**How to become an interpreter. — Transcript & Summary | SozAI**
Source: https://sozai.app/transcript/how-to-become-interpreter/

Learn how to become an interpreter with insights from NAZE ABDOU on skills, training, and the European Parliament interpreting career.

## Key Takeaways

- Interpreting requires strong multilingual skills and a deep understanding of European institutions.
- Training and continuous professional development are essential for success in this career.
- Interpreters play a critical role in ensuring clear communication across diverse languages in the European Parliament.
- The job is dynamic, challenging, and offers unique opportunities to engage with high-profile speakers.
- Community support and practical experience are valuable for aspiring interpreters.

## What the video covers

- NAZE ABDOU introduces the role and career path of an interpreter, especially within the European Parliament.
- The video explains the ideal profile for interpreters: multilingual, talented, and interested in European institutions.
- Viewers get an overview of interpreter training, professional development, and the challenges of the job.
- The importance of multilingualism as a cornerstone of European democracy is emphasized.
- Practical insights include opportunities to try interpreting with recorded speeches from notable figures.
- The video covers the dynamic and changing environment of the European Parliament and its impact on interpreters.
- NAZE ABDOU shares personal experiences and the significance of teamwork and focus in interpreting.
- Information about resources such as a Facebook community and giveaways is provided for further engagement.
- The video highlights the political and linguistic complexities interpreters manage daily.
- Q&A sessions and interactive elements encourage audience participation and deeper understanding.

## Chapters

1. 00:00 Introduction and Overview of Interpreting Career
2. 02:51 Trying Interpreting: Audience Participation and Impressions
3. 05:20 Interpreting Booth Experience and Practical Tips
4. 08:32 Role of Interpreters in the European Parliament
5. 11:30 Interpreter Training and Professional Development
6. 18:12 Challenges and Skills Required for Interpreters
7. 24:00 Focus, Teamwork, and Real-Life Interpreting Scenarios
8. 27:48 Q&A and Closing Remarks

Answers

## Questions about this video

What qualifications are needed to become an interpreter for the European Parliament?

You need to be multilingual, talented, and have a strong interest in European institutions. Formal training and continuous professional development are also essential.

Can beginners try interpreting before committing to the profession?

Yes, the video encourages trying interpreting with recorded speeches to gain insight and experience before deciding to pursue it professionally.

How does multilingualism impact the work of interpreters in the European Parliament?

Multilingualism is the cornerstone of European democracy, and interpreters ensure that members can speak in their language of choice while conveying messages accurately across all official languages.

## Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown

00:00

Speaker A

Start, you need to know that I never go anywhere without my own personal cameraman. Just so you know, this is Vincenzo, and I now refuse to go anywhere without him. Sadly, I'm getting to like it.

00:15

Speaker A

thank you very much indeed for coming I'm really pleased to see you all and it's really nice of you to take the time to come and find out about a job that apparently you're a little bit interested in probably for various

00:26

Speaker A

First of all, thank you very much indeed for coming. I'm really pleased to see you all, and it's really nice of you to take the time to come and find out about a job that apparently you're a little bit interested in, probably for various reasons.

00:50

Speaker A

plans no not much nodding not much nodding there well I hope to be able to tell you something that will at least interest you today and even if I don't manage to persu you that you should all become interpreters at least you'll

01:03

Speaker A

Are you all stagers almost? How many from the Parliament? Okay, and Commission and Committee, the regions, hooray! So, oh, that's a great mix, and so you're almost at the end of this amazing experience. Yeah, and all got great plans?

01:20

Speaker A

like this for the stagers because you've got everything that we're looking for you are multilingual you are talented otherwise you wouldn't be here as St you're interested in the European project otherwise you wouldn't be here as stagers you know about the European

01:37

Speaker A

No, not much nodding. Not much nodding there. Well, I hope to be able to tell you something that will at least interest you today, and even if I don't manage to persuade you that you should all become interpreters, at least you'll understand more about what the job is about and why we like it and why it's an interesting career for bright young people like yourselves.

01:53

Speaker A

just explain a little bit what's going to happen this morning we've got two hours I'd like to talk to you just for a little while show you some pictures about what interpreting is how you get into it what's the profile what's the

02:06

Speaker A

You, in fact, are an ideal target audience. That's why we're always very keen to do conferences like this for the stagers, because you've got everything that we're looking for. You are multilingual, you are talented, otherwise you wouldn't be here as stagers. You're interested in the European project, otherwise you wouldn't be here as stagers. You know about the European institutions and how they work, and I'm sure a lot of you know a lot about communication.

