European Parliament’s interpreters and translators visit Latvia ahead of the Presidency

Created on 2014-10-14

Two important visits of interpreters and translators are happening in Latvia to successfully prepare for the Latvian Presidency of the Council of the European Union. The Director-General of Directorate-General for Interpretation and Conferences of European Parliament (EP) Olga Cosmidou is visiting Latvia with her colleagues from October 13-14 and representatives from Directorate-General for Translation of EP will be in Latvia from October 13-17.

The aim of the visit from the Directorate-General for Interpretation and Conferences (DG INTE) is to get to know the process of preparing for the Presidency and to learn about the language policy and training of interpreters in Latvia. During the visit, representatives from DG INTE are visiting institutions involved in the preparatory activities of the Presidency, as well as the Rector of the University of Latvia Mārcis Auziņš, the Dean of the Faculty of Humanities Ilze Rūmniece, and representatives from the Ministry of Education and Science.

The visit from the Directorate-General for Translation (DG TRAD) aims to give an advanced insight into Latvia – its ongoing political processes and diversity of culture. The Programme of the Latvian Presidency of the Council of the European Union and its priorities is presented to the translators and interpreters during their visit. They also visit important cultural and historical objects of Latvia. Latvian is not the native language of those translators who are coming to Latvia, but they have learned Latvian and translate EP documents from Latvian daily. Because of this, the working language of the visit is Latvian.

Particular visits traditionally happen before the presidency to get to know the presiding country. These visits are important to increase the accuracy of the translated information and ensure its fit adjustment to the Latvian speaking community.

DG INTE and DG TRAD enable the implementation of European multilingualism policy and ensures the interpretation and translation service and coordination of technical support. Both Directorate-General support the Secretariat of the Latvian Presidency of the Council of the European Union in preparation for the presidency.