Multilingualism in the EU - Alpeuregio · PDF fileWhat is multilingualism? • several...
Transcript of Multilingualism in the EU - Alpeuregio · PDF fileWhat is multilingualism? • several...
Multilingualism in the EU
Presentation for the Alpeuregio summer school
Brussels, 7 July 2014
Policy Officer Johan Häggman, DGT 02
What is multilingualism?
• several languages spoken within a geographical area;
• a person’s ability to master several languages;
• a policy requiring an organisation/a company/an institution to use several languages for communication
The world’s top 10 languagesby the number of native speakers
Mandarin
English
Hindi/UrduSpanish
Russian
Arabic
Bengali
Portuguese
JapaneseGerman
EU official languages over time
The legal basis
Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union
• 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.
Council Regulation No 1/58
• Regulations and other documentsof general application shall bedrafted in the official languages.
Translation and democracy
Thanks to translation,people can helpbuild the EuropeanUnion and contribute toits openness andlegitimacy.
Types of languages
• Official/working/Treaty languages: 24
• Procedural languages: English, French, German
• Additional languages: Basque, Catalan, Galician, Scottish Gaelic and Welsh
Additional languages
UK or Spain Commission
Citizens
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d b
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Reply in the„regional” language
Written communicationin the
„regional” language
Original mail+ translation
into official language
Reply in theofficial language
Languages mean jobs!
Language industry:worth 8.4 billion EUR in 2008,
10% annual growth,20 billion EUR in 2015?
What else do we do?
Links with schools and universities
Machine translation
LIND-Web
StudiesTerminology and tools
European Day of Languages
VisitingTranslatorScheme
Translation contest for Europe’s budding linguists
Website: ec.europa.eu/translatoresFacebook.com/translatoresTwitter: @translatores
European Master’s in Translation
64 university programmesin Europe
Language industry web platform (LIND-Web)
ec.europa.eu/language-industry
• Promote visibility and recognition for the language industry
• Improve the exchange of knowledge and best practice among stakeholders
• Bring language professionals together
• Collect comparable data from EU countries
European Day of Languages26 September
• Translating Europe
• - Yearly forum
• -Workshops in Member
• States.
Translation studies
Clear Writing campaign
• Be concrete not abstract
• KISS! Keep It Short and Simple
• Cut out excess nouns
• Ask before you start: what, who, when, where, how, why, how much?
Cost of multilingualism
• Translation and interpreting in all EU institutions put together cost each EU citizen just over 2 euros per year.
• The cost of multilingualism adds up to less than 1% of the annual EU budget.
Cost of translation
• Challenge: doing more with less
• Improving cost-effectiveness
• Prioritisation – translation strategy
• Fit-for-purpose translation
• Machine translation, other tools
• Outsourcing
• Why have in-house translation?
Challenges ahead
• Future EU enlargements
• Doing more with less
• Modernity: efficiency gains by developing tools
• Recruitment: replacing retiring staff and attractingnew blood
Thank you for your attention!