Directorate-General for Translation Bai Xue

Brief introduction for DG Translation DG Translation is the European Commission's in-house translation service, with working in all the official languages of the European Union. It is located in Brussels and Luxembourg. It is the largest translation service in the world. With an annual output of about 1.5 million pages, employing some 1,750 linguists.

Translation service Multilingual translation services Selective services

Multilingual translation service The EU is a multilingual orgnization with 27 member countries, communicating in 23 official languagesofficial languages All official languages enjoy equal status,which helps to make the Union more open and more effective. EU needs high quality translation and relies on professional linguists to keep it running smoothly.

Selective services At the Commission, the only documents produced in all 23 official languages are pieces of legislation and policy documents of major public importance — accounting for about a third of the translation work.

Selective service Other documents are translated only into the languages needed in each case. Internal or incoming documents are all written in English, French and German.

Programmes Higher education Secondary school: Juvenes Translatores is an annual translation contest for budding young translators.Juvenes Translatores Language industry: a web platform as an interactive knowledge base with information about about language-related products and services and the language industry in genera.web platform

Higher education As a graduate employer, DG Translation maintains extensive links with universities and higher education institutions across the EU. It runs a number of programmes and outreach activities aimed at promoting translation as a profession and encouraging language learning. The main ones are:

Higher education European Master's in Translation, a network of higher-education institutions offering master's-level translation programmes European Master's in Translation visiting translator scheme — a Commission translator spends some weeks at a university or college teaching translation and advising on EU career opportunities for linguists visiting translator scheme visits to DG Translation for students and others with a professional interest in translation. visits to DG Translation

EMT---brief introduction The EMT is a partnership project between the European Commission and higher-education institutions offering master's level translation programmes. The initial project was launched in 2006 and a network was officially formed in December 2009, following a selection procedure. It initially consisted of 34 universities in 16 European countries.In 2011, 20 more programmes were selected to join, bringing the total of members to 54 programmes in 20 European countries.

DGT-EMT strategic partnership DGT recognizes the strategic importance of the EMT for ensuring excellence in translator training in Europe on the basis of the EMT competence model and its employability criteria. Simultaneously, it notes the positive impact the EMT has created for university translation programmes in Europe, as well as the impact for the community of translation and language stakeholders outside universities.

DGT-EMT strategic partnership DGT acts as an EMT partner, seeking synergies between the activities of the network and the work of the DGT. with regards to cooperation on translation studies or research projects, terminology sharing, Visiting Translator Scheme, organisation of traineeships for EMT academics and students as well as participation of EMT academic trainers in the training activities for DGT's translators. DGT is committed to remaining an EMT's strategic partner in the long-term

Working for the DGT staff translator — permanent in-house staff are all recruited through open competitions held every 3 years, but you could also join as temporary staff or contract staff. staff translatortemporary staffcontract staff contractor —through periodic public tenders, open to individual freelance translators and agencies. contractor trainee — twice each year, it takes on a small number of graduate interns who wish to gain some professional translation experience. trainee

Translator profile--- high-calibre graduates Basic requirements an ability to grasp varied and complex issues, react swiftly to changing circumstances, manage information and communicate effectively; initiative, imagination, and intellectual curiosity and motivation; a capacity to work consistently and under pressure — independently and as part of a team — and to fit into a multicultural working environment; an ability to maintain the self-discipline required to work in a large public-service organization.

Specific skills Language skills perfect command of all aspects and stylistic levels of your mother tongue/main language. thorough knowledge of two or more official EU languages — at least one of which must be English, French or German. Thematic skills familiarity with economics, financial affairs, legal matters, technical or scientific fields..

Specific skills Translation skills a capacity to understand texts in the source language and to render them correctly in the target language, using a style and register appropriate to the purpose of the text a capacity to research topics and terminology quickly and efficiently — in both source language and target languages. a capacity to master computer-assisted translation and terminology tools, as well as standard office-automation software