02:25

Speaker A

we've got FR aland we've got his speech that he made in the plary session last week so you can have a go at being olan's interpreter so obviously he'll be speaking French and we also have Prince Charles as a real treat he's a very

02:39

Speaker A

So really, you are what we're looking for in terms of a profile, and that's why we wanted to talk specifically to you as a group. I'll just explain a little bit what's going to happen this morning. We've got two hours. I'd like to talk to you just for a little while, show you some pictures about what interpreting is, how you get into it, what's the profile, what's the path into the profession.

02:51

Speaker A

interested in your in your impressions whether you liked it what it felt like and I think it will give you quite an interesting Insight if you've never tried it before in into into what it's like and just how much fun it can be so

03:04

Speaker A

Then we'd like to give you the opportunity to be interpreters. We're going to let you, if you want, go into the booths and have a go. We've got two speeches, sadly not live speakers.

03:15

Speaker A

do I'd be really grateful if you would dare put the microphone on so that I can I was going to say so that I can have a laugh but I meant so that I can so that I can listen and make helpful comments

03:26

Speaker A

We've got FR Aland. We've got his speech that he made in the plenary session last week, so you can have a go at being Aland's interpreter. So obviously, he'll be speaking French.

03:39

Speaker A

like to know if you don't want to ask in front of everybody you know I'll I'll be staying at the end so if anyone's got any more questions they'd like to to ask I'd be very happy to answer them at the

03:50

Speaker A

We also have Prince Charles as a real treat. He's a very interesting speaker, as you'll discover when you try to interpret him. So he'll be doing a speech in English, and so anybody who wants to have a go at interpreting will be very welcome to do so.

04:04

Speaker A

have a Facebook page um European Parliament interpreters uh DG inter that's the name of our of our directorate general and on there you'll find lots and lots of links and a community so if you want to join that that would also be very helpful and

04:20

Speaker A

And then afterwards, I'd be really interested in your impressions, whether you liked it, what it felt like, and I think it will give you quite an interesting insight if you've never tried it before into what it's like and just how much fun it can be.

04:34

Speaker A

a very young impressionable freelance interpreter thinking that I would just come here and try it out for 6 months and that was 23 years ago um I started as a freelance interpr I started when I was four just in case anybody anybody's

04:49

Speaker A

So we'll do that after the presentation. So listen carefully to what I'm saying so that you'll know what to do when you get there.

05:06

Speaker A

head of unit for interpreter training so now I'm more involved in the training of new interpreters the training of our own interpreters professional development and so on so that's my that's my role now and a lot less time spent actually

05:20

Speaker A

There is no obligation to go into the booth, by the way, but those who do, I'd be really grateful if you would dare put the microphone on so that I can—I was going to say so that I can have a laugh, but I meant so that I can listen and make helpful comments afterwards.

05:35

Speaker A

fantastic workplace because it never stops changing it's not just that we get a whole load of new members every 5 years which does make a huge change the parliament becomes a different place every 5 years but it changes all the

05:53

Speaker A

So, but we'll do that at the end of the presentation. I'm more than happy to take any questions that you have at any point. There are no stupid questions. There may be stupid answers, but anything you'd like to know.

06:06

Speaker A

parliament changes and so it is chaotic but wonderful we have 754 members 27 member states soon to be 28 member states 23 official languages soon to be 24 things change all the time and keeping up with that is a massive challenge for

06:28

Speaker A

If you don't want to ask in front of everybody, you know, I'll be staying at the end, so if anyone's got any more questions they'd like to ask, I'd be very happy to answer them at the end.

06:48

Speaker A

of other languages as well which we provide coverage for so this is a massive massive operation and multilingualism is very much the Cornerstone of European democracy and the rules of the parliament State very clearly I hope you can read that state very clearly that

07:09

Speaker A

We also have some lovely postcards, we have DVDs, we have all kinds of little things to give away on the way out, which will give you contacts and information should you wish to find out more.

07:25

Speaker A

won't obviously not we are just service providers the language provision is is a very political question and members can speak the official language of their choice and that's quite an interesting wording it doesn't say members will speak the

07:41

Speaker A

We also have a Facebook page, European Parliament Interpreters, DG Inter. That's the name of our directorate general, and on there you'll find lots and lots of links and a community.

