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The Centre for Academic Estonian in cooperation with the Institute of
Estonian Language and Culture at Tallinn University will organize an
international conference entitled "National Languages in Academic Research
and Higher Education" (NatAcLang). The conference will be held on August
29–30. A terminology roundtable entitled "Estonian Terms in the Fields of
Computer Science and Communication Technology" will be held on August
31.The European Union wishes to maintain and develop multilingualism and
cultural diversity. The Estonian Language Development Plan aims to
guarantee the availability of higher education in Estonian and excellent
Estonian skills of graduates of higher education institutions, and to
prevent any field of science becoming fully foreign language based. For
this purpose, each speciality needs textbooks in Estonian, special
glossaries and publications of important scientific accomplishments in
Estonian. According to the Estonian Higher Education Strategy for
2006–2015, it is important to guarantee the development of Estonian
education and culture in a way that higher education is available in
Estonian on all levels and areas. Similar problems are faced and dealt with
in universities and research centres around the world.During the conference
the focus will be on contemporary trends and solutions for achieving a
balance between national and international science communication and the
languages of higher education; experiences will be shared regarding the
situation of different national languages as scientific languages at the
time of globalization.Plenary speakers of the conference will be Professor
Kirsti Siitonen (University of Turku, Finland) and Jolanta Zabarskaitė,
PhD (Institute of the Lithuanian Language, Lithuania). In addition to
speakers from Estonian and neighbouring countries, there are speakers from
United Arab Emirates, Belgium, Iran, Mexico, Romania, the United Kingdom
and the USA. Both days will include a dozen presentations. About 15
languages will be looked at in detail.The working languages of the
conference will be Estonian and English. Interpretation will be
provided.The conference is supported by the Estonian Ministry of Education
and Research. On August 29 an exhibition entitled “The Estonian Language
in Science and Higher Education” will be opened in TU Academic Library.On
August 31 a terminology roundtable entitled “Estonian Terms in the Fields
of Computer Science and Communication Technology” will be held. This
particular theme was chosen because everyone in Estonia, regardless of
their speciality, come across the lack of Estonian terms in these fields.
Furthermore, the development of both software and hardware is extremely
fast. Specialists from universities and elsewhere will discuss the
achievements and failures of the creation of terminology so far, the
situation and usability of standards and future aspirations. As a
comparison, an overview of the situation of Dutch terminology will be
given. The roundtable is supported by the national terminology
programme.For further information about the conference and to register
please visit the conference homepage or send an email to
nataclang@tlu.ee.For further information about the roundtable and to
register please visit the roundtable homepage.Researchers and intellectuals
of all specialities are welcome.Peep Nemvalts, PhDHead of the Centre for
Academic EstonianTallinn UniversityPhone: +372 640 9337Email:
Peep.Nemvalts@tlu.ee