Over the years, many people have contributed to the evolution, marketing and management of the original database, its supporting systems and its spinoff products. This article may be a little stroll down memory lane for them. For others, it will provide very interesting information on the history of TERMIUM®.

Interest in the development of a computerized terminology database began to grow in the 1960s. An increased demand for translation and, consequently, for terminology in the Translation Bureau coincided with an increased awareness of the capabilities of computers. The potential benefits of storing terms and their equivalents in a database for retrieval on demand became very attractive.

The Bureau helped launch a terminology database development project at the Université de Montréal in 1969. Five years later, when the Bureau was given the mandate to standardize the terminology used in the federal Public Service, and to establish a computerized terminology database to support this endeavour, the data bank developed from the Université de Montréal project was considered best suited to the requirements of growth potential and adaptability in a translation environment. While the Translation Bureau acquired the Termium (Terminology-University of Montréal) data bank at the end of 1975, it was in 1976 that this product truly became the Bureau's own.

Mission terminologie, the undertaking was called: hire one hundred employees as terminologists, teach them the research methodology established by the Université de Montréal development team, train them in the use of the data bank and in the application of the subject-field classification system (also developed at the Université de Montréal), and computerize the wealth of terminological information accumulated by Bureau translators over the previous four decades. This treasure-trove included 100 000 records held by the central terminology service in a drum file of 3" x 5" cards, another 100 000 entries in glossaries, vocabularies and L'Actualité terminologique, as well as hundreds of thousands of records, also on 3" x 5" cards, made by translators in about ninety specialized translation units located, for the most part, in their client departments. The cards were photocopied, then read and formatted using Optical Character Recognition. In all, about 1.7 million records were sorted, processed, and classified by subject field. By the time Mission terminologie ended, Termium I held 1 233 000 records.

In 1977, a new record model was implemented and various querying and management programs were added to the original system. These changes resulted in the second generation of the data bank, dubbed Termium II. Beginning in 1978, Bureau translators were trained to query the database. Eventually, access was extended to about twenty Canadian and international organizations outside the Bureau. The terminology bank was held on a Cyber mainframe computer at the Department of Energy, Mines and Resources. Printer terminals and modems were used to communicate with the mainframe over telephone lines at a data transmission speed of 300 baud. In the Translation Bureau, each terminal was installed in a central location and was shared by approximately twenty people. The initial goal of collecting all of the Bureau's terminology resources in one place and making them available on demand had been met.

In the meantime, supported by a large number of terminology assistants, data-entry operators and proofreaders, terminologists set to work on the next task: reviewing the records to ensure that all information pertaining to a given concept was consolidated on one record, and that each record dealt with only one concept. Duplicate, contradictory and unnecessary information was deleted. This huge screening operation took four years. By 1980, there were about 600 000 records left in the database, all of which met internationally accepted terminology principles.

While the results of terminology research projects were being loaded into the database concurrently with the screening operation, the number of records added could not compensate for the number of records deleted. In 1981, another major project was undertaken. This time, the purpose of the project was to accelerate the growth of the terminology bank's contents by collecting and loading selected terminology found in existing lexicographical and terminological publications. Within a year, 130 000 records had been added to the database.

Intensive use of the Termium II data bank for five years revealed those aspects of querying and database management that required improvement. The feasibility of developing a third generation of the terminology bank was studied, and users were consulted regarding their requirements. Since the printer terminals used to query Termium were generally located in libraries, the use of video display terminals was near the top of the translators' wish list. The need for a user-friendly interface, a better database design and a more direct database updating capability was sufficiently pressing to warrant the development of TERMIUM® III (marketing considerations led to the adoption of the uppercase spelling of the system's name).

Together with a private-sector company, a team of programmer-analysts and Translation Bureau terminologists, terminologist-analysts and support staff developed the new system. The resulting data bank helped manage not only the Bureau's terminology collection, but also the equipment used to access TERMIUM®, user profiles, production statistics, the subject-field classification system and many other technical aspects of the data.

By 1984, terminologists were using dedicated video display terminals to query and update the new database. A year later, users were taught how to query the new system, and Termium II was deactivated.

TERMIUM® III's menu-driven user interface was available in English and French, and user profiles helped adapt the querying interface to each user's preferences. A more elaborate database design was implemented, and records could be retrieved and sorted using a far wider variety of access keys, resulting in improved database management. Enhanced efficiency and ease of use were among the benefits of this new system.

