EU already searching Ro/Bg Translators for 2007/2008

The website of the German Radio Deutsche Welle features an article on the European Language Day, celebrated today. The report point out that while the EU shows commitment to languages European citizens remain reluctant to learn foreign languages. Instead, a recent study conducted by Eurobarometer revealed that the latest EU expansion boosted the role of the global lingua franca: English.

According to statistics, English is easily the most common foreign language among Europeans, spoken by 47 percent of EU citizens, including 34 percent who speak it as a foreign tongue. German which has now surpassed French, is spoken by 30 percent, with 12 percent using it as a foreign language. However, it should also be stated that some 50 percent of all Europeans speak a second language - with Luxembourg being leading in that: 99 percent of questioned Luxembourgers responding they could master a conversation in a second language. Latvians, Maltese and Dutch also above 90 percent. Close to two thirds of Germans speak another language. Hungary had the lowest number with 29 percent , Britain second last with 30 percent. In comparison to the U.S., Europe is multilingual: only 9 percent of Americans speak both their native language and another language fluently.

At the same time, EU's 'capital' - Brussels -- is becoming more and more babbling the different tongues of Europe: Enlargement has brought in nine new languages -- each of the ten new member states, with the exception of Cyprus, brought its own language - increasing the number of official languages from 11 to 20.

In order to deal with the 380 possible translation combinations, the EU has recently made translation and interpretation services at conferences and summits mandatory via third languages: Official texts and declarations are first translated into English or French before they are translated into further languages.

This saves the need for translators for less common combinations such as Greek-Latvian or Portuguese-Finnish, which also helps since there aren't translators for all languages. For instance, there's currently not a single translator for Maltese who passes the bar in Brussels:

"We had a test for translators from Malta in 2003. There were 16 candidates. Four made it to the final round, but all of them failed," chief translator in Brussels, Jan Andersen, is cited in the article.

But there is more to come: From Jan, 1st, 2007 EU will raise the status of Irish-Gaelic to the 21st official language. 2007 or 2008 then, Bulgaria and Romania will join the EU - bringing two more languages to the pool. "Having learned a lesson from the last expansion, the Directorate General for Translation has already begun the search for suitable translators."