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THE LANGUAGE SERVICE OF THE GENERAL SECRETARIAT OF THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNIONMaking Multilingualism Work

FEBRUARY 2012

Rue de la Loi/Wetstraat 1751048 Bruxelles/Brussel

BELGIQUE/BELGIËTel. +32 22816111

www.consilium.europa.eu

QC-32-11-696-EN

-C

doi:10.2860/79193

RS 15/2012

General Secretariat of the Council

THE LANGUAGE SERVICE OF THE GENERAL SECRETARIAT OF THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNIONMaking Multilingualism Work

2012 — 23 p. — 14,8 x 21cm

ISBN 978-92-824-2929-7doi:10.2860/79193

More information on the European Union is available on the Internet (http://europa.eu).

Cataloguing data can be found at the end of this publication.

ISBN 978-92-824-2929-7doi:10.2860/79193

© European Union, 2012Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged.

Printed in Belgium

Cover: © Helder Almeida - Fotolia.com

Notice

This brochure is produced by the General Secretariat of the Council Directorate-General A - Personnel and Administration Directorate 3 - Translation and Document Production.

This brochure is for information purposes only.

For any information on the European Council and the Council, you can consult the following websites:www.european-council.europa.euwww.consilium.europa.eu

or contact the Public Information Department of the General Secretariat of the Council at the following address:

Rue de la Loi/Wetstraat 175 Tel: +32 228156501048 Bruxelles/Brussel Fax: +32 22814977BELGIQUE/BELGIË www.consilium.europa.eu/infopublic

1

THE LANGUAGE SERVICE OF THE GENERAL SECRETARIAT OF THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNIONMaking Multilingualism Work

The Lex Building, where the Council's Language Service is situated

Български – español – čeština – dansk – Deutsch – eesti keel – ελληνικά – English – français – Gaeilge – italiano – latviešu valoda – lietuvių kalba – magyar – Malti – Nederlands – polski – português – română – slovenčina – slovenščina – suomi – svenska

3INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the Language Service of the Council of the European Union!

With 23 official languages1, the European Union (EU) is by far the most multilingual organisation in the world. This multilingualism reflects Europe's linguistic diversity and the political necessity for the EU institutions to embrace that diversity as an operational principle, but it also poses a serious practical challenge. The Language Service of the General Secretariat of the Council of the EU (GSC) helps to overcome this challenge: by providing high-quality translations for the European Council and the Council of the EU, as well as European citizens, it helps to make multilingualism work. Translation activities at the GSC focus on policy documents and legislation. In this brochure you will find further information on these activities at the GSC and on the work of its Language Service.

1 Twenty-four when Croatia joins the European Union on 1 July 2013.

4 A MULTILINGUAL FRAMEWORK

A MULTILINGUAL UNION

With 23 official languages, the EU is by far the most multilingual organisation in the world, and the number of languages looks set to rise with the accession of new Member States over the coming years. The principle of multilingualism was set out in Council Regulation No 1 of 15 April 1958 determining the languages to be used by the then European Economic Community. The 23 current official languages are: Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Irish, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish and Swedish2.

European citizens have the right to learn about the EU and to com-municate with it in one of its 23 official languages. In addition, much European legislation is directly applicable throughout all the Member States. For this to work, those laws must be available in the languages of those Member States. This is a fundamental requirement for the democratic legitimacy of a Union with 27 culturally and linguistically diverse Member States.

A SERIOUS PRACTICAL CHALLENGE

The EU's multilingualism reflects the continent's wealth of cultural and linguistic diversity but it also poses a serious practical challenge. The role of the Language Service is to help to meet this challenge by providing the European Council and the Council of the EU, and ultimately European citizens, with the necessary translations to make multilingualism work.

2 Croatian is to be added to the list when Croatia joins the European Union on 1 July 2013.

Which language version? The Language Service supports negotiations in the framework of the European Council by providing documents in all official languages.President Herman Van Rompuy with the German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the Prime Minister of Slovakia, Iveta Radičová.

5THE INSTITUTIONAL STRUCTURE

TWO INSTITUTIONS

The General Secretariat serves two different institutions: the European Council and the Council of the EU. Each is a fully-fledged institution in its own right, but closely related to the other. The European Council defines the general political guidelines of the European Union. The Council of the European Union has legislative and budgetary functions, as well as policy making and coordinating functions.

THE EUROPEAN COUNCIL

Established as an independent institution by the Lisbon Treaty (2007), the European Council consists of the Heads of State or Government of the EU Member States, together with its President and the President of the Commission. The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy also participates. The full-time President of the European Council is elected for a period of two and a half years, renewable once. The European Council meets at least four times a year and attracts a lot of media atten-tion, since its decisions provide a major impetus for defining the general political guidelines of the European Union.

