Dear ATRT members:<br><br>ICANN's "translation principles" were adopted by the Board in February 2008 as part of
the "Accountability and Transparency Frameworks and Principles." I've
included them below. Staff is in the process of finalizing new translation guidelines for ICANN.<br><br>You also may be interested in the Policy Dept.'s "translation policy," which, I think, includes the type of detail you're looking for. It is attached.<br>
<br>Please let me know if you need anything further.<br><br>Regards,<br>Denise <br><br clear="all">Denise Michel<br>ICANN <br>Advisor to the President<br><a href="mailto:denise.michel@icann.org" target="_blank">denise.michel@icann.org</a><br>
+1.408.429.3072 mobile<br>+1.310.578.8632 direct<br><br><h3>E. ICANN TRANSLATION PRINCIPLES </h3>
<p>As a globally authoritative body on the technical and organizational means
to ensure the stability and interoperability of the DNS, ICANN aspires to be
an organization that is capable of communicating comfortably in a variety of
languages. Through consultation with the community, ICANN will continue to
improve its capabilities in this area. To encourage effective dialogue amongst
all parties in the ICANN global multi-stakeholder process: </p>
<ul><li>ICANN commits to timely and accurate translations to encourage real dialogue
in different <br>
languages. </li><li>ICANN commits to translate core strategic and business documentation (such
as the Strategic and Operating Plans; the budget; the annual report; ICANN's
mission and by laws) into the UN languages (Arabic, Chinese, English, French,
Russian, and Spanish), and the language of large Internet economies where
there is little bilingualism in one of the UN languages (e.g. Japanese) and
to continue to take expert advice on language choice and translation policy. </li><li>ICANN works with the community to identify other types of documents that
should be translated into the agreed block of languages. </li><li>From time to time, ICANN will also translate documents into languages outside
of the agreed block to communicate about issues that may be of special interest
to particular communities. </li><li>ICANN works collaboratively with the community and experts to develop tools
for multi-lingual dialogue. Every effort will be made to ensure equity between
comments made in languages other than English and those made in English. </li><li>ICANN provides transcription (scribing) for major sessions at ICANN meetings
to assist those who do not have English as a first language to follow discussions. </li><li>English will remain the operating language of ICANN for legal purposes. </li><li>ICANN has adopted the International Organization for Standardisation’s
639-2 naming system for identifying and labeling particular languages. </li></ul><br><br>