Do the Hungarian Defence Forces Need a Terminology Strategy?

Abstract

The Green Book on the formulation of a Hungarian terminology strategy outlines the plan of the establishment of a National Terminology Coordination Centre, whose experts would share obtained and systematised knowledge in a descriptive database. Beside the stakeholders of economy, the Hungarian Defence Forces and the Faculty of Military Science and Officer Training, Ludovika – University of Public Service could be prioritised data providers and users. The ongoing large-scale procurement and defence industrial investment and our 25-year NATO membership have such relevant foreign language impact on the specialised language of the Hungarian military language that the development of language planning and specialised language terminology strategy is essential. The article provides an overview of terminology design and management in NATO, NATOTerm database, and the work of the Terminology Harmonisation Board of the HDF. It argues for the participation of the HDF in the national terminology strategy design as well as allowing the accessibility of the unclassified part of the harmonised military terminology database. This would boost efficient knowledge sharing, military education and training and help preserve independent military scientific thinking.