07:57

Speaker A

they fondly imagine is English some members speak their foreign languages extremely well but I hope yes well anyway um a lot of them don't speak it as well as they think they do and what happens then is there is somebody speaking in imperfect

08:16

Speaker A

So if you want to join that, that would also be very helpful and useful for you, I think.

08:32

Speaker A

members that they can leave it to us they can leave it to the professionals and we will transmit their message in the way they intended it we can make them sound really good and that's a lot of our job is persuading them to trust

08:47

Speaker A

And the bit I always forget to do is tell you who I am and why I'm standing here. Obviously, my name is Alison Graves, as you can see from the slide.

09:05

Speaker A

it um the official language that's often chosen well we used to call it um BSE which was badly spoken English uh but now I've heard someone refer to it as despero and I quite I quite like that so that is actually

09:22

Speaker A

I came to Brussels as a very young, impressionable freelance interpreter thinking that I would just come here and try it out for six months, and that was 23 years ago.

09:39

Speaker A

and to be able to interpret that is a joy to listen to someone struggling with a language that they're not really totally confident in makes our job very difficult as well because you've then got to decipher what is it they're

09:51

Speaker A

I started as a freelance interpreter. I started when I was four, just in case anybody's wondering.

10:08

Speaker A

and it is a little bit like riding a roller coaster because he's he is so quick and so clever and he can change register like nobody I've ever heard speak and one minute he's very high flown and talking about the Congress of

10:22

Speaker A

Yeah, I started as a freelance interpreter and then became a staff interpreter working in the English booth. So that means really I've spent my whole career speaking. I just talk all day every day.

10:35

Speaker A

Challenge and a great ride to be on so that's why we'd always prefer members to speak their own language if if at all possible because it makes our job easier and it makes them sound better we think and why is it so important that we

10:52

Speaker A

And two years ago, I became head of unit for interpreter training, so now I'm more involved in the training of new interpreters, the training of our own interpreters, professional development, and so on.

11:11

Speaker A

two languages why does the European Parliament the European institutions why do we insist on having all these languages and there are really three main reasons I mean one is that the European Parliament has a direct lawmaking function it drafts an agree

11:30

Speaker A

So that's my role now and a lot less time spent actually in the booth.

11:44

Speaker A

understand and we need the direct involvement of the people of Europe This is their Parliament this is your Parliament it's mine the members here represent me and you and our moms and our granny and they need to understand what this

12:02

Speaker A

So I think that's all we need to know to start with, so let's move on.

12:21

Speaker A

transparency and openness I don't know how many of our moms and Granny's and aunties actually do ever listen to the debates of the European Parliament but it's there and it's accessible to the people of Europe and also there's a question of

12:37

Speaker A

Those of you who work here will have already worked out what an amazing place this Parliament is. It is really a fantastic workplace because it never stops changing.

12:52

Speaker A

could save lots of money if everybody just spoke English but the most recent eurobarometer survey found that 38% of the citizens of Europe felt that they could speak English well enough to hold a conversation that's hold a conversation that's not win a

13:09

Speaker A

It's not just that we get a whole load of new members every five years, which does make a huge change. The Parliament becomes a different place every five years, but it changes all the time.

13:27

Speaker A

if I want to vote for a taxi driver as my representative taxi driver who doesn't have a secondary you know a tertiary education then why should I not be able to do that if that is the person that I want and so it's really important

13:41

Speaker A

And for anybody working in this environment, that's a huge challenge: keeping up with the new powers, the new issues, the new dossiers that come through, the way things change, the way the outside world changes, and so the Parliament changes.

14:01

Speaker A

do how do we how do we organize it we have yeah at the moment approximately 380 staff interpreters and staff interpreters are functionary like everybody else same EPO competition except of course with interpreting tests included um but we are civil servants

14:21

Speaker A

So it is chaotic but wonderful. We have 754 members, 27 member states, soon to be 28 member states, 23 official languages, soon to be 24. Things change all the time, and keeping up with that is a massive challenge for everybody, but for the linguistic side, a very particular challenge.

14:41

Speaker A

have big peaks in meetings on Tuesdays and Wednesdays so then we've needed to recruit more interpreters to cover the meetings then we have fewer meetings at the beginning and end of the week so the staff can cover the meetings uh

14:54

Speaker A

Because all the 23, soon to be 24, official languages are treated equally. We also often work with Arabic, Russian, Japanese, Chinese, Hebrew, Kazakh, you know, the whole range of other languages as well, which we provide coverage for.

