This work is based on the Forestry and Forest Products Vocabulary compiled by Mirja Ruokonen in 1985 for the Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux in England. Use of the word "Vocabulary" in the title is significant, for this is not terminology. It is an inventory of some 12.000 forestry and forestry-related terms gleaned from the English language literature of forestry and related sciences. Each term is provided with a reference to a source containing its definition. The work in progress has three phases: 1. To translate the English vocabulary into French and Spanish (completed); 2. To place the trilingual text on magnetic tape (nearly completed); and 3. To issue the texts on PC disks for wide distribution (in progress). Value of the tapes/disks for literature searchers, translators, and multi-national cooperators is discussed. Plans exist for ultimately recasting the Vocabulary in the ISO 6156 MATER format, permitting development of a full multilingual terminology.
Key words: electronic vocabulary, terminology, exchange format.
Correspondence: Theodor B. Yerke, NAFC Study Group for Multilingual Forestry Terminology, c/o USDA Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station, P.O. Box 245, Berkeley, CA 94701-0245 U.S.A.
Telefax: +1-510-5596400