Pascale Elbaz was invited to lead a session of a Simulated Translation Bureau, as part of the undergraduate program of the School of Languages and Translation Studies at the university of Turku (Finland). Her host were Tiina Tuominen and Leena Salmi, researchers in the English and French departments respectively. The aim was to introduce students to the study of the neologisms of ‘nature in the city’ in a trilingual perspective within the Simulated Translation Bureau. 

The students were working for a simulated Finnish-French architectural agency which aim was to create urban projects integrating nature in the sustainable cities, both in France and in Finland. The proposed activity, with a total duration of 7 hours, consisted of two face-to-face sessions of three hours and 30 minutes each, with a break. Eighteen students attended the workshop. The working languages were Finnish, English and French.  

Three teachers from the Translation department took part in the workshop: Kalle Konttinen, Tiina Holopainen and Lea Huotari. They were able to participate in the discussions with the students and to help them make bridges between their learnings in class and this hands-on workshop, between theory and social implementation of neology.

This project explored how new terms emerge in different languages in the domain of ecourbanism. Students tracked terminology trends and assessed linguistic adaptation strategies, a useful competence when working in a specialised field. They participated in debates on the emergence of new terms, standardization, and cross-cultural terminology challenges.