EU funds new Gaeilge interpreters'

course in NUIG

Fancy your chances in the high-pressure world of international interpreting? Since Irish became an official EU language, there are more chances than ever for Irish people to pick up highly paid work as interpreters. But first, you have to get the right qualifications.

Up to now, there has been nowhere in Ireland where people could train as official interpreters. But that's set to change with the launch of a new EU supported post-graduate course in NUI Galway.

Today (27 March) at 3 pm, NUI Galway sees the official inauguration of a new graduate degree in conference interpretation by Éamon Ó Cúiv, Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs. And travelling in from Brussels is Brian Fox, Director of Interpreters, European Commission.

Brian Fox, said: "We very much welcome the new course in Galway and the exciting career possibilities it offers young Irish graduates. This is a very good start and we look forward to working together, particularly given the projected demand for English and Irish interpreters."

The opportunities are particularly good at present in view of the world-wide shortage of English mother-tongue conference interpreters. For more information, please take a look at "Interpreting for Europe … into English" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MA2fWvtMPDU.

The European Commission and the European Parliament provide financial and training support to the new postgraduate interpreting course which started in autumn 2008. At present there are five students on the course. All of them have Irish and English, and two also work from French.

There are currently 8 Irish nationals in DG Interpretation's English unit (out of a total of 70) and three interpreters from Northern Ireland. Of the freelances at least 18 are of Irish origin. Ireland has clearly been a good source of linguists for the EU's language services. DG Interpretation has been able to meet 100% of demand for Irish thus far.

General background
Irish is an official language of the EU and interpretation from it is provided when requested. Nonetheless, there is a clear need to find more accredited freelances with Irish. DG Interpretation will continue to provide support and encouragement to interpreter training in Ireland in order to ensure that the need for Irish interpretation can continue to be met in the future.

However, in the multilingual EU environment with its 23 official languages, it is difficult to offer sufficient work to interpreters only offering one language, especially when the language itself is not requested very often. 

Consequently, those interpreters who can offer other languages in addition to Irish will inevitably have an advantage in terms of employment opportunities.

The Directorate General for Interpretation is the largest interpreting service in the world. It is part of the European Commission and reports to Commissioner Leonard Orban. DG Interpretation provides quality interpretation in meetings arranged by the Commission and the other Institutions it serves, and provides a conference organising capacity to Commission services.

The Council of the Union, The Committee of the Regions, The European Economic and Social Committee, The European Investment Bank, and the agencies and offices in the Member States all get their interpreters from DG Interpretation. The European Parliament and the European Court of Justice have separate interpreting services with which DG Interpretation collaborates closely. As well as providing interpretation for meetings, our core objectives also include staying at the leading edge of new technologies for conference interpreting.