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The role of the European Council is to provide the necessary impetus and to define the general political direction and priorities of the EU. It issues important policy statements but does not enact legislation.All major European Council policy statements are translated into the official languages.

THE COUNCIL OF THE EU

Along with the Parliament, the Council of the EU (sometimes referred to as the Council of Ministers) is a main actor in the discussion and adoption of EU legislation. The members of the Council of the EU represent the Member States. The Council meets much more frequently than the European Council, doing so in various configurations, for example, the "Agriculture and Fisheries Council" or the "Economic and Financial Affairs Council", depending on the subject-matter being discussed. The meetings are attended by one minister from each of the EU's national governments, normally the minister who is responsible for the subject-matter to be addressed.

One of the major tasks of the Council is to adopt EU legis-lation, most of which originates as a proposal from the European Commission and is adopted jointly by the Council and the European Parliament under what is called the "ordi-nary legislative procedure". The often substantial amendments made to this legislation as it passes through the Council are translated into the official lan-guages by the Language Service.

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THE LANGUAGE SERVICE OF THE GENERAL SECRETARIAT OF THE COUNCIL

The General Secretariat of the Council (GSC) is the permanent Euro-pean civil service body providing all the necessary advice and support to both the European Council and the Council of the EU. The GSC comprises a total staff of around 3000. The Language Service forms part of Directorate General A3 (Translation and Document Produc-tion) within the GSC and accounts for some 1000 of total GSC staff numbers. The Language Service provides translations into the 23 official lan-guages of all major policy documents and of almost all legislation at certain key stages of the legislative procedure. In this way, all involved parties, from key players to the general public, have access to the main documents and legislation of the EU in the official languages. The Language Service also provides translations for other EU bodies (in particular the European External Action Service - EEAS), transla-tions intended for more general communication with the public and for the GSC's numerous Working Parties, and translations to meet its own internal administrative needs. Also, it occasionally provides translations from and into other, non-official languages. However, the Language Service does not provide interpreting (oral) services. For interpreting, the GSC draws on the interpreting services of the European Commission.

8 THE LANGUAGE SERVICE: A MULTILINGUAL TEAM

TRANSLATION — FACTS AND FIGURES

The Language Service of the GSC translates more than 13 000 docu-ments per year, which results in a total output of around one million pages per year, all languages included. Almost all legislation and many major policy documents are translated into all 23 official EU languages. However, for efficiency's sake, many other documents are not translated at all or are only translated into a limited number of languages. In fact about 70 % of the total pages produced for the Council are not translated at all since, for practical purposes, most of the Working Parties work on the basis of a text drafted in a single language.

The Language Service comprises some 650 translators and 250 sup-port staff working day and, if need be, night, in order to have all the requested translations ready in time. They are divided into 23 differ-ent language units, one for each official language (plus a 24th being established for Croatian).

In addition to the language units, the Language Service has its own management team to give guidance, foster best practices and ensure communication and cohesion across the language units. To this end, it is supported by a CAT Tools Coordinator, a Quality Policy Coordi-nator, Terminology and Documentation Coordinators, and a Project Coordinator.

The Service also includes a language library with reference material in all 23 official languages.

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The Language Library

With a collection of some 10 000 books, including general and specialised dictionaries, glossaries and reference works, the Language Library is a valuable additional collection of resources for translators and other users. The Library also includes an extensive range of electronic resources and a complete collection of the Official Journal of the European Union from 1952 up to the present, as well as subscriptions to approximately 50 general and specialised periodicals in many different languages.

The Language Library on level 7 of the Lex Building is open to all EU staff

SN 1120/1/12 9 EN

German Unit

English Unit

Bulgarian Unit

Spanish Unit

Greek Unit

Latvian Unit

PortugueseUnit

CzechUnit

Danish Unit

Estonian Unit

Finnish Unit

French Unit

Hungarian Unit

Maltese Unit

DutchUnit

Polish Unit

Romanian Unit

SlovenianUnit

Swedish Unit

Language Service

Group A Group BSecretariat

Irish Unit

Italian Unit

Lithuanian Unit

SlovakUnit

Croatian Unit

Management support team

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Head of Unit

Quality Control Resources Coordinator

Translators and Assistants

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THE LANGUAGE UNITS

Language units usually have a staff complement of 26 translators and approximately 10 assistants.Each of the language units also has its own internal management team, comprising a Head of Unit, a Quality Controller, a Resources Manager and a Coordinator, in charge of all administrative tasks and the distribution of work.

