Directorate-General for Translation EUROPEAN COMMISSION The Directorate-General for Translation at...

Directorate-General for Translation

EUROPEAN COMMISSION

The Directorate-General for The Directorate-General for Translation at the European Translation at the European

CommissionCommission

Brussels

Communication and Information Unit

- 2 -Name of event/occasion

Contents

Multilingualism in the world (slides 3-7)

Directorate-General for Translation in a multilingual European Union (slides 8-40)

Working in and with DGT (slides 41-57)

Finally… (slides 58-59)


Multilingualism in the world


What is multilingualism?

1) several languages spoken within a geographical area;

2) the ability to master several languages;

3) a policy which requires an organisation/a company/an institution to use several languages for communication


The world’s top 10 languages – native speakers


Cameroon

India

Brazil

Australia

European Union

Nigeria

Indonesia

Mexico

Congo DR

Papua New Guinea-200

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

Popu

lati

on

Linguistic diversity


Languages mean jobs!


Directorate-General for Translation

in a multilingual European Union


EU official languages


Surviving without translation


Where does DGT come in?


Translation Centre110

European Commission1750

European Parliament760

Cooperate within the

InterinstitutionalCommittee

on Translation

and Interpretation

(ICTI-CITI)Court of Auditors

100

Court of Justice620

European Investment Bank

30

European Central Bank70

Council of the EU650

Committee of the Regions and European Economic and Social

Committee350

Number of translating staff in the EU institutions(interpreters and lawyer-linguists are not included)


We translate from and into all official EU languages...

SK

GA

IT

LV

DASL

BG

FR SV LT

ET

EL

DE

MT

ES

HU

PL

CS

RO

NLPT

FIEN


…and on all subject areas


Our clients

We serve the citizens of Europe

Translation is part of democracy


Building the European Union

Thanks to translation, citizens can take part in the common project of building the European Union and contribute to its openness and legitimacy


The benefits of translation

Good translation contributes to the legislative process

Translation and editing contribute to better regulation


The legal basis

Council Regulation No 1/58• Regulations and other documents of general

application shall be drafted in the official languages.

Treaty establishing the European Community and the Lisbon Treaty • 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.


Types of languages

Official languages = 23 • Irish derogation

Treaty languages = 23 Working languages = 23 Procedural languages = 3 - EN, FR, DE Non-procedural languages = 20 Additional languages


DGT’s staff

Some 1 750 translators and 600 support staff

50% in Brussels

50% in Luxembourg

Field Officesin Member States


OrganisationDirector General

Assistants

Translation Centre

Adviser

Audit

Communicationand information

Legal, interinsti-tutional and international

affairs

Directorate ATranslation

Directorate C Translation

Directorate DTransversallinguistic services

Directorate R Resources

Directorate S Translation strategy

and multilingualism

Danish LD

Swedish LD

D2 - WEB translationFinnish LD

Italian LD

Spanish LD

D4 - Editing

Portuguese LD

Slovakian LD

Greek LD

-D1 - Field Offices and relations with representations

R3Informatics

R4Training

R2Financial resources

R5 - Internaladministrativematters

R1Human resources

S2External translation

S3Multilingualism and

translation studies

S1Demand

management

S4Evaluation and

analysis

Estonian LD

Hungarian LD

Lithuanian LD

Slovenian LD

Maltese LD

Latvian LD Czech LD

Directorate B Translation

English LD

Irish

D3 - Library,terminology and

translation support

French LD

German LD

Dutch LD

Polish LD

LUX LUX LUXBRU BRU BRU

Bulgarian LD

Romanian LD


What do we translate?

Legal acts and preparatory documents Commission decisions and communications Publications Correspondence Speeches, minutes Reports, working documents Web pages


Our products

Box from http://www.cc.cec/translation/index_en.htm


Breakdown across products and services


Trends in translation at the Commission (breakdown by source language)

In 2009, DGT’s total output was about 1.6 million translated pages.

0

200000

400000

600000

800000

1000000

1200000

1400000

1600000

1800000

2000000

EN

TOTAL

OTHERFRDE


Breakdown by target language (2009)

Translation production in 2009 by target language (number of pages)

0

50.000

100.000

150.000

200.000

250.000


Traditional translation aids

Reference works Libraries (Brussels and Luxembourg) Contact with customers/other translators Contact with experts in the Commission,

the other institutions or the Member States


Electronic translation tools

Terminology• Electronic dictionaries,

glossaries, etc.• IATE (public)• EUR-Lex (public)• Quest Metasearch • Dossier Manager • DGT Vista + SG Vista

Translation tools• Translator's

Workbench/Euramis• Machine translation• Voice recognition


EUR-Lex Repository of the EU law Multilingual search


IATE (Interactive Terminology for Europe)

Terminology database of all the EU institutions


IATE – high interest

Peaks of more than 300 000 queries per day, or above 7 million per month.

