It took about one year, but the final result is well worth celebrating. The French version of ICA-Req, whose translation was supported both by the Direction des Archives de France, and by the National Archives of Australia, which proposed the project, was officially launched on 3rd December 2010.
On 3rd December, the ICA Secretariat welcomed the team of young professionals who volunteered to translate without any payment, under the leadership of Marie-Anne Chabin, the “Principles and functional requirements for records in electronic office environments”. “This was a productive experience, not only for you, I hope, but also for the Secretariat which could reflect further on translation methods and projects”, said Christine Martinez, DSG Programme. David Leitch, ICA Secretary General, emphasized the need for ICA to provide more professional content in multiple languages.
Marie-Anne Chabin encouraged the team to go on, underlining that there are a lot of important articles written in English, which could fruitfully be translated into French. On the other hand, French speaking colleagues are developing interesting experiences which are worth being translated into English or other languages. Among possible partners Marie-Anne mentioned IRMT, whose modules and case studies could usefully be disseminated in French-speaking countries.
The ICA-Req translation is not at an end: the second phase of the project, aiming to develop implementation scenarios and training modules, will include two representatives from the translation team, Alice Chateau and Vanessa Szollosi, while the rest of the team will be involved with translating and disseminating the product.
Thanks to the Renmin University, and to the National Archives of Uruguay, the Chinese and Spanish version of ICA-Req will soon be available in the ICA Resource Centre.
We thank the translators, whose names are mentioned in the attached foreword, and the National Archives of Australia for its support and advice.
Photos of the 3rd December 2010