Translating for International Organisations Focus on EU and UN

Definition & Significance What is an international organisation? Governance as the objective (no commercial product) Foundational multilingualism The significance of international organisations today

Websites of EU & UN

Multilingualism in the EU Equal status for all official languages Legislation: language versions equally valid, ‘equally authentic’ All citizens have right of access to the institutions: –‘may write […] in one of the languages […] and have an answer in the same language’ (Art. 21, EC Treaty) EU Language charter –Council Regulation No. 1 – lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:31958R 0001:EN:HTMLhttp://eur- lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:31958R 0001:EN:HTML

EU Languages (1) Official languages vs. languages spoken in EU member states ‘Procedural’ vs. ‘non-procedural’ languages –internal business in EN, FR, DE

EU Languages (2) BG - Bulgarian CS - Czech DA - Danish DE - German ET - Estonian EL - Greek EN – English ES - Spanish FR - French GA - Irish IT - Italian LV - Latvian LT - Lithuanian HU - Hungarian MT - Maltese NL - Dutch PL - Polish PT - Portuguese RO - Romanian SK - Slovak SL - Slovene FI - Finnish SV - Swedish

EU Institutions European Commission European Parliament Council of the European Union Court of Justice European Court of Auditors European Ombudsman European Data Protection Supervisor

EU Bodies and Agencies Financial bodies –European Central Bank –European Investment Bank Advisory bodies –European Economic and Social Committee –Commission of the Regions Community agencies –currently 24, including the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union (CdT) Common Foreign and Security Policy agencies - currently 3

DGT Directorate-General for Translation of the European Commission –department for each official language (unit for Irish) 3 Translation Directorates Transversal Linguistic Services Directorate –specialist areas: web translation, editing Resources Directorate –staffing, IT, finance infrastructure, training Translation Strategy and Multilingualism Directorate –workflow and policy issues, external translation

DGT employment 1,750 translators, 600 support staff (2007) –largest translation company in world –Competition to get place on panel –TL plus 2 SLs External translators –call for tender

DGT translation volumes 1.8 million pages (2008) –72.5% from English –11.8% from French –2.7% from German –13% from other languages –Main target languages: en, fr, de over 20% done by freelance translators

Workflow (1) Poetry = interface for submitting translation request, ST and supporting docs to DGT Suivi = system for managing translation requests within DGT Dossier Manager = interface for translators to access job, collaborate on job

Workflow (2) DGTVista = archiving system, all STs and translations since 1994 –rapid search –bilingual scrolling EUR-Lex = database of Official Journal of European Union (all legislation, treaties, etc.)

Workflow (3) Euramis –European Advanced Multilingual Information System –central translation memory, since 1997 –84 million translation units/phrases SDL Trados Translator’s Workbench (TWB) –used to access Euramis translation memory –integrated with Microsoft Word

Workflow (4) European Commission Machine Translation (ECMT) –automatic translation system, since 1976, Systran –860,314 pages translated by MT (2005); 40% requested by DGT –not all languages handled –select specialised dictionaries or domains to improve quality of output –MT output is post-edited

Workflow (5) IATE –Inter-Active Terminology for Europe –term bank, formerly Eurodicautom –over 8 million terms, 500,000 abbreviations –all fields of EU activity –

UN Main Bodies General Assembly (192 member states) Security Council Economic and Social Council International Court of Justice Secretariat Specialized Agencies

UN Languages Working languages of Secretariat: English, French Official languages for intergovernmental meetings and documents: English, French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Chinese Also German Translation Service

Documentation Division Part of Department for General Assembly and Conference Management –Translation Service (6 langs) –Editorial, Terrminology and Reference Service –Contractual Translation Unit –German Translation Section

Activities (1) Translates all official UN documents, meeting records, publications and correspondence Prepares summary records of bodies entitled to such records. Arranges for contractual translation and text-processing

Activities (2) Edits official UN documents, meeting records and publications Ensures linguistic concordance among the 6 official languages of resolutions, decisions and other legal instruments Issues editorial directives for the UN Secretariat

Activities (3) Provides reference and terminology services for authors, drafters, editors, interpreters, translators and verbatim reporters Develops terminology databases Documents:

Workloads 2002 A/57/289: self-assessment and report on Documentation Division: –1,650 words for translation to be revised –1,815 words for self-revised translation –3,960 words for revision

UN Office Geneva Languages Services, part of Conference Services Division –One translation section for each of the 6 language and support sections (reference and terminology; text- processing) –160 permanent translators, plus freelancers translate 50 million words per year –Provides translation for 50 bodies at UNOG –Employment: competitive exam

