CITS MA Students Learn First-Hand about Work of European Parliament Interpreters

Every year, MA students of the ASU Caspian Higher School of Interpreting and Translation pay a two-week study visit to institutions of the European Union. This is a unique opportunity to get acquainted with the principles of work of EU language experts and to gain practical interpreting skills.

“Unfortunately, this year we cannot visit the institutions, but our colleagues from the European Commission and European Parliament have provided us with an opportunity to arrange online visits. So, first-year MA students managed to visit the Directorate-General for Logistics and Interpretation for Conferences (DG LINC) of the European Parliament online,” say CITS experts.

A few presentations were held for our students: DG LINC experts spoke about the principles of the European Parliament’s work, the format of meetings and types of interpretation that are performed there; they gave an overview of what has to be interpreted and for whom.

The experts shared some secrets of interpretation and their own experience in this field with the students and answered all their questions.

An important part of the online meeting was a presentation on how to become a member of the DG LINC interpreting team on a permanent basis or as a freelancer. The experts outlined the criteria that an interpreter must meet and identified the skills required for the job; they explained in detail the testing format and timeframes for each of the languages. Since this test is very difficult and most candidates cannot pass it at the first attempt, our students were given advice on what to do in case of failure, how to identify and work through their mistakes and why it is worth applying again and again.