STRUCTURE OF A LANGUAGE UNIT

All permanent staff, translators and assistants alike, must be citizens of an EU Member State and pass an open competition organised by the European Personnel Selection Office - EPSO (www.epso.eu).

Translators must hold a university degree and have a complete mastery of one of the official languages of the EU (usually their mother tongue) plus an excellent command of at least two others. As a general rule, they work into their mother tongue, but when necessary they may also translate from their mother tongue into another language. Their work involves both translation and revision of other translators' work. The role of the assistants is to coordinate and provide administra-tive and technical support for the work of translation and document preparation. They also prepare and format texts before and after the

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translation and revision process and ensure that finished translations conform to layout and technical requirements.

Traineeships

Each year the General Secretariat of the Council offers some 100 paid and approximately 20 unpaid traineeships, including translation traineeships in the Language Service. Applicants must be nationals of EU Member States and either have post-secondary qualifications or be currently enrolled for such studies. As French and English are the most commonly used languages of the GSC, applicants should have a thorough knowledge of at least one of them.

THE TRANSLATION PROCESS — FROM SOURCE TO TARGET

From the drafter's desk to the Coordination and Production Unit

First of all, a text is drafted — typically draft amendments to legislation, required for a forthcoming meeting or other part of the decision-making process, or a non-legislative text, a policy document, perhaps, or a press statement. The originator of the text sends it through the special "Workflow" application, which enables the various stages of production and distribution to be monitored and controlled, to the Coordination and Production Unit — the central hub for all official documents in the GSC. There, the layout and formatting of all docu-ments are checked, and the documents are registered and filed in the Council server and in the electronic archive called AIS (Archive Information System). This marks the start of the official life of the document, which is then immediately sent to the relevant addressees in the original language.

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From Coordination to individual Language Units

If translation of a document is requested, Coordination considers whether the request is justified, particularly in the light of the policy of "core documents" (see below). If it is, then the document is trans-lated into all the official languages. Texts other than "core documents" may also be translated into all or into some of the official languages, if deemed necessary. Once the request has been accepted, Coordination assesses the amount of work involved and sets a deadline, identifies the necessary back-ground documentation and feeds it into a Translation Memory tool (a database containing text fragments which have been translated in the past, together with their translations — see below). The text is then distributed to the language units, where the local coordinator will assign it to one or more assistants and/or translators (depending on the length of the text and the urgency of the deadline). In most cases, the text is also assigned to another translator whose role is to check or revise the finished translation to ensure that it is of high quality. Translators and revisers work on the text using a range of Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT) and terminological tools that help to ensure consistency, efficiency and speed.

From Language Units to the end-reader

Once translation and revision are finished, the assistant takes over and checks that the finished text conforms to the required layout and technical criteria, before archiving the translation in AIS. In this way, the completed translations are made available for their end purpose: automated electronic circulation to the Member States (capitals and Permanent Representations), the Commission and other ad hoc recipients through an Extranet system, distribution in paper form in the meeting rooms and, for documents accessible to the public, publication in the Public Register of Council documents.

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THE CHALLENGE: PRODUCING HIGH-QUALITY TRANSLATIONS TO TIGHT DEADLINES IN 23 LANGUAGES

In a Union with 27 members, proceedings can be complex. This is especially true of policy discussions and legislative procedures. Take for example legislation: under the "ordinary legislative procedure", proposals for laws are made by the Commission and then discussed and amended as necessary, and if an agreement is reached, adopted jointly by the Council (representing the Member States) and the Euro-pean Parliament (representing the citizens of Europe). Depending on the intricacy of the proposed legislation and the difficulty in finding compromises or agreement, the process can take anything from a few months to several years. Simultaneous translation into all 23 official languages of all these legislative texts, and the associated proposals, amendments, recommendations, compromise arrangements, etc. at certain milestone stages of the process, is a complex undertaking requiring skill and a great deal of cooperation and coordination, both within and beyond the GSC. Complexity is best met by efficiency, and with the 2004 and 2007 enlargements, which together saw 12 new Member States join and the total number of official languages rise from 11 to 23, the need for efficiency became greater than ever. The GSC's Language Service was faced with a major challenge: to avoid a drastic rise in administrative costs, it was required to adapt to the new linguistic requirements with-out increasing overall staffing numbers. In other words, the number of languages for translation more than doubled but the human resources were to stay more or less the same. To overcome this challenge with-out reducing the service provided to the citizen, two main measures were taken. Firstly, to ensure that precious resources were allocated according to priorities, a list of core documents was established, setting out the types of documents which were to be translated as a matter of course, namely all documents ultimately intended for the citizen

15

and all legislative documents to be published in the Official Journal. The decision on whether or not to translate documents not appearing on the list of core documents was to be taken on a case-by-case basis. This measure led to a significant reduction in the volume of texts being translated for internal purposes.

