Publication – ‘Machine translation : driven by humans, powered by technology’

The Directorate-General for Translation (European Parliament) has recently published a compilation of six contributions from its biennial internal conference, entitled “The Many Faces of Translation – Machine translation: driven by humans, powered by technology“.

“The theme of the 2021 conference was ‘Machine Translation: driven by humans, powered by technology’. Over the course of the two days, we explored how humans and machines can work together efficiently. One aspect was particularly important to us: the ethical aspects of artificial intelligence (AI). There is no doubt that AI has already become a key technology. The European Union needs to keep up with progress in this field. However, cutting-edge technology is not an end in itself. While AI should be part of our toolbox, humans must always be front and centre.”

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Traineeships – European Parliament

The translation department of the European Parliament is offering 80 paid traineeship places in the Directorate-General for Translation (DG TRAD), in Luxembourg or Brussels.

The traineeships last 5 months! The next traineeship period is from 1 March to 31 July.
Applications are open until 30th November 2021. Continue reading

TermFolders from the European Parliament

Yesterday, the Terminology Coordination Unit at the European Parliament released a number of multilingual TermFolders, available as an Excel file which can, with some tweaking, also be integrated into a CAT tool.

TermFolders are prepared by TermCoord for the translators of the Parliament as an early warning procedure about upcoming legislative texts, in cooperation with political instances and the Directorate of Translation.

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Stop press – Traineeships at European Parliament

4368134480_20d54d8058_zThe European Parliament offers several options for traineeships within its Secretariat, to provide opportunities for vocational training and for learning more about what the institution is and does.

The next deadline for applications is 15 May 2015 (midnight) for translation traineeships, and 1 June 2015 for general training placements, either as part of a course of study or on a non-compulsory basis.

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Euro-English at the European Parliament

Thanks to Jeffrey Waggoner (@WagLegalEnglish) for the heads-up about this thought-provoking video on Euro-English at the European Parliament, from the Open University’s OpenLearn program (see this post).

Here are a few of the points the video covers:

  • The ‘hegemony’ of English as lingua franca
  • People choosing to speak a ‘primary’ language for more impact
  • Language conveys values – choice of language is not neutral
  • The added difficulty for interpreters of non-native speakers not saying what they mean but what they are able to say
  • Is Euro-English a jargon or a new language?
  • Maybe even native English speakers will have to learn Euro-English in order not to alienate listeners.

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EU unitary patent package about to be passed?

397px-Blish_PatentA press release last week explained how, after over 30 years of trying, the European Parliament and the Council are close to agreeing on how to create an EU-wide patent regime to protect inventions better, cut costs and boost competitiveness.

The European patent with unitary effect relies upon three separate pieces of legislation (unitary patent, language regime and unified patent court), drawn up via three different procedures.

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