Testing Times excerpt (part 2)

Testing Times is a film about the test you have to pass in order to become an accredited freelance interpreter with the European Institutions (the European Commission, the European Parliament and the European Court of Justice). The full-length film is 1h34mins. and has been distributed to interpreting schools all over the world. This second part of our 16-minute excerpt shows you just one, not completely succesful attempt at consecutive interpretation. For more information on how to register for the test, please see: http://europa.eu/interpretation/

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• interpreter
• interpreting
• interpretation
• Europe
• European
• Commission
• Parliament
• Court
• of
• Justice
• consecutive
• test

[Skaldmatte]

SO sad that you posted a video of an interpreter who didn't pass the test, I'd have rather seen someone who made it! I'm Italian (wannabe interpreter in the future) and I don't speak French but what I got from the speech seemed to be well interpreted in the translation the girl made, so what I'm wondering now is : doesn't the interpreter have to give the listeners a no-frills general idea of the speech rather than a word-by-word translation that might be odd and difficult to understand?

[DGInterpretation]

Hi Skaldmatte, the complete video also contains examples of students that pass. Failure is more interesting than just having the test panel go " yea, that was alright". :-) As you will see from the analysis, the interpreter made a number of mistakes which were picked up and commented upon. The idea is to show the degree of precision that is expected at the test. Not no-frills, not word for word, but a clear and full transmission of the ideas expressed by the speaker.

all the best,

Ian

[Lyandra01]

Thanks for this video; I had no idea what to expect in the test before this. As someone who has only recently started to consider the career of interpretation, watching this video really boosted my confidence. I took notes while watching and discovered that I was able to not only understand everything, but to identify the mistakes in the candidates translation. Now I'm even more excited about becoming an interpreter in the future.

[DGInterpretation]

@Lyandra01 Hi Lyandra, we are always happy to hear that our work inspires you. Good luck on your studies!

All the best,

DG Interpretation

[DGInterpretation]

Hi JazzAce,

The lady is a top notch interpreter in DG Interpretation's English Interpreting Unit but made an expert simulation of the type of mistakes that can typically be made by a candidate in this type of test.

We wish you the best of luck if you are planning to sign up for a test.

DG Interpretation

[joannebenz2010]

@Skaldmatte

it is a good example, she got facts & figures wrong, and it shows that attention to detail is important. for example the original said that women are more likely to get married in S. Europe, but the candidate said Northern Europe. that is wrong information.

very good to know that you cant get such info wrong!!!

[vita11ish]

Does anybody know which are the passing rates at the dg interpretation test? Is it convenient to attend an interpretation master course in Brussels beforehand, even if you already are a free-lance interpreter?

[RodolfoMartins1992]

Also im currently at university studying spanish/french and im planning to take a master in interpreting.

[RodolfoMartins1992]

I was born in Portugal and moved to England at the age of 13, I speak but Portuguese and English fluent , English with an English accent and vice versa, at home i speak in Portuguese with my family so I am used to switching between the two everyday and also interpret for my parents as at the beginning they couldn't speak English very well. Would this make me a employable interpreter? I can speak Portuguese (fluent), English (fluent), Spanish (nearly perfect) and French (intermediate). Thank you

[Skaldmatte]

I wish I could see it all, I'm not even at university but i've been thinking about working for the EU as interpreter a lot lately. The whole video would help me understand what I must/ mustn't do in the test, and would be great to have more information about other things too

Matteo