15:11

Speaker A

accredited we need our freelance interpreters to be as good as the staff interpreters There's no distinction in quality and so all freelance interpreters have to do an accreditation test we won't let anybody loose in the booth unless we know that they're good

15:28

Speaker A

So this is a massive, massive operation, and multilingualism is very much the cornerstone of European democracy.

15:45

Speaker A

about being an interpreter here in this institution is that you get to do everything you get to go everywhere and see and hear absolutely everything we don't specialize so committees for example we do all the Committees which is

16:03

Speaker A

And the rules of the Parliament state very clearly—I hope you can read that—state very clearly that the members have the right to speak in their languages.

16:18

Speaker A

is a lot of work to prepare all these meetings but it means that interpreters get to know absolutely everything they get to know what's happening they get to know the subject projects really well and you get to know the people extremely

16:33

Speaker A

So there, there is the Council Regulation Number One, which is the one which regulates language use, and it's obviously not the Interpretation Services which decide which languages will be official languages and which won't.

16:47

Speaker A

what's happening and for a nosy person it's an absolutely brilliant job because you get to see all these things happening so the Committees are very very interesting from a from a Content point of view you get to learn and

17:01

Speaker A

Obviously not. We are just service providers. The language provision is a very political question, and members can speak the official language of their choice.

17:17

Speaker A

up close and personal and you see how they operate you see what they do in the political groups it's a bit like a family and you all know how mean families can be and it's really that that's where you really

17:32

Speaker A

And that's quite an interesting wording. It doesn't say members will speak the official language of their country or the official language of their birth. It says they speak the official language of their choice.

17:47

Speaker A

possibly a challenging part of the job um committees we don't get to choose you have to go to whichever committee you happen to be assigned to that day no no choice no I don't like trans transport I only want to do legal Affairs that's

18:02

Speaker A

And so that means that not all members do speak their own language. Some members prefer to speak in what they fondly imagine is English. Some members speak their foreign languages extremely well, but I hope—yes, well, anyway.

18:17

Speaker A

frankly you don't really want to be in a room with but you have no choice in that that is not what you are there for you are there to be these people's voice to enable them to communicate whatever it

18:31

Speaker A

A lot of them don't speak it as well as they think they do, and what happens then is there is somebody speaking in imperfect English, and a lot of the listeners are listening imperfectly because they don't understand English perfectly either.

18:50

Speaker A

quite frankly repulsive and you have to say things that you really do not want to say but you have to and so that can be a challenging part of the job and because this is a political institution it happens more here than than in other

19:04

Speaker A

And so there's this huge mismatch between the message that is intended and the message that is received.

19:19

Speaker A

professional and calm and do the job plenary sessions we also do everybody complains about the plenary sessions because they're much too different difficult it's too fast people are reading those of you who've seen the pler know that members come with an

19:35

Speaker A

And part of our job is to persuade the members that they can leave it to us, they can leave it to the professionals, and we will transmit their message in the way they intended it.

19:48

Speaker A

interpret because it's not natural spoken language and these are speeches that have been crafted by various people over various hours and they're perfect and beautiful but it's not spoken language and the interpreters hear it they don't see it they just hear it and

20:05

Speaker A

We can make them sound really good, and that's a lot of our job: persuading them to trust us, to have confidence in the Interpretation Services.

20:19

Speaker A

of a more of a chance and there's always the terrible German sentence where you've launched into it and at the very end of the sentence the speaker says n and then you think oh God and then you've got to quickly get it all back um

20:34

Speaker A

And that's why it's so important that our quality is of the highest possible level, because it's very easy to lose the confidence of the members. We have to.

