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DIRECTORATE GENERAL FOR INTERPRETATION
DG SCIC
Multilingualism and Interpreter Training Support Unit
Claude Durand
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Who are we ?
• One of the three EU interpretation services
• Largest interpretation service in the world• 835 permanent staff (590 interpreters)• Over 3.000 accredited free-lancers for 65
languages• EU Institutions account for more than 65%
of interpreting work worldwide ( UN=11%)
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Institutions and bodies served by DG SCIC
• Commission +/- 40%• Council +/- 50 %• Economic & Social
Committee• Committee of the Regions• E.I.B.• Agencies & Foundations
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Multilingualism
Does it make sense?• EU policy of multilingualism based on the
Treaties• Essential for EU’s democratic legitimacy and
transparency of its decisions• Language identifies each of us and connects us
with our own culture-”Unity in diversity”• Cost: barely 3 Euros per capita in the EU
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Languages
• In EU 23 working and official languages (including Irish)
• More to come, following future accessions
BUT ALSOo Languages of the EU’s main trading partners
Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian …….
• Spanish co-official languages : Basque, Catalan, Galician
Other ones when needed and even sign language
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Volume of work in 2009
• 111.372 interpreting days • 67.425 contract days for free-lance• 60-90 meetings per day • 500-900 interpreters assigned per day
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How can we make it work?
• Quality is the key• Rigourous standards for professional
qualifications and selection procedures• Annual appraisal for staff/quality monitoring for
ACI • Appropriate working conditions agreed with staff • Career-long training• Documentation & terminology support
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The broader pictureInterinstitutional co-operation
• Inter-institutional general competitions• Inter-institutional accreditation tests• Common list of free-lance• Staff exchanges
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A pro-active and comprehensive approach
Presentations,
information,advice
Grants to Universities
Studybursaries
Inter-Institutional tests /
competitions
Integration programme
Training assistance
Externalexaminers
Dedicatedtraining
tools
Study visits
Workshopsseminars
conferences
Benchmarking
I. Raising Awareness
II. Financial support
III. Pedagogical Assistance
IV. Entering the Profession
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Raising Awareness
• Contacts with universities
• Missions to candidate countries
• Information seminars for Senior officials
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Grants to Universities
Annually DG INTERPRETATION (and the European Parliament) give grants amounting to 475.0000 € to support interpretation courses
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Bursaries to post-graduate students
Bursaries of 1500 € (candidate countries) to 2200 € (EU-27) for a grand total of about € 350.000 annually
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Pedagogical AssistanceDG SCIC provides pedagogical assistance to partner universities• sends experienced interpreters to universities to improve
training
• sends interpreters to sit on examination boards
• provides teaching tools developed by DG SCIC
• organises study visits to DG SCIC for students ofinterpretation
• Annually, some 600 days of pedagogical assistance to different universities
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International dimensionSCIC’s expertise is recognised world-wide :
Training Chinese government interpreters for more than 20 years already Training Vietnamese government interpretersTraining Macanese government interpreters Co-operation with UN-family (member of IAMLADP)Co-operation with schools in Russia, China, USA, Africa…
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Future challenges
After the successful 2004 and 2007 enlargements (+12 countries,
+11 languages in total)
• New enlargement challenges (candidate and pre-candidate countries)
• The next generation (la relève)
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How to cope?through quality
RECRUITThe best professionals, either
Officials or accredited free-lance
HELP UNIVERSITIES TRAINHigh standards graduatesIn conference Interpreting
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A Conference Interpreter
• NOT a translator• NOT multilingual
secretary• NOT a contact/liaison
interpreter• BUT interpreting in
multilingual international meetings
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Over 50 years of experiencehave shown:
• Training at post-graduate (Master’s level) is best
• Not only graduates with language degrees• An intensive, hands-on programme based
on practice, not theory• The EMCI blueprint (with EU financial
support)
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The European Master’s in Conference Interpreting
• An intensive full-time Master’s programme • A practice-oriented programme (75%
practice, 25% theory)• Taught by practising and experienced
interpreter-trainers• Common standards for rigorous selection
and assessment
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Adapting to new circumstances
• Language professions on the move(new profiles and qualifications, new technologies, language industry:10% annual growth)• International co-operation, also in
academia, joint degrees
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Regional co-operation
• Working together to maximize efficiency and effectiveness in training
• Pooling scarce resources
• A win-win situation for all