The Translation Bureau's goal continued to be the widespread distribution of the terminology bank's contents, with a view to ensuring consistent terminology usage within the federal Public Service. Still, in 1985, when a private-sector company proposed the use of CD-ROM technology for distribution of the database's contents, there was some hesitation at first. This technology was not at all well known at the time, and installation of the required reader was technically challenging. Even personal computers were not commonly used yet-in fact, there were only a couple of PCs in the entire Bureau. But it was decided to experiment with the CD-ROM technology, and in 1987 a pilot project was conducted in ten Bureau translation units and in the translation services of a few private-sector clients. The initial tests were successful and development of this new spinoff product continued. In 1990, the Bureau began selling subscriptions to TERMIUM® on CD-ROM, recovering its production costs. Thanks to this product and to the effective marketing campaigns carried out by the Translation Bureau, more and more people were able to benefit from the Bureau's terminology research findings.

While this new product was being developed, the company that owned the document management software used for TERMIUM® III completely redesigned their software, which created the need for a project to redevelop the TERMIUM® application. The work was performed in 1992-1993 by a team of three people (a programmer-analyst, a terminologist-analyst/project leader, and a database-design consultant). The main purpose of the project was to ensure that all of the querying and database management capabilities of TERMIUM® III were reproduced using the new version of the software, rather than to redesign all aspects of the system. However, one major change was introduced: the formerly bilingual terminology record became multilingual, holding up to 13 languages, and potentially even more.

Translation Bureau terminologists began using TERMIUM® IV in 1993, translators, in 1994. While terminologists could access TERMIUM® IV directly from their offices using a PC, translators still had access from a single PC per translation unit, because of technical limitations. So although translators had indicated in 1982 that they wished to have access to TERMIUM® from their own offices, the available technology still did not satisfy that particular requirement. In the meantime, however, local area network technology was developed and eventually adopted by the Translation Bureau. Then a network version of TERMIUM® on CD-ROM was developed. When TERMIUM® on CD-ROM was installed on the Translation Bureau's LAN, the requirement expressed by translators was finally met. In 1996, a project was undertaken to install TERMIUM® on CD-ROM on the local area networks of interested federal departments and agencies, thus taking a step toward wider distribution of consistent terminology throughout the federal Public Service. For the first time, training was being given to users who were not all language professionals.

Soon another new information distribution technology showed promise: the Internet. In 1997, the Translation Bureau, in collaboration with a consulting firm, developed a server-based database that enabled querying through a Web browser. Consequently, users now have access to the latest information in TERMIUM® since all English, French and Spanish terminological data stored in the in-house version are copied to the new database on a monthly basis.

By implementing this product on a site on the federal government's Extranet, the Bureau finally had the tool needed to accomplish its goal. Every federal public servant can query TERMIUM® and consistently use the contents of its database. A copy of the database is also made available through the Internet to registered users outside the federal Public Service.

Throughout these technological advances, the enhancement of TERMIUM®'s contents continued. Since1998, many existing records have been systematically reviewed and updated, and Spanish terminological information added to many English-French records. The results of terminology projects undertaken in collaboration with Bureau clients, and records produced by organizations and individual contributors have been added to the database. Methodologies have been reviewed and updated, with emphasis being placed on management of the database's contents by subject field. The need for strong content management is understandable since TERMIUM®, which now contains 3.5 million entries on approximately 1.3 million records dealing with terminology, translation problems and official titles, must be constantly updated to reflect the rapid evolution of knowledge in all subject areas. Further, in order to ensure effective communication within the Canadian Public Service, between Canada and its neighbours in the Americas, and between Canada and the rest of the world, the database's contents must be continuously enhanced with specialized terminology in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese. Recently, French and English writing and editing tools have been added to enrich TERMIUM®'s product range.

And, of course, technological progress continues apace. A new version of TERMIUM® on CD-ROM is being developed. Its interface will emulate that of TERMIUM Plus® and Spanish terminological information will be included. Concurrently, a project has been undertaken to redevelop the in-house version of TERMIUM®. The new system will fulfil the need expressed a long time ago by Bureau translators: a part of the database will be reserved for immediate update by the translators themselves. TERMIUM® V will contribute significantly to the achievement of the Bureau's terminology standardization goals.

A lot has been accomplished in the first years of TERMIUM®'s life. Imagine what the next years will bring!

Christine Leonhardt