20:48

Speaker A

that's where everything happens and that's where it's fun and fullon and exciting and interesting so actually if we don't get to do pler we come complain even though we complain when we do delegations are also a very different

21:05

Speaker A

Forum there you're with people from different parts of the world new subjects people coming in from the outside press conferences can be very heated can be very fun it means that you get to see your words in the newspaper

21:20

Speaker A

the next day and that's a game we sometimes play trying to spot our words in the financial times the day after the press conference did the reporter actually write down what I said and often they do so that's um quite an

21:33

Speaker A

interesting part of the job as well but all these things do mean a lot of work and a lot of preparation and that is a huge part of the interpreter's job it's not just sitting there talking the preparation is a massive part of the job

21:49

Speaker A

and a an interpreter who is not prepared will never be a good interpreter and I've already mentioned this a little bit you do get to be up close and personal with some quite amazing people and you get to get

22:06

Speaker A

inside their head because to really interpret properly you've got to understand where where their sentences are going what do they mean and sometimes you really do feel that you are inside you're doing it from the inside you know what that person's going

22:23

Speaker A

to say and I've just put here some of the some of the interesting characters that we that we come across I couldn't resist Hugh Grant I'm sorry he was in the parliament doing um a conference on on phone hacking and on privacy in the

22:38

Speaker A

media and I have to tell you I have never seen so many sters in one place at one time as when as when Hugh was there um and the rest of us were trying to you know beat them out of the way so that we

22:50

Speaker A

could get in um and interestingly we had um there is Hillary Clinton when her husband was here in the parliament um there was actually a notice sent round saying that no interns would be admitted and I think there are various reasons

23:05

Speaker A

which was very funny the delai Lama that was that was an amazing moment a really amazing person to see closely and before he arrived his office had sent a copy of his speech cuz he had a written speech they sent the speech to

23:22

Speaker A

us so that we could all be ready and we were very grateful because this is the Dalai Lama you don't want to be caught inventing new spiritual sayings for the Dalai Lama so every interpreter very carefully prepared the speech everybody

23:36

Speaker A

was ready the Del Lama came in went to the podium and looked around the room and said well you've all read my speech so I'm going to make a different speech at which point you can see all the

23:48

Speaker A

interpreters going and he did he he spoke freely and was absolutely wonderful I mean it was a wonderful and beautiful speech but not at all the speech that everybody had spent a long time preparing carefully so you know we have to be ready for the

24:04

Speaker A

unexpected um Angela Merkel is another amazing speaker and I haven't quite worked out why what it is that she does cuz she's not you know she's not exciting she's not no I don't mean that in a negative way but I mean she's not

24:20

Speaker A

um a flamboyant that's that's that's a better one she's not a flamboyant speaker but she is absolutely incredible and I seen her in the plenary session you know walk into a room that's not necessarily hostile but is not

24:35

Speaker A

necessarily there to agree with her and in 2 minutes they are eating out of her hand and I can't work out what she's done but I'm working on it I'm working on it and I'll let you know if you find

24:47

Speaker A

out and once while on you will find out you will find out what kind of a speaker he is when you have a go in the booths is he going to be easy is he going to be difficult and why now what is it that

24:58

Speaker A

makes speakers difficult for interpreters one thing is are they reading a written text or are they speaking freely but a lot of it is how logical is their speech can you see where this is going to go cuz that's

25:13

Speaker A

what interpreters need to do you need to anticipate where this particular phrase is going and people who are not entirely logical in their thinking processes are very difficult but I'll let you make your own mind up about about Mr ol B

25:30

Speaker A

um yeah and Bill Gates American speakers are really interesting as well U because they don't use English in the way that British people use English and sometimes it's really strange it's really strange and I was very struck by the almost kind

25:48

Speaker A

of old-fashioned use of English by by some of these American speakers but that's that's a whole different speech so these these are the people that we get to to see and to be close to and it is a huge privilege it's a real

26:03

Speaker A

privilege either to interpret these people or to speak to these people because they hear my voice in their ears I'm speaking to Hillary Clinton I mean this is just it's just so exciting I can't tell you it's really you know it's

26:16

Speaker A

a huge privilege and that's what this job can give you and we travel a lot um I'm just looked up my watch and real I'm getting I'm going to get lost in anecdotes if I'm not careful uh we travel a lot uh

26:30

Speaker A

the top left is Strasburg making it look very sort of glamorous and Beautiful by night because we do go to Strasburg every month but we travel a lot with the Parliament and because you're with an official delegation you get to go places

26:46

Speaker A

and see things that you wouldn't otherwise doors open and it is really a fantastic opportunity the The Wigwam in the middle is an excuse for an anecdote um I once found myself myself in the north of Finland and it was

27:01

Speaker A

Midsummer so it was light all the time we were in a forest um at 2:00 in the morning In A Wigwam and there was a salmon roasting in the middle of the fire and I was interpreting Jo apar a