Non-legislative texts (1) European Commission –Green papers, white papers –Agendas and minutes of meetings (EN and FR) –Studies done by external experts to inform Commission and guide legislation –CMT documents (comitology reports)

Non-legislative texts (2) European Parliament –Agendas and documents for meetings and committees –Debates –Explanatory statements (accompanying motions) –Studies (over 30 pages) and notes (under 30 pages) produced by Policy Departments

Non-legislative texts (3) Council of the European Union –Documents relating to meetings –Press releases –European Council presidency conclusions

Non-legislative texts (4) UN Bodies –Agendas –Official records (debates) –Letters –Reports (e.g. of the Security Council, of the Secretary-General)

Legislation EU: primary legislation –treaties –international agreements EU: secondary legislation –binding: regulations, directives, decisions –non-binding: recommendation, opinions, joint actions

EU Binding instruments Regulation : general application, binding in all Member States, no need for national authorities to do anything Directive : binding but Member States decide how to implement Decision : binding for those to whom it applies

The legislative process Proposal, recommendation, communication from Commission, Green Paper, consultation, studies, draft legislation, debate, amendments, final draft, adoption Consolidation = incorporating changes (no official authenticity) Legislative consolidation = consolidated version goes through legislative procedure to become adopted

Tracing the procedure Oeil: Legislative Observatory analyses and monitors –the interinstitutional decision-making process –role of EP in shaping legislation –activities of various institutions involved in legislative process Contains procedural factfiles –searchable by type, topic, institution

EU drafting principles The drafting of a legislative act must be: –clear, easy to understand and unambiguous –simple, concise, containing no unnecessary elements –precise, leaving no uncertainty in the mind of the reader –appropriate to type of act and addressee –succinct, internally consistent and consistent with other legislation

Translation issues 1.“The original text must be particularly simple, clear and direct, since any over-complexity or ambiguity, however slight, could result in inaccuracies, approximations or real mistranslations in one or more of the other Community languages”. 2.“The use of expressions and phrases — in particular, but not exclusively, legal terms — too specific to the author’s own language or legal system, will increase the risk of translation problems”.

Structure of acts (1) Title = info to identify act –if amending act, all acts amended need to be given by number –number, date, year –short title possible Preamble = citations, recitals, solemn forms –Citation: sets out legal basis of act (e.g. treaty): ‘Having regard to …’ –Recital: reasons for provisions of enacting terms : ‘Whereas…’ – numbered

Structure of acts (2) Enacting terms = legislative part: articles may be grouped in titles, chapters, sections –no non-normative statements –no reproduction or paraphrasing from other legislation –first article may define subject matter and scope of act –terms can be defined in single article at beginning

EU Translation and drafting guides Access to language resources, English style guide and Fight the Fog campaign Interinstitutional style guide, in all languages: Drafting guidelines and tools

UN Resolutions and decisions ‘Resolutions’ are formal expressions of the opinion or will of United Nations organs. They generally consist of a preamble, and an operative part. ‘Decisions’ are formal decisions, other than resolutions dealing with non-substantive or routine matters.

UN editorial manual mhttp:// /editorialcontrol/index.ht m Goals: clear, simple, concise, action- oriented writing

Glossaries and Termbanks EU glossary (Scadplus) Eurojargon glossary IATE termbank UNTERM termbank

Institutionalization Fixed structure of text types Fixed phrases used in a certain text type Terminology specific to the institution Fixed terminological equivalents across languages Fixed style guide for writing in a particular language Norms of translation (explicitly stated or not)

Reading Cao, Deborah and Zingmin Zhao (2008) ‘Translation at United Nations as Specialised Translation’, Journal of Specialised Translation, 9.Translation at United Nations as Specialised Translation Koskinen, Kaisa Translating Institutions: An Ethnographic Study of EU Translation. Manchester: St Jerome. Kudryavtsev, Eduard and Louis-Dominique Oedraogo (2003) Implementation of Multilingualism in the United Nations System (JIU/REP/2002/11), Geneva: United Nations.Implementation of Multilingualism in the United Nations System

Reading (2) Tosi, Arturo Crossing Barriers and Bridging Cultures. Clevedon etc.: Multlingual Matters. Translating for a Multilingual Community brochures/translating_eu_brochure_en.pdf Wagner, Emma, Svend Bech and Jesús M. Martínez (2002) Translating for the European Union Institutions. Manchester: St Jerome.