The Directorate-General for Translation at the European Commission (Visiting Translators)

1. The Directorate-General for Translation at the European Commission (Visiting Translators) Brussels, April 2006 Communication and Information Unit

2. Why do we translate / interpret? • EU laws are binding on its citizens. To be able to comply with them, they - and their courts - have to understand them. • The EU is a transparent, multicultural and democratic organisation which wants its citizens to play a full part in its activities. • Citizens have a right to make their contributions to the work of the EU institutions without having to learn a foreign language for the purpose.

3. The EU language regime: the logic behind it • Citizens have a right to their language in a multicultural society • Language is essential to communication • Communication helps maintain peace • The language services contribute to the EU’s • openness • legitimacy • effectiveness

4. The legal basis? • Council Regulation No 1/58: “Regulations and other documents of general application shall be drafted in the 21 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. Official languagesin the EU (+ Bulgaria & Romania) Relative size of language communities DE FR EN IT PL ES NL RO EL HU CS PT SV BG DK FI SK LT SL LV ET MT Note: Native speakers in EU countries,where the language is an official language

6. 2004 2005 Number of translated pages 1 270 586 1 324 231 Of which: freelance 23% 20 % English originals 62 % 68 % French originals 26 % 16 % German originals 3.1% 3.8 % Other EU languages - 8.8 % 11.3 % Translating at the Commission Note: some source texts may contain more than one language

7. Demand for translated pages, DGT 1993-2008 2400000 2200000 2000000 1800000 1600000 1400000 Pages 1200000 1200000 1000000 1000000 800000 800000 600000 600000 400000 400000 200000 200000 0 0 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 De, En, Fr Da , El, Es, It, Nl , Pt Fi , Sv 10 candidate countries Demand for translated pages, DGT 1993-2008 (from 2004, projection) 2400000 2200000 2000000 1800000 1600000 1400000 Pages 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 De, En, Fr Da , El, Es, It, Nl , Pt Fi , Sv 10 New Member States Average increase in demand (pages requested) 1999-2003 = 5,3%

8. Effects of enlargement in May 2004 • Translation departments for nine new languages were below full strength when the new Member States joined. • The Commission adopted a strategy to bring demand into line with supply, imposing: • limits on length of documents accepted for translation (15 pages on all but legislative texts); • priorities for documents accepted: top priority goes to legislation and major political documents.

9. Effects of Enlargement on the translation market • Extensive use of external translation in EU-10 • More awareness of the translation profession in new Member States • Translators in new MS had to get familiarised with EU and legal terminology • Need to set up translation courses at university level in order to prepare future generations of translators who can work for the EU institutions

10. DGT in figures 1 324 231 pages translated in 2005 Nearly 20% of the total output was translated by freelances. Some 1 600 translators and 525 support staff (split between Brussels and Luxembourg)

11. Breakdown by source language (2005)

12. Breakdown by target language (2005)

13. What do we translate in DGT? • Documents forming part of the legislative process • Policy documents • Reports to other institutions • Commission’s decisions and communications • Internal working documents • Correspondence • Press material • Texts for the Web • Speeches, minutes, etc.

14. Categories of documents translated August 2005 – February 2006

15. Organisation

16. Traditional translation aids • Reference works, microfilm etc. • Information and documentation centres(BXL and LUX) • Contact with customers / other translators • Contact with experts in the Commission, the other institutions or the Member States

17. Electronic translation aids • Terminology • Electronic dictionaries, glossaries etc. • Eurodicautom • Celex, EUR-Lex • Dossier Manager • DGT Vista + SG Vista • IATE, Quest Metasearch • Other institutions’ bases • Web search engines • Translation tools • Translator's Workbench/Euramis • Machine translation

18. Machine translation at the Commission

19. Quality assurance • Some specialisation • Compilation and use of translation memories • Revision of translations as necessary • Coordination of language versions, electronic exchange of translators’ notes • Support functions: IT, innovation in working methods, terminology, documentation etc. • Improvement of original texts: Editing Service for English and French originals, clear writing campaigns

20. Training and personal development • Annual training strategy and individual training plans • Thematic, language & IT training • Transfer to another function (or institution) • Promotion • Tele-working and part-time working

