1. Translating for International Organisations Focus on EU and UN

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

3. Websites of EU & UN http://europa.eu http://www.un.org

4. 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 –http://eur- 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

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

6. 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

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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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.) www.eur-lex.europa.eu

14. 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

15. 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

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

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

18. 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

19. 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

21. 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

22. 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

23. Activities (3) Provides reference and terminology services for authors, drafters, editors, interpreters, translators and verbatim reporters Develops terminology databases Documents: http://www.un.org/en/documents/

24. 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

25. 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

27. 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)

28. 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

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

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

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

32. 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

33. 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

34. 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 http://www.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/ Contains procedural factfiles –searchable by type, topic, institution

35. 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

36. 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”. http://eur-lex.europa.eu/en/techleg/index.htm

37. 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

38. 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

39. EU Translation and drafting guides Access to language resources, English style guide and Fight the Fog campaign http://ec.europa.eu/translation/index_en.htm Interinstitutional style guide, in all languages: http://publications.europa.eu/code/en/en-000500.htm Drafting guidelines and tools http://eur-lex.europa.eu/en/techleg/index.htm http://eur-lex.europa.eu/en/techleg/index.htm

40. 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.

41. UN editorial manual http://69.94.137.26/editorialcontrol/index.ht mhttp://69.94.137.26/editorialcontrol/index.ht m Goals: clear, simple, concise, action- oriented writing

42. Glossaries and Termbanks EU glossary (Scadplus) http://europa.eu/scadplus/glossary/index_en.htm Eurojargon glossary http://europa.eu/abc/eurojargon/index_en.htm IATE termbank http://iate.europa.eu UNTERM termbank http://unterm.un.org/

43. 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)

44. 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. 2008. 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

45. Reading (2) Tosi, Arturo. 2003. Crossing Barriers and Bridging Cultures. Clevedon etc.: Multlingual Matters. Translating for a Multilingual Community http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/translation/publications/ brochures/translating_eu_brochure_en.pdf Wagner, Emma, Svend Bech and Jesús M. Martínez (2002) Translating for the European Union Institutions. Manchester: St Jerome.