| Author (Person) | Banks, Martin |
|---|---|
| Series Title | European Voice |
| Series Details | Vol.11, No.29, 28.7.05 |
| Publication Date | 28/07/2005 |
| Content Type | News |
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By Martin Banks Date: 28/07/05 Translators recruited to the European Commission from the new member states have been slow to get to grips with EU procedures and terminology. In a report on its translation services, the European Commission has admitted that the productivity of the new translators has not been not been "fully in line" with expectations. While many of the newly hired translators have good language skills, they have "little professional experience or knowledge of EU procedures and terminology", the report said. Christian Bastien, head of the translation department's evaluation and analysis unit, said that translating complex legal documents was a particularly tricky problem for the new recruits. He said: "The translators are all highly professional but they may have been unfamiliar with EU terminology and this is perfectly understandable. Of course, it will take time for them to become fully accustomed to this terminology." He stressed that the accuracy of translated text was not in question but, rather, "inconsistencies" sometimes occurred, he said. "Some, in particular translators for Maltese and Slovak, occasionally have to define a new word for some EU terms because a direct translation is not possible." In order to improve the quality of original documents drafted in English and French by non-native speakers, the translation directorate plans to expand its editing service, which revises texts in those languages before they are sent for translation. Bastien said the system of prioritising documents - introduced to ensure the Commission was not overwhelmed by the sheer volume of paperwork - will remain until the end of next year. The Commission had asked officials to draft shorter documents, 15 pages for a communication, for example, rather than the previous average of 37. But the Commission is now relaxing some of these rules. "While enabling the Commission to fulfil its legal obligations, these measures have also contributed to improving the clarity of its message," the Commission report said. The Commission's next linguistic challenge will be the accession of Romania and Bulgaria, scheduled for 2007, with competitions to recruit 60 more translators to begin this autumn. In a report on its translation services, the European Commission found that the productivity of the translators recruited from the new member States had not been not been 'fully in line' with expectations. On 20 July 2005 the Commission adopted a revision of its 2004 strategy for matching supply and demand for translation. |
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| Source Link | http://www.european-voice.com/ |
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| Subject Categories | Culture, Education and Research |
| Countries / Regions | Europe |
