Interpretation at the European Parliament

Learn everything you always wanted to know about the Interpreting Service of the European Parliament. Speech given by Alison Graves to the European Institutions trainees

[masterese]

I could hear her speak the whole day. What a speaker, what lovely accent!

[AlexThomson-EasternApproaches]

General tip for people who are feeling enthused by this speaker’s great talk: A lot of you in the comments seem to think that the way to get to this level in interpreting is to become fluent in the active use of two (or five!) foreign languages. Please don’t imagine that. (Gaining fluency in foreign languages is a wonderful aim in itself, but it won’t make you a conference interpreter.) Instead, what the EU, UN, etc. are looking for in conference interpreters is extremely good PASSIVE knowledge of two or at most three foreign languages, plus—EVEN MORE IMPORTANTLY—outstanding eloquence in your OWN native language, which you will be speaking all day. (This is not the case on the open market, where you increasingly do need to have two active languages, but in international organisations, speakers of western European languages work only INTO their own language, and only speakers of eastern European and Asian languages have to work into English or French or German as well as into their own language.)

[grammyknou]

Mrs Alison Graves is a brilliant speaker, with a motivational, intelligent, articulate, clear, clever speech-it is such a joy to listen to her! Could you please allow us to enjoy more of her expertise and experience on YouTube? Funny (but relevant) anecdotes, techniques for simultaneous and note taking, interviews/exams with applicants, comments on exams regarding errors are all topics of high interest for us.
I have never watched a video with more interest, ever. The closest I got to this much enthusiasm was when I was watching some Berkeley Linguistics lectures.
Mrs Graves is absolutely amazing, please allow us to listen to her more.
Much grateful for sharing knowledge and passion for languages with us, thank you!

[gavinleaves]

Anyone found her accent very pleasant to hear as well??

[lombe]

It makes a lot of sense. For me as experienced interpreter, every word she said fell in me like drops of ice in a flaming desert. Thanks a lot.

[Yanissmounim]

Very nice presentation ... I am an Arabic-English-French translator ... I am working hard to be a pro interpreter... Thanks a lot
Yanis

[qwasyx]

Thank you so much for this! I've recently finished with post-grad training in Leipzig and had almost forgotten why I got into all this in the first place. Mrs Graves, you are a great inspiration.

[quadgod]

My dream is to work at the European Parliament and the United Nations. I'm an American (I will get a French citizenship so that I can actually work there) and I can speak Spanish, French, German, and I'm also learning Italian and Russian. I will be joining the Air Force, studying to become a conference interpreter, and get the training. This job is what I desire! I will study intensely to achieve this goal.

[nouraelmoghazy]

I was waiting for the booth part, too bad it's not recorded

[osvaldodomingos]

It's very interesting! I really wanted to watch part 2.

[Azriloveyou]

I am still indecisive about what I want to pursue after college, but interpreting has always interested me. I speak Greek, English, I am just finishing my French A-level exam and I've started learning Italian on Duolingo. This speech was very helpful and insightful!Thanks for posting!

[Alina-kpfs]

True, good speakers are great to interpret for! 😊 It heals your heart❤

[sonderfall]

I study German and European law in Cologne. I obviously speak German, English, Arabic and Kurdish perfectly (being a Kurd from Syria and growing up in Germany). I learned Dutch and French in school up until 12th grade and I'm looking forward to improve my French and Dutch language skills. Even though i study law I absolutely love the idea of being an interpreter or translator for the European institutions.

[darahe]

Such a beautiful accent she has! <3

[enterhn]

Thank you DGINTE for making and posting this video. I work as a staff interpreter cum translator at the EU Delegation to Viet Nam where chance for participation in this type of training/seminar is very limited.

[RosarioNahu]

I like the approach the EU has on language diversity. It's nice to bring down a little bit of that bias that says: 'everybody speaks English'. This is less than 40% the population of Europe we are talking about.

However, I find it ironic - or at least a contradictory - that they won't subtitle this video for other different speakers to watch.

[petkolar]

excellent! I'm currently studying Modern languages, and I've been determined to become an interpreter for the EU for a while... I find such talks incredibly motivating :) are you going to add some more videos such as this one?

[cindyclarck]

i love interpretation i speak Arabic french and English and i am willling to become an interpreter next year thx a lot for the video

[kikimoor]

Hello thank you for this great information I am translator ( french arabic english ) and it's helpful for me

[MariposaRedimida]

I loved this little peek into the Parliament Interpreting world, seems quite fascinating. Now the Dalai Lama story... omg XD