2. Directorate-General for Translation EUROPEAN COMMISSION Translating for Europe The European Commission’s Directorate-General for Translation (Graham Cansdale, Translator in the English-Language Department)

3. - 2 - Who am I? Graham Cansdale  Language graduate (Spanish and Russian) + postgraduate diploma in technical and specialised translation  European Commission translator since 1993, working in English Department  Previous work as translator at the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation in Vienna, the European Court of Auditors in Luxembourg and the European Parliament in Luxembourg

4. - 3 - Why are we there?  Council Regulation No 1/58: Regulations and other documents of general application shall be drafted in the official languages  Treaty establishing the European Community: Citizens have a right to address the official EU bodies in any of the EU’s official languages and to receive a reply in that language

5. - 4 -  20?? ?? languages  2007: 23 languages  2004: 20 languages  1995: 11 languages  1986: 9 languages  1981: 7 languages  1973: 6 languages  1957: 4 languages Enlarging multilingualism

6. - 5 - Cost of multilingualism Translation and interpreting in all EU institutions put together cost each EU citizen just over 2 euros (about 80 Taiwanese dollars) per year. The cost of multilingualism adds up to less than 1% of the annual EU budget.

7. - 6 - Types of languages Official/working/Treaty languages: 23 Procedural languages: English, French, German Additional languages: from Spain: Basque, Catalan, Galician from the UK: Scottish Gaelic and Welsh

8. - 7 - EU Translation galaxy

9. - 8 - European Commission  Initiates new legislation  Implements EU policies and supervises compliance with EU law

10. - 9 - DGT’s staff Some 1 750 translators and 600 support staff 110 translators in the English Department 40% in Luxembourg 60% in Brussels

11. - 10 -

12. - 11 - Example 1: Reporting back  The Commission wishes to find out what each Member State is doing to apply EU legislation on recycling  Jan Zijlstra (NL) is case officer and puts together a tough, searching questionnaire in English

13. - 12 - Reporting back (2)  The questionnaire is translated into the other official languages to be sent to the Member States  The environmental authorities of each Member State receive the questionnaire in their own language  They put together their replies in that language  These replies land one by one on Jan’s desk...

14. - 13 - Reporting back (3)

15. - 14 - Reporting back (3)  Jan is unable to carry on...  until the replies are translated into English for him and his team of colleagues (comprising a Slovak, a Spaniard, a Lithuanian and two Belgians) to deal with

16. - 15 - Example 2: People power  The inhabitants of a small village in Portugal learn of a proposal to build a nuclear power station next door  They form an action group and, having discovered the plan contravenes EU law, decide to write to the Commission for help

17. - 16 - People power (2)  None of the group writes EN; in any case, the technical details of the case require very clear and precise drafting skills  Availing themselves of Article 1 of Regulation (EEC) No 1/58, they submit their case to the Commission in Portuguese

18. - 17 - People power (3)  Ilze Bērziņa (Latvia) is the case officer able to save the day in this case  Despite being fluent in several languages, Ilze is unable to read Portuguese...

19. - 18 - English is not enough for the EU  The EU has to operate in all official languages  Reliance on EN is not an option  However, it is clearly impossible to expect all officials to be entirely operational in 23 languages (more languages to come...)  The need for translation is clear  Translation is essential for the internal workings of the EU

20. - 19 - Trends in translation at the Commission 1997200420082010 Total DGT output in pages, all languages 1 125 7091 270 5861 805 6891 860 347 % outsourced to freelance16%23%26%28% % outsourced by EN department -21%55%56% Language of source text: - English 45%62%72%77% - French41%26%12%7% - German5%3% 2% - Other languages9% 13%14%

21. - 20 - Language of original documents (%) English French German Others

22. - 21 - The EN department translates from all official languages

23. - 22 - DGT production 2009 – breakdown by target language

24. - 23 - EN department production per source language, 2008.

