international scientific community.

The group’s research work develops into teaching and knowledge-transfer activities as well as training and consultancy activities, especially related to terminology work and management, legal comparison, specialised translation, plain language and multilingual knowledge management.