science

TERMCAT

TERMCAT is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand TERMCAT rather than just read about it. In short: TERMCAT is a public Catalan institution created in 1985 in order to ensure the development and integration of Catalan terminology for the preparation of terminological resources, standardization of terminology neologisms and advice on a regular and ongoing dialogue with users specialists. Since 1998, its terminology notices are obligatory in the scientific and technical publications of the public administration of t…

Key takeaways

TERMCAT belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect TERMCAT to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of TERMCAT from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

TERMCAT is a public Catalan institution created in 1985 in order to ensure the development and integration of Catalan terminology for the preparation of terminological resources, standardization of terminology neologisms and advice on a regular and ongoing dialogue with users specialists. Since 1998, its terminology notices are obligatory in the scientific and technical publications of the public administration of the country. Neologisms are approved and published in the Official Journal Diari Oficial de la Generalitat de Catalunya. It was created in Barcelona in 1985 as a joint initiative of the Ministry of Culture of the Generalitat of Catalonia and the Institute of Catalan Studies (IEC). Since 1994 the Consortium for Standardization language was added to the management of the consortium.

Cercaterm Cercaterm is an automated service for online multilingual consultations of TERMCAT with over 230,000 terminology entries available to the public. Anyone can consult the terms standardized by the TERMCAT Supervising Council, terminology products published since 1985, information from the centre's research projects, terms from consultations and projects in an advanced research phase, entries written by other entities and professionals and terminological criteria entries written by the centre. The interface works as a multilingual thematic search engine which also enables terminology consultations of TERMCAT through a personalized service module. The suggestions and comments made by users are one of the sources for incorporating new entries into Cercaterm. The entries include a reference that informs the users of the source of the information so they may assess the credibility of the data.

Neoloteca

Neoloteca is an on-line dictionary of all neologisms that are created in Catalan and is approved by the Supervisory Council of TERMCAT in cooperation with the Institut d'Estudis Catalans. The aim of Neoloteca is to specify and define new terms in Catalan and to give their equivalences in other languages. The terms can relate to any area of human society and endeavor including science, art and culture, technology, business and commerce, sport, etc. The terms proposed are regarded as the correct forms for use in all areas of public administration in Catalonia. By 1999 Neoloteca contained 6,000 terms that could be consulted using a theme-based index or alphabetical indexes in various languages. It regularly publishes updates in order to keep abreast of the latest developments in science and society in general. The update in January 2014 offered, among other things, a series of terms relating to manga culture and to the different hand movements made when operating mobile devices. New terms are always published in the Official Gazette of the Catalan Government.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with TERMCAT

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what TERMCAT claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to TERMCAT before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about TERMCAT ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of TERMCAT

In research: TERMCAT appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses TERMCAT in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: TERMCAT is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Catalan-language websites, Catalan language, Indo-European language stubs, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for TERMCAT outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study TERMCAT in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what TERMCAT means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain TERMCAT out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is TERMCAT in simple terms?

Why does TERMCAT matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study TERMCAT?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on TERMCAT.