Czech translators and interpreters gear up for EU presidency

In less than three month’s time, the Czech Republic is going to take up the EU presidency. It’s a major diplomatic challenge and there are dozens of practical problems to contend with, such as securing enough interpreters for the meetings in Brussels. The head of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Interpretation, Marco Benedetti, visited Prague last week in order to discuss the final preparations for interpretation during the Czech presidency of the EU. Ruth Fraňková asked him what exactly these arrangements involved:

Marco Benedetti, photo: European Commission

“The preparations involve fine tuning, which concerns mainly the list of events that are going to be organized in the country - in the Czech Republic: the needs for interpreters for these events and also a last call on the urgency of getting well-qualified conference interpreters for the meetings of the EU.”

Who is responsible for providing and training conference interpreters?

“The responsibility lies with the member states. It’s a well known principle of subsidiarity. But we are here to help and we do help every country which lacks interpreters. We have been cooperating with Charles University since 1992 and we have had very good results in training of conference interpreters with them.”

How does the Czech Republic compare with other EU states in terms of interpreting services? Do we have enough interpreters?

“I would like to compare the Czech Republic with those who have entered the EU at the same time, in 2004, and who have roughly the same population. As far as the Czech Republic is concerned, we have a fair number of interpreters, around a hundred, on our accreditation list. It is a good result for the country as compared to others like Hungary, Slovakia and even Poland.

Photo: European Commission

“The only thing which is a bit worrying is that very few of these interpreters want to stay in Brussels. They prefer to stay in your beautiful country. I can understand it perfectly but for us it’s a bit more difficult.”

How do you select the interpreters? What kind of skills do they need to have apart from the language skills?

“We are looking for graduates, not necessarily in language, they can be graduates of any discipline, with a very good knowledge of another well-spread language of the EU plus another one, if possible. They also need the aptitude to do it - the possibility of synthesis, analysis, aptitude to speak in public – that kind of thing.”