21. What do freelances translate? • In principle all types of documents as long as they are not legislative, politically sensitive, confidential or very urgent. • Certain specialised documents (law, economics, finance, agriculture, customs, taxation, telecommunications, etc.) if the DGT does not have the linguistic or thematic expertise needed within its own ranks • Mainly out of English and French

22. Assistance to freelance translators • Background documents and contact person • Eurodicautom terminology bank:http://europa.eu.int/eurodicautom/ • Celex and Eur-Lex, databases of EU law:http://europa.eu.int/celex/andhttp://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/en/index.html • Feedback (when the translation is revised) • Freelance Newsletter on-line • Our External Translation Unit:dgt-S-2-freelance-bru@ec.europa.eu

23. Selection criteria for freelances • Technical and professional capacity to carry out the work assigned to them. In short: know-how, efficiency, experience and reliability. • Minimum qualification for freelance translators is a university degree. • Information on: • Recruitment procedures • Translation capacity and • Use of translation tools

24. Work opportunities • Permanent: the only way of getting a full-time staff job is by passing a recruitment competition • Freelance: selection by call for tender • Internship (stage)

25. Full-time employmentRecruitment competitions • Published in the Official Journal of the European Communities (C edition), major newspapers, the EUROPA newsletter and on the EPSO website:http://europa.eu.int/epso/index_en.htm • Applications only via INTERNET • The complete selection procedure takes from 8 to 10 months on average • Written tests (”multiple choice” + translation into main language) + oral test => reserve list

26. CompetitionsMost recent terms and conditions • Be a national of one of the Member States or acceding countries (Bulgaria and Romania) with full rights as a citizen • Must have fulfilled obligations as regards military service • Have a full university degree or equivalent qualification (at least 3 years) • No professional experience is required • Age limit: none

27. Linguistic knowledge The candidates in the most recent competition had to meet the following requirements: • Perfect command of the main/mother language • Very sound knowledge of either EN, DE or FR, and • Very sound knowledge of either EN, FR, DE, IT, PL or ES (second source language) Knowledge of any additional language(s) would be an asset.

28. Qualifications The Commission recruits university graduates with a degree: • in languages • or • in fields such as: • law, • economics, • accountancy, • auditing, • finance, • natural sciences, • social and political sciences, • technology.

29. Particular skills The Commission attaches particular importance to the ability of applicants: • to grasp problems of all kinds, often complex in nature • To react rapidly to changing circumstances • To communicate effectively Full details in the “Profile for Commission translators” at http://europa.eu.int/comm/dgs/translation/workingwithus/recruitment/translator_profile_en.htm

30. Steps of the competition • Application via Internet – EPSO website • Preselection tests • logical reasoning tests • multiple-choice questions to assess the knowledge of the main developments in European integration and Community policies The applicants with the 450 highest marks at the preselection test are requested to submit a full application • Written test: 2 translations (45 lines each with dictionaries) • The applicants with the 225 highest marks at the written tests are invited to the oral test • Reserve lists will be drawn up with the names of the [150] best candidates at the oral test

31. Validity of the reserve lists • The list remains valid for a stated period, which may be extended. • Appointments are made from the reserve lists as and when posts fall vacant. • Successful candidates can send updates to their CVs, especially if they acquire new language skills.

32. Freelance translation • Only way of becoming a freelance translator:take part in call for tenders and have bid accepted • Calls for tenders for freelance translation are published in the OJ as well as onhttp://europa.eu.int/comm/dgs/translation/ workingwithus/freelance/index_en.htm

33. Internship (”stages”) • Duration: 5 months • Two sessions per year (March & October) • Must be university graduate • Must be able to translate from 2 EU languages to main language • Monthly grant • Any nationality

34. And the cost of multilingualism? • Before 1/5/2004 our multilingual system (all the translation and interpreting services at all the EU institutions) cost each EU citizen… 2 euros per year • In EU-25, when up to full speed, it will cost 2.28 euros per citizen per year Democracy costs money … but it’s worth this modest cost.

35. Our website http://europa.eu.int/comm/dgs/translation/