InterpretationInterpretation1

Riga 12 October 2012Ann D’haen-Bertier

Latvian in the EU

The perspective of interpretation

InterpretationInterpretation2

DG SCIC: The General Picture

• Inter-institutional service: "our clients": Commission, Council, EESC, CDR, Presidencies, Agencies

• Resources: approx 800 staff (+/- 600 interpreters) list of some 3000 freelance on inter-institutional list

• Yearly output: approx 115 000 days; of which nearly 55 000 ACI contract days (50 %)

• Daily: 50-60 meetings; 600-900 interpreters assigned

• Comparison: UN 11 %; EP and EC and ECJ approx 80 %

• Interinstitutional cooperation with EP and CoJ

InterpretationInterpretation3

Multilingualism: our "daily bread"

• Official EU languages (23) + accession + candidate countries

• Co-official or regional languages (ES, UK)

• Other languages: eg of EU trading partners, sign language

Hence: High level of complexity

InterpretationInterpretation4

InterpretationInterpretation5

InterpretationInterpretation6

Ensure adequate resources to meet demand ("aging", new interpreters)

Ensure quality (monitoring, training, terminology…)

Keep up with new developments and technologies

Challenges

InterpretationInterpretation7

Latvian interpretation in the EU: a success story

• Resources:

• 2004: 4 staff,3 temporary agents and 34 freelance• 2012: 12 staff and 60 freelance (22 Brussels based)

• Language cover:

• Beginning: DE and EN mostly• Now: 10 passive languages: FR, NL, IT, SV, PL, NOR, RU

• Increased demand satisfaction:

• Early years: approx 50 % (2007: 63 %)• 2012: 98 %

• Steady rise in demand over years: in 2010: 2494 days in 2011: 2956 days

• in 2012 first semester: 1774 days

InterpretationInterpretation

Council League Table1st Semester 2012

i-slots* % dem.

1 EN 7289 100

2 DE 6816 100

3 FR 6787 100

4 IT 6099 100

5 ES 5996 100

6 NL 3517 100

7 PT 3509 100

8 EL 3353 98

9 LV 3135 97

10 PL 3102 99

11 SL 3046 89

i-slots % dem.

12 CS 2939 92

13 BG 2916 94

14 RO 2900 94

15 SK 2807 94

16 LT 2631 84

17 SV 2591 96

18 DA 2523 98

19 FI 2180 95

20 MT 2116 84

21 ET 2028 88

22 HU 1770 99

* i-slot = interpretation slot = ½ day interpretation

InterpretationInterpretation9

Succes has many fathers …

• Close cooperation and solid training by university of Latvia• SCIC support:

Pedagogical assistanceBursariesGrants for univerities

• Regular contacts and support from Latvian authorities• Feedback ad hoc information sessions and conferences

• The Presidency: SCIC's input