Brussels, 13/01/2006 (Agence Europe) - With the last enlargement on 1 May 2004, the number of official European Union languages grew from 11 to 20. This number will soon be increasing with the addition of Bulgarian, Romanian, Croatian and, later, Turkish (perhaps even before Turkey actually joins the EU if the Cypriot problem is solved in the meantime). Such a situation has given rise to an enormous need for professional interpreters, a problem which is far from being resolved today as, in addition to the new languages (with huge interpreting deficit for some such as Maltese and Latvian), there are also upheavals in the interpreting situation for “traditional” languages, with Swedish, Portuguese, Greek and Dutch losing momentum. Finally, this situation has strengthened the trend towards using just one language, with English being increasingly used in meetings and for the drafting of documents, in the aim of reaching the most people possible. At a press conference in Brussels on 12 January devoted to the profession of conference interpreter, its expansion or extinction, the AIIC (the worldwide association for conference interpreters) states that certain less-used languages are being dropped for a language that they consider more international. They are thus choosing to put themselves in a position of inferiority compared to those whose mother tongue is the language chosen, AIIC says, asking: “Will the fact that everything is in English do away will the profession of interpreter?”
Given the challenges facing the profession due to the successive enlargements of the EU, the AIIC openly expressed its concerns during its 33rd assembly, on Thursday in Brussels, a town particularly representative for its multilingualism (quite apart from the presence of the European institutions). It is essential to have interpreters to ensure effective communication and to allow interlocutors to understand each other fully. Choosing to have “everything in English” is not a good solution, interpreter Michel -Lesseigne stresses, explaining that English is an ambiguous language. He said one has the impression that one understands and speaks it without difficulty but it is one of the most difficult languages to interpret. The added value of our profession is quality, AIIC points out, stressing how fundamentally important it is to ensure interpreters have ideal working conditions. One journalist raised the question of the budgetary and practical difficulties that would be caused by having an ever larger number of official EU languages. Mr Lesseigne admitted that there will perhaps be a problem with the 28th language but warned against the risk, under the threat of budgetary constraints, of accepting solutions that are at the end of the day not appropriate. The trend today is to hold meetings in premises where there is no place for interpreters, who do their work through video link from somewhere else (“tele-interpreting”). This solution has caused the profession to take up the issue stressing the need to be able to analyse the body language and expression of the speakers in order to be able to interpret what the speaker is really saying. He explained that they are not against new techniques but that there are some conditions in which it is impossible to work. On the subject of the budget, Dirk Rijnsbroeck, a Dutch mother-tongue interpreter, stresses that spending to ensure interpreting is carried out in the current official languages in all EU meetings amounts to one euro per citizen per year, which is not very expensive given how important it is for citizens to have significant information in their own language.
Silke Gebhard of German nationality, spoke, for his part, of the cultural advantages of multilingualism in Europe. She said one speaks of the “problems” of multilingualism but it would be more appropriate to speak of the “opportunities” that multilingualism has for culture. In its declaration on the preservation of world linguistic heritage, the AIIC stresses: “To circumscribe the languages in which we communicate is to impoverish our common heritage of human wisdom and to deprive humankind of the fruits born from a cross-pollination of ways of thinking, feeling and approaching existence. (…) The use of multiple languages in international concourse is not an impediment to communication, but an essential part of it. It is precisely to promote understanding that our world linguistic heritage must e promoted and preserved”.
Founded in 1953, the AIIC currently has 2789 members (including 75% women) in 89 countries.