Secondly, in cooperation with the other EU institutions, major invest-ments were made in Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT) tools. This allowed for gains in productivity while helping to safeguard quality. These two measures permitted a gradual reduction in the staffing numbers of 'old' Member States' languages in compensation for the new staff recruited for translation of the 'new' Member States' languages.

Finally, the above measures were accompanied by an increased empha-sis on enhancing cooperation at all levels, both within the Language Service itself, between the Language Service and other departments of the GSC, and between the GSC and other EU institutions, with the result that translation today in all EU institutions has become an essen-tially cooperative process, in which teamwork and efficiency are key.

SN 1120/1/12 15 EN

COOPERATION WITHIN THE LANGUAGE SERVICE

At central level, the Language Service includes several specialised groups and individuals who

provide support to all the Language Units in key aspects of the translation process. They include the

Terminology and Documentation Coordinators, the CAT Tools Coordinator, the Project

Coordinator and the Quality Policy Coordinator; who coordinates the network of Quality

Controllers in the language units.

Heads of Language Service

Quality Policy Coordinator

Terminology and Documentation Coordinators

CAT Tools Coordinator

Project Coordinator

Language Library

The Quality Controllers at work: two sittings a week

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COOPERATION WITHIN THE LANGUAGE SERVICE

At central level, the Language Service includes several specialised groups and individuals who provide support to all the Language Units in key aspects of the translation process. They include the Terminol-ogy and Documentation Coordinators, the CAT Tools Coordinator, the Project Coordinator and the Quality Policy Coordinator; who coordinates the network of Quality Controllers in the language units.

Quality Policy Coordinator

Following the 2004 enlargement the Language Service drew up a qual-ity policy, and in 2006 a Quality Policy Coordinator was appointed in order to ensure that its translations, produced in an ever more complex environment, are consist-ently of high quality. The Quality Policy Coordina-tor's role is to advise the Language Service's man-agement on quality issues and to serve as an inter-nal and interinstitutional contact point for quality control. He guides and coordinates the activities of the quality controllers

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in the language units. For further details, see the GSC brochure Qual-ity Assurance at the Council's Translation Department.

Terminology & Documentation Coordinators

Terminological consistency is a major component of quality and includes consistency both within a single document and across families of related documents. Modern technologies help to achieve this consistency, while also saving time. The Terminology and Docu-mentation Coordinators guide and coordinate terminology work and term management across all the units, thus helping to strengthen quality and productivity. The main instrument for terminology work in the European Union is the interinstitutional terminology database IATE.

IATE

One of the most visible results of interinstitutional cooperation is the terminology database IATE [InterActive Terminology for Europe] — the EU's shared interinstitu-tional terminology database. With more than 8 million terms, including abbreviations and standard phrases, IATE is the largest terminology database in the world. It includes technical terms, toponyms, names of organisations and offi-cial bodies and abbreviations and acronyms, as well as useful additional information such as definitions and usage notes in all official languages. New terms are added every day and the database is constantly updated in response to evolving termi-nology and feedback from experts. IATE is also available to the public at http://iate.europa.eu.

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CAT Tools Coordinator

The CAT Tools Coordinator draws on a team of translators and assis-tants seconded from the language units. Their work is to assist with the implementation of CAT tools, to test tools and applications, to provide training, information and support for users, to draft user documentation and to disseminate good practices, with the overall aim of increasing productivity. The Coordinator regularly meets rep-resentatives of the logistics and computer departments of the GSC.

Project Coordinator

The Project Coordinator's role is to develop and follow up cross-cutting projects including specialist subject and language training and the formation of groups of specialised translators in some of the main areas of Council activity (economics and finance, justice and home affairs, defence, and the environment). Free-standing projects such as the development of ergonomics and green office policies are pursued in order to ensure appropriate working conditions.

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COOPERATION BETWEEN THE LANGUAGE SERVICE AND OTHER DEPARTMENTS OF THE GSC

Legal Service

The "Quality of Legislation" Directorate, which is part of the Council's Legal Service, ensures the legal quality of all language versions of legislative texts on the basis of translations provided by the Language Service, with which it cooperates closely. The DQL checks that all legal acts to be published in the Official Journal are correctly formulated, and that they follow uniform principles of presentation and legal drafting.

Training

The Language Service, very often through its Project Coordinator and the specialist translation groups, cooperates with the Learning and Development Unit so as to ensure a wide range of training for its translators and assistants, aimed at optimising both their professional competence and job satisfaction. This includes language training, technical workshops, specialist subject training, and presentations and lectures on EU policies and topics, often provided by officials.

