inclusion of further languages as well as to
new Entries was accepted (Lindig, 1982). In
1984, the American Society of Photogrametry
published its "ASP-Dictionary" (Rabechevsky,
1984) with 1700 Terms and Definitions in
English on the basis of Wolf's paper (Wolf,
1980) including preliminary Equivalents in
French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish
and Russian.
In 1988 (2nd edition 1990), the Polish
Language Group published a five-language
Dictionary on Photogrametry and Remote
Sensing" with 2250 Terms and Definitions in
Polish including Equivalents in English,
French, German and Russian on the basis of the
"ASP-Dictionary".
In 1993, the German Language Group published
its Glossary as part of the Multilingual
Dictionary with 4150 Terms and Definitions
including preliminary Equivalents in English
and French.
2.2 Present membership of WG VI-3
At the Symposium in Mainz 11 Language Groups
(LGs) could spontaneously be created, which
increased to 17 by 1996, as Annex 3 shows.
Nearly all major languages are represented,
each spoken by more than 50 million people.
Still outstanding are unfortunately Italian,
Indonesian and Korean, which are cordially
invited to join the WG VI-3.
Each Language Group can decide if it wants to
produce its own Glossary by independent
collection or translate it fram other ones
already existing (now German or Polish, later
English or French).
2.3. Present Activities of the Language Group
In spite of the initial enthusiastic start of
work its progress is now absolutely unsatis-
factory. A questionnaire distributed to all
Language Groups was returned by one Language
Group only. Specially regrettable js the fact
that the "Key-Language" English, which is
absolutely necessary for the linkage of
"Exotic" languages, does not make any remark-
able progress. So, not much can be reported.
Proposals for an acceleration of work are
outlined in Par. 2.4.
86
1. German: As the 1° edition of the German
Language Volume was published in 1993, the LG
concentrated activities intensively on the
improvement of its dictionary. Special
attention was given to the inclusion of
numerous new terms of Remote Sensing including
the exact coordination with the revised German
standards called DIN, which have recently been
completed. The experiences made with this work
resulted in some changes of the guidelines
outlined in Par. 4.
.2. Polish: The LG is going to prepare a new
edition of its Glossary extending the present
number of Entries from 2900 to planned 4200
with open deadline.
.3. Spanish: Recently the Spanish Society of
Cartography, Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing
asked the publisher of the German Dictionary
(a copy already sent) for participation in the
WG-activities, perhaps by translation. The WG
VI-3 expects new impulses to the S-LG.
2.4 Proposals for an Acceleration of Work
.1 Substitution of missing English Data
Since most LGs (without German knowledge) are
waiting for English data in order to bring
forward their own Glossary, perhaps by
preliminary translation, the chairmen of WG
IV-3 offer the following assistance:
a) The English Entry List (preliminary
produced by D-LG and therefore with question
marks) Par. 3.7) has about 60-80 % of terms
with terminological origin fram Latin or
Greek, which are nearly identical with the
German Equivalents, which means that they can
be understood without interpretation of German
Definitions. After marking these terms and
distribution of those lists (optional via
Floppy Disc) the other LGs can start or
continue preliminary translations.
b) A second step can be taken for the
remaining 20 - 40 % of terms, for which the
coordination needs Definitions. WG IV-3
delivers a rough translation of the German
Definitions in a kind of "Pidgin English".
This may make it possible to understand these
Definitions without knowledge of the German
language and to find the relevant term and
Definition in one's own language.
International Archives of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. Vol. XXXI, Part B6. Vienna 1996
