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How to gain enough experience to work for EU bodies
Thread poster: Emanuele Vacca
Emanuele Vacca
Emanuele Vacca  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 09:42
Member (2020)
English to Italian
Feb 2, 2021

Hi all,

During the last months, I have been contacted multiple times by translation companies who wanted to participate in EU tenders in order to get translation contracts. Unfortunately, although these agencies contacted me spontaneously, they all stepped back when they found out that I don't have any experience translating for EU bodies. So this topic is the EU version of the classic "how can you get experience in a field if you don't have any experience?" question; I was able to
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Hi all,

During the last months, I have been contacted multiple times by translation companies who wanted to participate in EU tenders in order to get translation contracts. Unfortunately, although these agencies contacted me spontaneously, they all stepped back when they found out that I don't have any experience translating for EU bodies. So this topic is the EU version of the classic "how can you get experience in a field if you don't have any experience?" question; I was able to solve this problem in its general version, but I wonder how you can gather some initial experience in this particular field if nobody trusts you enough to let you do EU-related translations.

My ideas include attending courses about translation for EU bodies and/or translating some EU texts in my fields of specialization and using these translations to show agencies that I can do the job, but I would like to hear your opinion.

I would also like to know your opinion about working for the EU as an outsourcer, either directly or through agencies.

Thank you!
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Yaotl Altan
 
Monika Rozwarzewska
Monika Rozwarzewska  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:42
Member (2006)
English to Polish
+ ...
tender requirements Feb 2, 2021

Unfortunately, it is usually not a matter of trust but rather of tender requirements. My agency also attends tenders and we are always required to send some kind of proof that our translators have experience in a given field.

Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
 
Emanuele Vacca
Emanuele Vacca  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 09:42
Member (2020)
English to Italian
TOPIC STARTER
I understand, but... Feb 2, 2021

I understand, but this leads to the vicious circle that somebody who doesn't have any experience translating for EU bodies will never start gaining it... The only solution that I can see is that you need to be lucky enough to be one of the few people who have the opportunity to do an internship in some EU body. But I have the feeling that not all those who currently translate for the EU as outsourcers were so lucky

Monika Rozwarzewska
 
Christopher Schröder
Christopher Schröder
United Kingdom
Member (2011)
Swedish to English
+ ...
Your time will come Feb 2, 2021

The agencies are looking for people with strong CVs to win the contracts. But they will then happily use inexperienced and cheap translators to do the actual work.

So don’t despair. They may come back to you if they win the contract.

Alternatively, look up online who already has the contracts with the EU and contact them.


Emanuele Vacca
P.L.F. Persio
Dr. Matthias Schauen
Nikki Scott-Despaigne
Baran Keki
Dan Lucas
Philip Lees
 
Tony Keily
Tony Keily
Local time: 09:42
Italian to English
+ ...
For what it's worth... Feb 2, 2021

I find it's a little like translation in general: if you're lucky someone will need a translator at short notice and will take you if you fit the bill (more or less).

I've been doing EU institutional work regularly for about 10 years and less regularly before that, going right back to the 1990s.

There's a vast range of work available. Often there are sets of rules laid down (sometimes quite complex) for translators to follow in a given area, such as European Parliament
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I find it's a little like translation in general: if you're lucky someone will need a translator at short notice and will take you if you fit the bill (more or less).

I've been doing EU institutional work regularly for about 10 years and less regularly before that, going right back to the 1990s.

There's a vast range of work available. Often there are sets of rules laid down (sometimes quite complex) for translators to follow in a given area, such as European Parliament amendments, plenary sessions, etc. You also need (in English) to follow the rules of the Style Guide. (https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/styleguide_english_dgt_en.pdf)

However, many of the documents sent out are of a more general nature. I work from Italian and one job a couple of years ago was a report on how the labour market liberalising measures under the Renzi government had impacted the economy - a standard economic report. There are also petitions (just letters written by ordinary people) by citizens under the right to petition. Other jobs are much more specialised, but generally you can base your work on the provisions of EU law or publications by the institutions, committees etc.

