Mr. Guido Zebisch, Project Manager, GIZ-Morocco - ACWUA

www.arabterm.orgThe GIZ´s quatrilingual technicalonline dictionary regional projectArabterm(or: how is knowledge transfered ?)Guido Zebisch M.A.Project Director / Chief Consultant10.06.2012Seite 1

www.arabterm.orgcornerstone data:• Has been commissioned by theFederal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development,BMZ• Is the first common German cooperation project with theArab partner organization ALECSO,the Arab League‘s Educational, Cultural and ScientificOrganization with a radius on 22 Arab countries• Is carried out with the ALECSO-division„Bureau for the Coordination of Arabization, BCA“Rabat) ‏,مكتب تنسيق التعريب)‏10.06.2012Seite 2

www.arabterm.orgidentified needs analysis• UNDP report on„Human Development in the Arab World“ 2003• E.g. UNDP report on„Arab Knowledge Society“ 2010/11• 30 years of experience, on behalf of German internationalcooperation, within the totality of Arab countries10.06.2012Seite 3

www.arabterm.orgidentified needs analysis / exemplary details:• Divisions, within the latter, between a rather French-speakingWestern sphere and a rather English-speaking Eastern sphere,and additional mono-lingual countries with Arabic only, often blockexchange of expertise within the Arab world.• Experts who received their own education in a European languagefind difficulties, even on a purely national level, to disseminatetheir expertise within the classical educational framework.• Often, tuition takes place in a linguistic jargon enriched withspoken dialectal Arabic mixed with English or French technicalterms, while teaching manuals are in English or French only.10.06.2012Seite 4

www.arabterm.orgidentified needs analysis / exemplary details:• Knowledge transfer is hard to achievewhen academic and vocational students do not dispose over acommand of terminological precision in their habitual language.• This affects the vocational professions even more than academia• “… the Arab region’s extreme need for accurate tools andmethodologies to provide accurate and standardizedmeasurement of learning output and the progress of theirdevelopment in scientific and objective ways…”10.06.2012Seite 5

www.arabterm.orgproject aims:This multidisciplinary project aims at creating opportunities of knowledge transfer for key technologies that have been identified as vitalwith regard to more sustainable absorptionwithin the Arab world allowing larger integration into the work market10.06.2012 Seite 6

www.arabterm.orgthe project‘s context:The Arabic language, having been identified as facing challenges related to its teaching, acquisition and useAnd challenges related to its automated processing by moderninformation technologies, is essential to be considered as a tool that contributes inthe production of knowledge and is part of the developmentof a knowledge society10.06.2012 Seite 7

www.arabterm.orgthe project‘s context:The UNDP report on “Human Development in the ArabWorld” of 2003 states: “… In order to create an Arab Knowledge Society, not onlyinformation technologies are to be imported, but along withthem, the „arabizing“ of their very terminology...“‣which falls under the mandate of ALECSO,the „equivalent of the UNESCO of the Arab world“as the main political partner in this project10.06.2012 Seite 8

www.arabterm.orgproject visionWith regard to technical terminology,we work on Arabterm to become a tool as self-evidentto use as other current translation search enginesThis can only be achieved in sound cooperation with anystakeholder from within the relevant sectorsAutomotive EngineeringWater TechnologyRenewable EnergyElectronicsTextileTransport & Infrastructure10.06.2012 Seite 15

www.arabterm.orgproject contactsDeutsche Gesellschaft fürInternationale Zusammenarbeit GIZLe Bureau de la GIZ au Maroc02, Avenue de la Tour Hassan10000 RabatRoyaume du MarocGuido.Zebisch@giz.de10.06.2012 Seite 16