27:15

Speaker A

French Belgian farmer CU it was all about forestry and farming and I had this kind of out of Body Experience thought you know I'm Alison Graves from burken Shore what am I doing in this week one at 2:00 in the morning morning

27:29

Speaker A

it was just so strange such a strange experience but really amazing and then the next day we had a meeting in the SAA and here is where another very important part of the interpreter's job comes into play and that is

27:45

Speaker A

confidentiality because of course we would never reveal anything that we have heard or seen in that particular case during a meeting because we as I said earlier get to see and hear everything and it's very important that we realize what a privileged position

28:01

Speaker A

that is and that what we know could be very damaging to other people so confidentiality is a huge part of our ethical code and so of course I will never tell what happened in the SAA so what do you need apart from

28:19

Speaker A

strong nerves um all our interpreters have to be graduates and you can be a graduate in in any subject but what you absolutely need is training and this is for staff interpreters or freelance interpreters we cannot offer interpreter

28:38

Speaker A

training from scratch to interpreters you have to come to us already trained and it's just a little bit like like learning to drive a car it's a multitasking skill somebody has to teach you how to do it and you have to

28:53

Speaker A

practice it until you're good enough to pass your driving test and it's exactly the same thing someone has to teach you how to listen process and speak all at the same time you have to practice it and then you have to come to us pass

29:06

Speaker A

your driving test if you prove to us that we can let you loose in the booth and you won't run over anybody then that's fine but you absolutely need training and normally that would be postgraduate that's the most normal path

29:19

Speaker A

into the profession people do a first degree and then postgraduate training and there are lots of very good courses throughout Europe and if anybody wants more information about options choices I'd be very happy to to do that perhaps

29:34

Speaker A

at the end um so that would be the most normal route into the profession you need to speak your it says mother tongue but that's a bit of a loaded concept your main language perfectly most of the time the vast

29:52

Speaker A

majority of the time interpreters work into their own language I only work into into English we do have interpreters who work into a into a second language as well but that is not the majority of the time at all so it's your mother tongue your

30:08

Speaker A

own language which is your most important tool and if you think about it for a minute you have to be able to speak like any of the people in the room so if you've got a room full of lawyers

30:21

Speaker A

you need to be able to match their language if you've got a room full of politicians you have to be able to speak the way that they can speak you have have to be able to speak like Guatemalan

30:30

Speaker A

cocoa Leaf Growers and I'm not joking you need to be able to speak like Rotterdam Dock Workers you have to be able to match their language so that you create the same impression that they're creating and that Demands a huge amount

30:44

Speaker A

of Versatility from your mother tongue and that's something that I think people Overlook a little bit they think it's the understanding of the languages which is the most difficult thing but it's not it's your mother tongue and often at our

30:58

Speaker A

reputation tests that turns out to be the problem that the mother tongue is not strong enough to to stand up under the pressure of what you have to do excellent general knowledge because you need to know everything because

31:12

Speaker A

you're going to be in every single committee and you need to be able to keep up you need to be able to understand so you need to have the will to learn and know a lot of things and

31:22

Speaker A

you have to know things like what happened in the football last night because people will come into a meeting chairman will will'll switch on the microphone and say oh my god did you see what happened and you're interpreting

31:34

Speaker A

and if you don't know what they're talking about you can't do it properly so you need to keep up not just with serious current affairs but with you know with the football if it's the football with the Olympics if it's the

31:45

Speaker A

Olympics so whatever is happening you need to be there you need to be reading the papers you need to be keeping up and of course you do need to know other languages and you need to know them extremely well generally you don't have

31:59

Speaker A

to speak them perfectly because you'll were working into your own language but you need to understand everything that's being said in the foreign language and the languages that you need will depend on what your main language is because each booth and the team of

32:19

Speaker A

interpreters we call the booth each booth has its own requirements depending on market conditions almost for Italian if you're Italian mother tongue we can quite easily recruit Italian interpreters who have four or five foreign languages quite easily so we

32:38

Speaker A

need Italian interpreters with four or five languages otherwise we won't we won't recruit you because we don't need you if you are English mother tongue we'll be very grateful if you have two foreign languages because we will never

32:53

Speaker A

find anybody with four or five people learn more but it's it's very rare for us to find someone with English mother tongue who has more than two foreign languages so it all depends on the market conditions for for Bulgarian

