Le Dictionnaire des vins et des cépages d’Italie, une œuvre terminographique italo-chinoise

The bilingual dictionary of wines and grape varieties (Italian-Chinese) that was published in Italy in 2019 is the result of a research project developed by an international group of researchers from the University of Milan and the Liaoning Normal University (China) with the support of the Confucius Institute of the University of Milan. Starting from an analysis of the norms and standards regulating the œnological sector in the European context, experts in oenology, viticulture, and Italian language have identified a list of wines and grape varieties produced in Italy and have developed standard definitions of these terms in Italian. The first phase of the research project concentrated on the popularization of scientific language. Subsequently, experts of Chinese language and culture, drawing from a rather limited base of sources on the Italian œnology sector available in China, selected or created Chinese equivalents for wines and grape varieties and translated the definitions. In the second phase the research group was confronted with tasks such as the standardization of terms, Italian-Chinese translation and cultural mediation. This article will retrace the origins and methodology of the research project and illustrate the process of drafting the bilingual text of the Dictionary of Italian wines and grape varieties. The objective of the article is to highlight the main linguistic obstacles encountered during the development of this terminographic work and the strategies adopted to overcome them.