Nb of requests per month

0

1000000

2000000

3000000

4000000

5000000

6000000

7000000

8000000

Nb of requests


Quality assurance

Specialisation of translators Translation memories Revision of translations Coordination of language versions, electronic

exchange of translators’ notes (Elise) Support functions: IT, terminology,

documentation, etc. Improvement of original texts:

• Editing service for English and French originals• Clear writing campaigns


Training and personal development

Annual training strategy and individual training plans

Thematic, language & IT training Transfer to another post (DGT,

Commission, another institution) Tele-working and part-time working


What else do we do?

Relations with universities

Visiting translators scheme

Juvenes Translatores

Localisation of messages


Localisation of messages


The price

All the translation and interpreting services of all the EU institutions cost each EU citizen around 2 euros per year.

The cost of multilingualism adds up to less than 1% of the annual EU budget.

1/10 000 of the EU’s total GDP.


Challenges ahead for DGT

Future EU enlargements

Entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty


EU enlargement

A new official language – decided during the accession negotiations

Change of organisation and tools, recruiting and integrating new staff, learning new terminology and languages …

…but DGT is used to dealing with all these.


Preparing for EU enlargement

Setting up a Translation and Coordination Unit/TCU• in each future Member State

Support of DGT• technical and professional support;• freelance market in the country;• advising universities on the content of translator training;• liaising with local translators’ associations and organisations.

Recruitment of translators and interpreters DGT translators learn the new languages


Impact of the Lisbon Treaty on DGT

Possible increase in translation and new terminological fields, due to:• The Charter of Fundamental Rights –

correspondence with EU institutions;• The extension of the co-decision to new policy

areas;

• Consultation of national parliaments• Citizens’ initiative • Elimination of the three-pillar structure • New fields of activity


Working in and with DGT


Job opportunities

Permanent employment Temporary agent Contract agent Freelance Traineeship


Recruitment competitions

Recruitment competition

Published in the Official Journal of the European Union (C edition) and EPSO website: http://europa.eu.epso/

Selection procedure: 8 to 10 months


Competitions - Terms and conditions

National of one of the Member States with full rights as a citizen

• Military service obligations – fulfilled

Full university degree in languages or another field

• At least three years higher education

No professional experience is required Age limit: none


Language knowledge

Perfect command of your main language / mother tongue

Very sound knowledge of English or German or French (first source language)

Very sound knowledge of a second source language

• Decided for each competition, depending on needs (English, French, German, Italian, Polish, Spanish etc.)


Particular skills

People with science degrees or non-language arts degrees relevant to EU policies• Basic requirements (ability to grasp problems,

communicate, resist stress)• Language skills• Thematic skills • Translation skills

“Profile for Commission translators” at http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/translation/workwithus/staff/profile/index_en.htm


Steps of the competition (1)

Online registration (EPSO website only) Computer based tests (in the target languages

and in the first source language)• Verbal reasoning • Numerical reasoning • Linguistic skills test • Abstract reasoning test



The applicants with the highest marks in the preselection tests are invited to submit a full application and to attend a series of tests in an assessment centre.



Assessment centre - written and oral tests take place on the same day:

• 2 translations (45 lines, with dictionaries)• Group exercise (FR, EN, DE)• Oral presentation (FR, EN, DE)• Structured interview (FR, EN, DE) and target

language


Validity of the reserve list

The reserve list remains valid for a stated period, which may be extended.

Appointments are made from the reserve list as and when posts fall vacant.

Successful candidates can send updates to their CVs, especially if they acquire new language skills.


Other staff

Temporary staff

Contract staff

• Special calls for temporary and contract staff

• For more information, check regularly http://

ec.europa.eu/dgs/translation/workwithus/index_en.htm


Translation outsourcing

26 % of DGT’s total output was outsourced in 2009.

Internal

External

0

200000

400000

600000

800000

1000000

1200000

1400000

1600000

1800000

2000000

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

Year

Pa

ge

s


What do external contractors translate?

Documents of all kinds• Unless legislative, politically sensitive, confidential or

very urgent documents

Certain specialised documents (law, economics, finance, agriculture, customs, taxation, telecommunications etc.)• If DGT does not have the linguistic or specialist

expertise needed

Non-EU languages if no in-house capacity


Translation outsourcing

The only way to become a contractor for the European Commission is:• to take part in a call for tenders and have your bid

accepted

Calls for tenders for translation services are published in the Official Journal and on the DGT website:• http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/translation/workwithus/

contractor/index_en.htm


Selection criteria for contractors

Technical and professional capacity to carry out the work assigned to them (know-how, efficiency, experience and reliability)

Minimum qualification: university degree

Information required on:• working methods• recruitment procedures• translation capacity• use of translation tools• quality assurance mechanisms


Assistance to contractors

Background documents and contact person

IATE terminology database:http://iate.europa.eu

EUR-Lex database of EU law:http://eur-lex.europa.eu

Systematic feedback

External translation unit:[email protected]


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

Any nationality


Where can I find more information?

EU in general:http://ec.europa.eu

Directorate-General for Translation:http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/translation


Thank you for your attention!

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