translation at the european commission: a brief review
DESCRIPTION
Translation at the European Commission: a brief review. Manchester University 24 November 2009 Emma Wagner (Editing Unit) + Tim Martin (Communication and Information Unit). European Parliament 1200. Council Secretariat 600. European Commission (DGT) 2350. Translation Centre 200. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Directorate-General for Translation
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
Translation at the European Commission: a brief review
Manchester University24 November 2009
Emma Wagner (Editing Unit) + Tim Martin (Communication and Information Unit)
- 2 -Directorate-General for TranslationEUROPEAN
COMMISSION
Translation Centre200
European Commission (DGT)2350
European Parliament1200
Court of Auditors140
Court of Justice850
European Investment Bank
50
European Central Bank70
Council Secretariat600
Committee of the Regions, European Economic and
Social Committee530
- 3 -Directorate-General for TranslationEUROPEAN
COMMISSION
How many people work in translation at the Commission?
TOTAL STAFF: 2350, comprising …
… some 1 750 translators and 600 support staff (50% in
Brussels, 50% in Luxembourg) + a small number of
translators in Field Offices in Member States
- 4 -Directorate-General for TranslationEUROPEAN
COMMISSION
Our activities in DGT
WEB TRANSLATIONInteraction with citizens
via Internet
TRANSLATION
Written communication
EDITINGQuality of originals
MULTILINGUALISM POLICYResearch, political monitoring
Strategy / Communication
DGT
FIELD OFFICESLocalisation of
messages
INTERFACE WITH LANGUAGE INDUSTRY
ToolsTranslation market
PLANNING & SUPPORTDemand management
Library
- 5 -Directorate-General for TranslationEUROPEAN
COMMISSION
Official EU languages 1958 - 2008
- 6 -Directorate-General for TranslationEUROPEAN
COMMISSION
1997: 1 125 709 pages 2008: 1 805 689 pages
Trends in translation at the Commission
EN FR
DE Other
Source languages:
- 7 -Directorate-General for TranslationEUROPEAN
COMMISSION
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:• 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
- 8 -Directorate-General for TranslationEUROPEAN
COMMISSION
Breakdown by source language (2008)
EN
FR
DE IT ES NL EL PL0
200,000
400,000
600,000
800,000
1,000,000
1,200,000
1,400,000
- 9 -Directorate-General for TranslationEUROPEAN
COMMISSION
Breakdown by target language (2008)
0
50.000
100.000
150.000
200.000
250.000
- 10 -Directorate-General for TranslationEUROPEAN
COMMISSION
Translation at the Commission
1997 2004 2008
Total output (pages) 1 125 709 1 270 586 1 805 689
Proportion freelance 16% 23.0% 26.0%
Source text in English45% 62% 72%
Source text in French40% 26% 12%
Source text in German 5% 3.1% 3%
Source text in other EU languages 8% 9% 13%
- 11 -Directorate-General for TranslationEUROPEAN
COMMISSION
Categories of documents translated
Legislation Consultation Information Administration Other
Pages translated by category
30 %30 %
4 %
33 %
8 %
25 %
- 12 -Directorate-General for TranslationEUROPEAN
COMMISSION
Some useful links
http://ec.europa.eu European Commissionhttp://eur-lex.europa.euCompendium of all EU legislation http://iate.europa.eu InterActive Terminology for Europehttp://langtech.jrc.it/DGT-TM.html Collection of translations of the body of EU law http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/translation/index_en.htmDGT website
- 13 -Directorate-General for TranslationEUROPEAN
COMMISSION
Thank you very much for listening