25. - 24 - EN department production per EU source language, 2009 Total pages: 177 035

26. - 25 - EN department production per EU source language, 2010 Total pages: 188 069

27. - 26 - EN department production per non-EU source language, 2009 Total pages: 3 349 (about 2% of total production)

28. - 27 - EN department production per non-EU source language, 2010 Total pages: 3 609 (about 2% of total production)

29. - 28 - Wide range of document types  Legal acts and preparatory documents  Commission decisions and communications  Publications  Correspondence (public, Member State authorities)  Speeches, minutes  Reports, working documents  Web pages

30. - 29 - Main document types

31. - 30 - …and on all subject areas

32. - 31 - Our services Translation of confidential texts

33. - 32 - Electronic translation tools  Terminology Electronic dictionaries, glossaries, etc. IATE EUR-Lex Quest Metasearch Web search engines DGT Vista + SG Vista  Translation tools Translator's Workbench/Euramis Machine translation Voice recognition

34. - 33 - EUR-Lex: free public access to EU law  eur-lex.europa.eu

35. - 34 - IATE: public multilingual term base iate.europa.eu

36. - 35 - Quality assurance 1. Before translation: editing of originals, Clear Writing campaign and training, preparatory work 2. During translation: translation aids and tools, information sharing (Note/Elise) 3. After translation: revision/review/spot-checking; evaluation; feedback

37. - 36 - Training and professional development Thematic training IT training Language courses (weekly, in-country, VTS) Other DGT jobs Jobs elsewhere in the Commission/ other EU institutions

38. - 37 - What else do we do? Links with schools and universities Machine translation LIND-Web Studies Terminology and tools European Day of Languages Visiting Translator Scheme

39. - 38 - Job opportunities http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/translation/workwithus/in dex_en.htm  Staff translator: permanent  Temporary staff: 2 years, renewable  Contract staff: 3 months – 3 years  Freelance contractor  Traineeship: 5 months

40. - 39 - 29/07/08 General remarks  All competitions are held on interinstitutional level by EPSO (European Personnel Selection Office)  Annual competition cycle, according to language needs  EPSO website: http://europa.eu/epso/index_en.htmhttp://europa.eu/epso/index_en.htm  Applications only via INTERNET through the EPSO site

41. - 40 - Particular skills  People with language degrees, but also science degrees or non-language arts degrees relevant to EU policies Basic requirements (ability to grasp problems, communicate, resist stress, intellectual curiosity) Language skills (command of grammar, style, register) Thematic skills (familiarity with various subject areas) Translation skills (accuracy, attention to detail, research skills, computer skills)  “Profile for Commission translators” at http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/translation/workwithus/staff/profile/ind ex_en.htm

42. - 41 - Linguistic knowledge The candidates must meet the three following requirements:  Perfect command of the main language (mother tongue or equivalent) as target language  Very sound knowledge of either EN, DE, FR as first source language  Thorough knowledge of a second EU official source language Note: Any knowledge of an additional EU language will be an asset

43. - 42 - The competition process Apply online (July for translators) Pre-selection test (numerical, verbal & abstract reasoning) Translation tests, group exercise, structured interview, oral presentation

44. - 43 - What DGT offers  Starting salary € 4 500/month  Generous leave entitlements  Various allowances  Varied, challenging work  Excellent language-learning opportunities  Job security & flexible working arrangements  Multicultural environment

45. - 44 - Traineeships (“stages”)  Duration: 5 months  Two rounds per year (starting in March and October)  For university graduates only  Trainees must be able to translate from two EU languages into their main language  Monthly grant €1000  Any nationality

46. - 45 - Chinese translators  temporary contracts of between 18 and 36 months.  place of work: Brussels  must be EU national  successful applicants will be required to: translate from English into Chinese and from Chinese into English; revise translations from English into Chinese and from Chinese into English; evaluate and, where necessary, revise translations from English into Chinese and from Chinese into English produced by external contractors; assist DGT terminology and IT units; assist DGT translators learning Chinese.

47. - 46 - More information?  Web: ec.europa.eu/dgs/translation  Facebook.com/translatingforeurope