33:07

Speaker A

we'll accept people with one foreign language so it all depends on the on the market situation that changes all the time and every year we publish our list of priority profiles which show what the what the priorities are at the moment

33:22

Speaker A

and you see it develops over time if you're looking for for an interpreting course there are certain things that you really need to be looking out for um these are the main conditions that we would suggest you you look for in any course that you

33:41

Speaker A

might want to attend we do also do consecutive interpreting simultaneous interpreting is what we do almost all the time in the booths but consecutive is where well for example you're on a delegation visit you go to the town hall the mayor of the

34:00

Speaker A

Town makes a speech welcoming the delegation he makes the speech five or 6 minutes as The Interpreter you take notes and after the mayor has made his speech I make the same speech but in English but we do that quite a lot we do

34:16

Speaker A

it in cases where there isn't any simultaneous equipment we do it when we travel I was just talking to a young interpreter yesterday who'd been on a trip to aaban and and he' done eight consecutive speeches one after the other

34:32

Speaker A

and it was aabani um NGS and each one made a presentation of their the work of their NGO and he had to interpret all of them consecutively so we do do consecutive so it's important that that's taught in the

34:46

Speaker A

any course that you might want to do uh new technologies are important because as you can imagine the world of interpreting is changing with new technology um video conferencing for one thing and you know machine interpreting we might talk about later if we have

35:06

Speaker A

time you know is it an option is it real but these are important things to bear in mind and this is perhaps the most important is that anybody teaching you ought themselves to know what conference interpreting is if you were at medical

35:22

Speaker A

school and you were being taught by someone who wasn't actually a surgeon someone who' read about it in a book or who in fact was a vet but you know it's the same thing isn't it if you've got translators

35:34

Speaker A

teaching interpreters no if you've got language teachers teaching interpreters no because they're not you know it's a skill it's a practical skill that you need to learn and you would only want to learn open open heart surgery from a

35:51

Speaker A

from a surgeon so it's it's the same kind of thing so that is a very important point to look out for if you're looking for a course is there a personality type for interpreters many people would say yes

36:05

Speaker A

and you will hear the words Primadonna mentioned quite a lot there are certain attitudes that you will need if this is a job that's going to make you happy it's not I think that you have to have you know you have to be a certain

36:23

Speaker A

way to be a good interpreter it's just will the job suit you are you the sort of person who's going to like it is what it's all about really and these are all very important the curiosity is very

36:35

Speaker A

important you have to want to learn you have to want to know you have to want to find out and yes you do have to be able to concentrate for long periods very hard because when you're interpreting is

36:48

Speaker A

total focus and the minute you start thinking about what's for dinner you've lost it shall I buy those boots it's gone you know you've lost it so you can't do that you've got to be able to focus we do work in teams each Booth

37:03

Speaker A

normally has three people in it and we've very much work together so you have to be able to get on with people it's a very enclosed space so you have to know how to get on with people and

37:16

Speaker A

you will come across some quite interesting characters as well and motivation I think is the most is the most important part of all because it's a job where even though we work work as a team even though I'm a

37:30

Speaker A

member of Staff of the European Parliament in a way it's a very individual job my performance depends on me and how much I can be bothered and that's why I've got a picture of a creti high jumper um because it's a similar

37:44

Speaker A

kind of thing we set the bar very high as I've said because we have to and every day we ask our interpreters to get over that bar and Blanca vasic you know she can jump to 2 m but only if she trains every day if

38:02

Speaker A

she keeps fit if she's you know in the right place mentally physically she doesn't you know okay I can do it now I'll stop and it's the same thing you have to keep training you have to keep yourself fit you have to

38:16

Speaker A

keep your languages up you have to keep your knowledge up if you're going to keep jumping that bar and so that's why at the moment she's my she's my hero at the moment what we're doing well there there are two ways

38:34

Speaker A

people tend to see interpreters they either think they're some kind of two-headed monster genius how on Earth do you do that or they think you're a kind of walking dictionary and that you know you say a word and I say the word

38:47

Speaker A

in English but if you do that it all goes wrong if you just say the words it doesn't work and I've got another little anec OTE I was in a meeting of the delegation to Yemen I mean it wasn't in

39:02

Speaker A

Yemen it was in fact just just at the corridor and an Irish member had been to Yemen and she was reporting on her experiences and she said there's one there's one really huge problem in Yemen that I think the parliament ought to try