Clear Drafting

The quality of the original text has a crucial bearing on the quality of the translation. In a multicultural context, original texts are often drafted by non-native speakers of the language. For this reason, the Language Service provides an optional editing service for texts writ-ten in any of the official languages of the EU. The main demand is, of course, for English and French, the most commonly used drafting languages.

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COOPERATION BETWEEN INSTITUTIONS

Recruitment

For its recruitment needs, the Language Service, like other EU bodies and institu-tions, relies on the European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO) which runs regular open competitions for recruit-ment of both translators and assistants (http://europa.eu/epso).

Tools Development

Many of the CAT and terminology tools in everyday use at the Lan-guage Service are also the result of interinstitutional cooperation. Since 1995 cooperation in tools development has been steered by the Interinstitutional Committee for Translation and Interpretation (ICTI), set up with a view to exploiting synergies and economies of scale.

In addition to the interinstitutional terminology database IATE, the main tools developed include:

Translation Memory Software

• CATsoftware—usingTranslationMemoriescreatedfromprevious relevant translations identified by Coordination, com-mercially available software is used as a "front-end" or user interface, and adapted for the Language Service's use.

• EURAMIS[EuropeanAdvancedMultilingualInformationSystem] — the EU's interinstitutional translation memory,

Teams of Language Service translators are assigned, day and night, to provide translations of the outcome of European summit meetings

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containing all documents in all institutions that have been translated using Translation Memory software. Since the com-mercially available CAT software is not designed to cope with such large-scale translation needs as those of the EU institu-tions, EURAMIS was developed as a "back end" for the CAT interface.

Herman Van Rompuy, President of the European Council, at the Language Service stand on an Open Day

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Communication and Knowledge-Sharing

• ELISE[EuropeanInstitutionsLinguisticInformationStorageand Exchange] — an interinstitutional database permitting all those involved in translating a given text as it goes from one institution to another (in accordance with the relevant law-making process) to share linguistic information on the text (for instance, terminology issues, explanations, and experts who have been consulted).

Terminology& Documentation

• QUEST—aninterinstitutionalmeta-searchtoolenablingtranslators to search multiple sources with a single click.

• EUR-LEX—theonlinedatabaseofallEUlegislationandcaselaw (which is also publicly available at http://eur-lex.europa.eu).

23CONCLUSION

This brochure has aimed to provide you with a general description of the work of the Language Service of the GSC and the role it plays in providing support to the European Council and to the Council of the EU. Through its work, the Language Service helps to make multilingualism work, and thereby contributes to the success of the legislative process in the EU. With 27 Member States and 23 official languages (at present), producing high-quality translations to tight deadlines is a major challenge. The Language Service has met and continues to meet this challenge by optimising staff skills and train-ing, but also through a rational and efficient approach, and through active cooperation both within and beyond the Language Service. In doing so, the Language Service provides the citizens of Europe with access in all the EU's official languages to the policies and legislation that lie at the heart of the EU.

General Secretariat of the Council

THE LANGUAGE SERVICE OF THE GENERAL SECRETARIAT OF THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNIONMaking Multilingualism Work

2012 — 23 p. — 14,8 x 21cm

ISBN 978-92-824-2929-7doi:10.2860/79193

More information on the European Union is available on the Internet (http://europa.eu).

Cataloguing data can be found at the end of this publication.

ISBN 978-92-824-2929-7doi:10.2860/79193

© European Union, 2012Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged.

Printed in Belgium

Cover: © Helder Almeida - Fotolia.com

Notice

This brochure is produced by the General Secretariat of the Council Directorate-General A - Personnel and Administration Directorate 3 - Translation and Document Production.

This brochure is for information purposes only.

For any information on the European Council and the Council, you can consult the following websites:www.european-council.europa.euwww.consilium.europa.eu

or contact the Public Information Department of the General Secretariat of the Council at the following address:

Rue de la Loi/Wetstraat 175 Tel: +32 228156501048 Bruxelles/Brussel Fax: +32 22814977BELGIQUE/BELGIË www.consilium.europa.eu/infopublic

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EN

THE LANGUAGE SERVICE OF THE GENERAL SECRETARIAT OF THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNIONMaking Multilingualism Work

FEBRUARY 2012

Rue de la Loi/Wetstraat 1751048 Bruxelles/Brussel

BELGIQUE/BELGIËTel. +32 22816111

www.consilium.europa.eu

QC-32-11-696-EN

-C

doi:10.2860/79193

RS 15/2012