1. Multilingualism and English Charles Gittins English-language Department

2. Translation at DGT  Institutions have separate translation and interpreting services  European Commission: DG Translation  23 language departments: 1 for each official language  Between them they cover the entire life-cycle of EU legislation

3. Translation at DGT Preparation of legislation Production of legislation Monitoring of legislation Translation into and out of all languages necessary at one point or another Legislative process is a multilingual world

4. Case study: EN translation  Translation of preparatory work for legislation, e.g. replies to questionnaires, responses to white/green papers  Translation of legislation  Translation of monitoring of legislation, e.g. correspondence tables, submissions relating to infringement procedures  English-language department: 110-120 translators based in Brussels and Luxembourg

5. Some paradoxes (1) The English-language paradox  More and more Commission documents drafted in English  “What on earth do you all do then?!”  Translation of Member State material

6. Some paradoxes (2) The British paradox  UK citizens not famous for multilingualism  Translators in the EN Department one of the most polyglot groups in the Commission  On average: 5 languages/translator. Ranging from 2 to 13.

7. Some paradoxes (3) The multilingual paradox  More official languages = harder for individuals to cover all  Greater need for “bridge language”, very often English  EN Department deals with multilingual material from Member States

8. English: friend or foe?  English often cast as the death of multilingualism  Part of the “mission statement” of every EN Department translator to ensure English is the lifeblood of multilingualism  Not forced to use to English to communicate with the Commission

9. The past, present and future  Each successive accession brings new languages for the EN Department to translate from  Member State reporting obligations (European Commission’s role of guardian of the treaties)  Other correspondence from organisations, companies and citizens

10. EU official languages over time

11. The past, present and future  The translators of the EN Department are operational in the 22 other official languages  + 14 other non-EU languages (languages of accession countries and others)  Achieved not just by retraining, but also by targeted recruitment

12. The past, present and future  Future enlargements will bring further official languages for the EN Department to translate from  Much experience gained from 2004 onwards on how to plan for and make a success of adding new source languages  Achieved not just by retraining, but also by targeted recruitment

13. Croatian  Date of accession: July 2013  Recruitment of native English-speakers operational in Croatian  Retraining of current translators, some with help of their Slovene knowledge, others not  EN Department HR team currently stands at 6  Fully ready for accession

14. Icelandic  Candidate country since July 2009  So far, no recruitment of native English- speakers operational in Icelandic  DGT-wide training initiative involving some 20 colleagues, large EN presence  EN Department IS team currently stands at 5  Fully ready for accession

15. Turkish  Candidate country since 1987  Recruitment of native English-speakers operational in Turkish  Retraining of current translators  EN Department TR team currently stands at 5  On the way to being ready for accession!

16. Multilingualism is a serious business

17. Multilingualism: a labour of love  EN Department “forced” into role of “bridge language” provider by circumstances  Source of personal satisfaction for translators retraining  Professional satisfaction at being at the centre of the communication process  High demand for language courses

18. Future languages to learn? BRING IT ON!

19. Thank you for your attention!