ISI - International Statistical Institute
Newsletter Volume 26, No. 3 (78) 2002
The South African Statistical Terminology Project and the Web
Background
In 1991 the EC of the South African Statistical Association (SASA) decided that the English-Afrikaans Statistical Dictionary had to be revised and expanded. The then existing dictionary was a revision by Prof. Herman Schoeman and an editorial panel (in 1984) of the first dictionary by Prof. B. de Loor (1961).
A working committee consisting of representatives of universities and research councils then met, and the current editorial committee was established from among their ranks. This committee started the work with the editorial assistance of the National Terminological Service (NTS) of the Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology. Mrs. Dea Swiegers is still the editorial assistant from the NTS. A number of voluntary collaborators regularly receive the minutes of the updated terms in order to comment on them.
The work of the Editorial Committee
Initially the index of the Encyclopedia of Statistical Sciences (ESS) was used to identify "new" terms. In addition, lists of new terms were also received from collaborators. The Marriott's Dictionary of Statistical Terms is an additional source used.
It was envisioned as one of the objectives of the project to establish more than a mere dictionary and rather to collaborate on the NTS's national term bank. Because the terms then also had to be provided with contextual sentences and definitions, where necessary, it was decided also to update these aspects. The division into fields within statistics is done according to Statistical Theory and Methods Abstracts, and a source reference of every term is also given.
At the invitation of the ISI, the Editorial Committee provided them with Afrikaans translations for their Multilingual Glossary of Statistical terms, which is available on the ISI's website (http://isi.cbs.nl/glossary.htm).
Since the appointment of the Committee, one-day work sessions have been held 5 to 6 times per year, where approximately 100 terms are discussed every time.
The list of terms on the Web
From the start of the project it became apparent that the objective should not be the publication of a dictionary, but rather of a dynamic list of terms that had to be made available as the work progressed. For this purpose, all the terms in the current Statistical Dictionary, together with the new terms, were included in the terminology list, and terms are revised and updated on this list. This involves that terms that have been dealt with, are made available complete with context sentences, definitions and sources, while the rest of the terms still only give translations (and perhaps synonyms).
The target audience for the list of terms is not only the statistics community, but also the broad public, translators and even the international community.
It was therefore decided to make the list of terms available on the website of the SASA (www.sastat.org.za under “Statistical Dictionary: ….”), from where it can be downloaded.
Dr. Nico F. Laubscher offered to convert the list of terms as extracted by the NTS from their term bank into a database, and then again to convert them into a user-friendly format. Once installed on a computer, it gives the foreword of the Editorial Committee as an explanation, and thereafter a choice between English-Afrikaans or Afrikaans-Engels. The next page offers the alphabet in groups of letters (e.g. ABC, DEF, etc.), the choice of which then takes the user to the terms.
In the case of the English-Afrikaans list, a typical example is as follows:
Asymptotic Relative Efficiency <Full form>
Synonym: ARE <Abbreviation>
Context: asymptotic properties of tests
Definition: for comparison of statistical tests and for comparison of estimators
Afrikaans 1: asimptotiese relatiewe doeltreffendheid <Volledige vorm>
Afrikaans 2: ARD <Afkorting>
Konteks: asimptotiese eienskappe van toetse
Definisie: by vergelyking van statistiese toetse en by vergelyking van beramers
Bron/Source: ESSFrom this it can be seen that, besides the context (the field of statistics), provision is also made for synonyms, abbreviations and a definition, as well as the source from which the term was obtained.
In order to make the list of terms dynamic, it was decided to update it every six months for web use. In this regard we also owe thanks to Dr. Laubscher, who has undertaken to do this regularly.
In conclusion
A few collaborators in the project have through the years regularly commented on minutes in which the new terms occur, for which we are very grateful. The Editorial Committee gives recognition to the NTS for their support over many years, without which the project would not have been possible. Furthermore, the initial financial and later moral support on the part of SASA has always been an inspiration.
Editorial Committee:
Faans Steyn
Chris Smit
Corna Vorster
John Lynch
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