The standards required are quite demanding. A few years ago pay was good enough to justify this. Now there is a race to the bottom going on and institutional work isn't really that interesting economically: they want a steak but want to pay for a burger. I earn only 50-60% of what I make per hour for ordinary commercial translation. But there's an unlimited supply of the stuff, the agency I work with is wonderful and a lot of the work is interesting so that doesn't matter too much.
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Emanuele Vacca
Christopher Schröder
P.L.F. Persio
Adieu
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Mohamad Alayoubi
 
Emanuele Vacca
Emanuele Vacca  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 09:42
Member (2020)
English to Italian
TOPIC STARTER
Oh no Feb 2, 2021

I don't want to be a cheap translator But I get your point. I guess this also means that working for the EU as an outsourcer is not worth it in the long run, doesn't it?

Christopher Schröder
 
Emanuele Vacca
Emanuele Vacca  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 09:42
Member (2020)
English to Italian
TOPIC STARTER
I'm (partly) relieved Feb 2, 2021

That's definitely good to hear, Anthony! It means that working for the EU as an outsourcer can be viable for a very experienced translator as well. I wonder how translation at the EU will be/is being impacted by MTPE, though.

 
Tony Keily
Tony Keily
Local time: 09:42
Italian to English
+ ...
If you work directly... Feb 2, 2021

.. it might be worthwhile. I really don't know as I've always worked through agencies /contacts.

I'm not sure you're missing out on anything special, though, given the demands and modest rewards. But the supply held up well during the COVID lull last year. (I guess it's a bit like the old joke about a group people who get lost in the desert: the only thing they can find to it is camel crap... but the good news is there's plenty of it!)


Christopher Schröder
P.L.F. Persio
 
Christopher Schröder
Christopher Schröder
United Kingdom
Member (2011)
Swedish to English
+ ...
Not sure Feb 2, 2021

Emanuele Vacca wrote:

I don't want to be a cheap translator But I get your point. I guess this also means that working for the EU as an outsourcer is not worth it in the long run, doesn't it?


Sorry, I have been shafted a couple of times by supplying the CV that wins the contract and then not getting the work...

Teresa or Maria will doubtless be along with a more informed answer in due course.


P.L.F. Persio
Emanuele Vacca
Dr. Matthias Schauen
 
Tony Keily
Tony Keily
Local time: 09:42
Italian to English
+ ...
MTPE Feb 2, 2021

The Commission got ahead of everybody and made all of their multilingual material available to all the big online MT tools years ago. I'm not sure whether the intention was to facilitate MT or just to render their texts more accessible to ordinary people. So you'll notice that tools like DeepL are actually very good at translating anything based on EU legislation (for example, the Italian Legislative Decrees transposing Community law).

However, a lot of the material needs to be pic
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The Commission got ahead of everybody and made all of their multilingual material available to all the big online MT tools years ago. I'm not sure whether the intention was to facilitate MT or just to render their texts more accessible to ordinary people. So you'll notice that tools like DeepL are actually very good at translating anything based on EU legislation (for example, the Italian Legislative Decrees transposing Community law).

However, a lot of the material needs to be picked over quite carefully so for now MT is not an option.

Then again, a few years ago the Commission was sending out material translated by teams of non-mother tongue translators to be fixed up by unfortunates like myself who didn't know the source language (Bulgarian, for example), due to a shortage of people working in given combinations.
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Emanuele Vacca
P.L.F. Persio
 
William Bowley
William Bowley
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:42
Spanish to English
+ ...
each to their own Feb 2, 2021

Well you have to ask yourself whether working for such agencies is your main aim. Consider Chris' point about applying directly.

