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thelinguist.uberflip.com AUGUST/SEPTEMBER The Linguist 29 OPINION & COMMENT The English department of the European Commission's D-G Translation is divided into three parts (units), each with around 50 staff. It covers all 24 official EU languages except Irish, which is handled by the bilingual Irish unit. There is also provision for the languages of candidate countries, such as Turkish and Macedonian, and world languages including Chinese and Arabic. Units are organised by broad subject area. In Brussels, Unit EN-1 covers law, citizenship, administration and external relations; while EN-2 handles technology, research, economics and natural resources. EN-3, in Luxembourg, deals with culture, enterprise, multilingualism and society. For certain languages, such as Bulgarian, Latvian and Slovene, departmental capacity is limited, so translators work across units. Specialisation is not feasible. Translators have to be adaptable and willing to use all information resources available, including the knowledge and expertise of colleagues. Michelle Homden MCIL is a translator at the Directorate- General for Translation in Brussels. TL Charting the probationary period of an EU translator MICHELLE HOMDEN Working for Europe di Parma or Staffordshire cheese. The scheme is not limited to products from within the EU, which is why I recently conducted research on the website of the Tequila Regulatory Council of Mexico. PDO applications involve detailed product descriptions. They use an ancient vocabulary of curdling, salting, fermenting, distilling and curing. One of my first documents concerned the olive de Nyons. Since Roman times, these have been cultivated in groves as far north as possible, where the Alps protect them from the Mistral. Even a translator for the EU's civil service may experience occasional moments of 'cold pastoral'. Having joined EN-2, I found myself translating texts on agriculture, energy and the maritime sector, which reflected my specialisms as a freelancer. As part of my probation, I am now spending four months in EN-1 and am on less familiar ground, with taxation, futures trading and depreciation of immovable assets. Translators are encouraged to develop new language skills but, as a probationer, I translate only from the languages on which I was tested. We are in charge of our own workloads, selecting documents for translation from a central administration system. It makes sense to choose familiar subjects when possible, but we are all responsible for ensuring that all the work is done, with urgent documents taking priority. So cherry-picking easy or exciting texts does not happen. Cherry-picking, as a subject, can sometimes occur however, especially in documents from the Directorate-General for Agriculture. Unit EN-2 handles translations relating to the Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) scheme, which guarantees the quality of traditional products, e.g. prosciutto ON THE RUN Michelle (2nd l) with members of the translators' running group from the English, German and Swedish departments