39:17

Speaker A

and address it's a huge problem and that's the cat problem so I could see the French Booth looking and the and the German Booth looking and you can actually hear people thinking all right cat problem um plague rabies you know you can hear

39:31

Speaker A

what people are thinking and but it's all keeping moving and then she said yes it's a huge problem because in Yemen at about 3:00 in the afternoon everybody stops working and starts chewing cat and then there's Panic however had you read the

39:48

Speaker A

background document you would know that cat is not is not c a t it's q a t or k h a t and it's a drug it's a kind of it's like a tobacco leaf and it's a huge problem

40:04

Speaker A

because people do they stop working they start chewing this Leaf they get high they stop working so aval Doyle is talking about a serious drug issue you are talking about Pussycats and you are Miles off you know so you somehow have

40:22

Speaker A

got to get yourself back on track and that's what I mean if you just say the words it will go wrong and that's what I mean about you need to know you need to know what people mean and that's just a

40:34

Speaker A

very obvious example but people sometimes mean no when they're saying yes and that's what you need to understand so you need to know who are the people in the room where are they from what's their background what's their political opinion likely to be you

40:50

Speaker A

know you what's happening in Yemen you might think oh you know I don't care about Yemen but this is the motivation you have to find out if you look in Wikipedia cat actually comes up in the second paragraph about Yemen because it

41:03

Speaker A

is a huge social issue so you know so that's what I mean you need to know what do people mean I have a question how did you solve this cat situation how be the interpr well there was a there was a lot of fast

41:18

Speaker A

talking and uh putting it back on track but no but a lot of the time it's like being an actor it's a bit like being an actor if you forget your lines a professional actor you won't even know

41:30

Speaker A

that they've forgotten their lines because they're very good at covering it up and it's a little bit the same with interpreting and in that particular case nobody in the room laughed or or pointed so obviously it hadn't been too

41:47

Speaker A

obvious so but I don't know cuz I wasn't listening to them all so I I don't know what happened I could just see the looks on people's faces but that's that's another thing um the quality control is very immediate because it's very public

42:01

Speaker A

and if an interpreter makes a mistake in 90 9% of cases it's immediately obvious and somebody will immediately pick up on it so either somebody you're sitting within the booth will write down what it should have been and you can correct it

42:18

Speaker A

or somebody in the room will either say very directly The Interpreter just made a mistake and they will do that or they will say to the speaker I'm sorry did you just say that 98% of and the speaker

42:30

Speaker A

will say no I didn't I said 89 so it corrects itself very quickly um I had to have a slide on training since that's what I'm responsible for and we spend a lot of time helping our interpreters to be the

42:46

Speaker A

best that they can be um sending them on language courses we do summer universities so that people with Italian can spend some time in Italy doing lectures visiting Parliament and so on we do thematic training a lot because

43:01

Speaker A

the subject matter is very complex at the moment we've got 70 interpreters doing a two-day course on economic governance so we do we organize seminars of this type as well just to make sure that everybody is up to

43:14

Speaker A

dat and what does it all cost because obviously this is the question that a lot of people ask is it is it worth it isn't it so expensive that we should stop and obviously I'm going to say no

43:26

Speaker A

it isn't but actually in relative terms it's not a huge amount of money um it's you know it's a it's a cappuccino per person per year for all multilingualism for interpretation and translation and I have been known at

43:44

Speaker A

this point to get out a little piggy bank and say if you could all put your two EUR in as you leave the door that would be very useful um but I won't it's not a huge investment to

43:56

Speaker A

guarantee Dem and as Neil kinck used to say organizing elections is expensive but as far as I know nobody's suggesting that we don't do that for me multilingualism in the EU institutions is part of democracy and that is then an investment

44:15

Speaker A

that I think we have to make so that is what I wanted to say for now as I said I'm very happy to answer any questions if you want to ask any now if you're Keen we can just go straight

44:27

Speaker A

into the booth booths and everybody can have a go um but for now I'll stop and after we've done the the part in the booths as I said I'd be very grateful if you'd come back in just so we can just have a

44:37

Speaker A

little talk about how it was whether you liked it what you what you felt and whether you think the perspective is an interesting one because I think it is seeing what's happening from there is is quite a fun thing so thank you very much

44:51

Speaker A

and I'll take any questions if anybody's got anything now

Topics: interpreter career European Parliament multilingualism interpreter training NAZE ABDOU language services interpreting skills professional development European institutions interpretation booth

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