Primoz Jakopin (Ljubljana2) :

RAIL-LEX SLOVENIA - A MODERN RAILWAY DICTIONARY

The two partners involved are Slovenske zeleznice, the Slovenian Railway (Railway Traffic Institute) and the Institute for Slovenian Language at the Scientific Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts. The work on the project, Dictionary of the Railway Terminology (Zelezniski terminoloski slovar) began in January, 1994 and is to be completed by the end of 1998.

The dictionary is part of a larger European undertaking, Rail-lex Europe, under way by coordinated efforts of 29 members of the UIC, Union internationale des chemins de fer (International Union of Railways). UIC consists of 97 railway and other transport organizations from Europe and other parts of the world. The aim of the Rail-lex project, which has so far, in 1994, produced an 11-language CD ROM Rail Lexic with over 12.000 keywords (English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Esperanto, Hungarian, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese, Swedish), is to put together a modern, multilingual communications infrastructure, to promote links between railways themselves and between railways and the Industry, research and commerce and to contribute to the standardization of railway terminology. Rail-lex is coordinated by UICs European Rail Research Institute (ERRI), based in the Netherlands.

On Slovenian side head of the project is mag. Peter Verlic, leader of the team at the Railway Traffic Institute in Ljubljana, aided by Marjan Vrabl, who is leading the team in Maribor, the second largest Slovenian city, where a new set of railway codes, manuals and other documentation is being prepared. After Slovenia has become independent in 1991, the changes, needed to bring the railway closer to UICs standards, have to be made. The bulk of the keywords from Rail Lexic have now been translated, and together with additional keywords, which reflect the social and other specific circumstances in Slovenian railway they now form the first draft of a 15.000-keyword dictionary. It will be open to criticism from the railway staff and wider audience till end of 1996, when a revision from the side of the Institute for the Slovenian language will also be completed.