WORLD-WIDE CONFERENCE OF THE INTERNATIONAL ASOCIATION OF GENERAL SECRETARYS AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Siena, 18/20 aprile 2002
PROTOCOL ON LANGUAGE POLICY
INTRODUCTION
At its meetings in December 2000 and February 2001, the Interim Committee considered the question of a language policy for the World conference.
CHOICE OF WORKING LANGUAGES
The first question to be addressed was the choice of working languages for the World Conference, taking into account both current and future needs. It was agreed that the use of one language only, namely English, would not be acceptable for a variety of practical reasons and that a small number of working languages was desirable. It was necessary to have a limited number because of the high cost of interpreting and translation.
The languages chosen to meet present requirements were selected on the basis of their international currency. The initial choice, agreed by the Interim Committee, was as follows:
• English
• French
• Italian
• Spanish.
Other languages can be added as the World Conference develops and grows to encompass additional countries.
KEY FEATURES OF THE POLICY
It was agreed that the priority of the language policy was to achieve communications of the highest quality, both within the World Conference, at its working sessions, and in all its publications.
The basic principles of the policy were agreed as follows:
In all reports, as much factual data as possible should be presented in tables. This will assist clarity and make it easier to produce multilingual reports if required.
A limit would be placed on the size of publications. No report should exceed 30 pages (or 10.000 words). This reflects the need to produce works that will be of use to busy chief executives, and recognises that the financial resources of the new body will not be unlimited.
An “executive summary” of not more than one page should be provided in each of the working languages.
A major problem facing the World Conference is the lack of a suitable dictionary of technical terminology relating to local government and encompassing the vocabulary used in the different continents. For example, the French terms used in France differ from those used in Quebec. It was therefore agreed:
• to produce a multilingual database / dictionary as soon as possible, and
• to identify the resources to fund such an initiative without delay.
In order to implement the language policy, it was agreed that a unit be established with responsibility for the direction of language policy for the World Conference and for guaranteeing the quality of translations. The unit would produce a draft action plan, initially limited to the first year of working.