As others mention, this is typically a way for agencies to impress potential clients with a portfolio of high-quality translators, and then give the work to the cheapest and/or easiest, but often far lower-quality option (or even a weak translator who is a non-native speaker of the target language, which really speaks volumes). This is all while giving any
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Well you have to ask yourself whether working for such agencies is your main aim. Consider Chris' point about applying directly.

As others mention, this is typically a way for agencies to impress potential clients with a portfolio of high-quality translators, and then give the work to the cheapest and/or easiest, but often far lower-quality option (or even a weak translator who is a non-native speaker of the target language, which really speaks volumes). This is all while giving anyone who'll listen the 'quality is our number one focus' speech, of course!

From what some people say, the volume of work seems quite high (IF it ever materialises, which is quite a big 'if'), but you'll likely be working for bargain-basement rates. On the few occasions I eventually got info on rates, these have been a small fraction of a fair rate for my work.

Notice how many of these agencies want to know all about you first, but are reluctant to offer specific info in return. There are lots of 'potential's, though.

I'm sure there are some exceptions out there, but I am yet to receive an attractive offer for such work.
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Emanuele Vacca
 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 08:42
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
@Emanuele Feb 2, 2021

I wonder if I’m the Teresa Chris was referring to...

I have been working for the EU for a long time, first as a freelancer right before Portugal’s adhesion to the then European Communities, then for a while (20 years) as in-house translator and since 2006 (when I retired) as a freelancer again. I had a contract with the EC, the EP and the CdT but for several reasons (one being that it’s quite common many “backs and forths” of the same project and I’m not interested in d
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I wonder if I’m the Teresa Chris was referring to...

I have been working for the EU for a long time, first as a freelancer right before Portugal’s adhesion to the then European Communities, then for a while (20 years) as in-house translator and since 2006 (when I retired) as a freelancer again. I had a contract with the EC, the EP and the CdT but for several reasons (one being that it’s quite common many “backs and forths” of the same project and I’m not interested in dealing with that and, on the other side, some Institutions or EC DGs are extremely demanding), these days I prefer working through an agency and all the work I’ve been doing for the EU for the last 10 years has come from the same agency.

As other colleagues have already said pay isn’t as good as once was, but projects are regular and interesting and the agency I work with has been paying like clockwork. In Eur-lex (https://eur-lex.europa.eu/homepage.html?locale=it ) you’ll find a lot of translated documents, both the source and the target languages…
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P.L.F. Persio
Emanuele Vacca
Christopher Schröder
 
Emanuele Vacca
Emanuele Vacca  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 09:42
Member (2020)
English to Italian
TOPIC STARTER
Thank you Feb 2, 2021

Thank you all for your valuable insight! Do you have any advice as to how to start working for the EU bodies without experience in the field (in addition to hoping that an agency that won a contract contacts me out of desperation, which is a scenario I can't rely on)?

 
Tony Keily
Tony Keily
Local time: 09:42
Italian to English
+ ...
Rates Feb 3, 2021

On the rates question, I used to receive far in excess of even the higher rates paid per page by (good) commercial agencies for my EU work. Now I receive slightly above good agency rates.

The problem is that the material and procedures are more demanding so that per-word/page rates don't reflect the amount of work involved. That's why I say (although this varies depending on the type of job involved) that the effective per-hour/day rate is lower than for commercial agency work.
... See more
On the rates question, I used to receive far in excess of even the higher rates paid per page by (good) commercial agencies for my EU work. Now I receive slightly above good agency rates.

The problem is that the material and procedures are more demanding so that per-word/page rates don't reflect the amount of work involved. That's why I say (although this varies depending on the type of job involved) that the effective per-hour/day rate is lower than for commercial agency work.

Obviously there must be chancers out there, but my EU work has come through the same agency/consortium for years. I can only say good things about them.
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Emanuele Vacca
 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 08:42
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
@Emanuele Feb 4, 2021

Could this be the answer? https://www.proz.com/forum/italian/349159-corso_stl_corso_on_line_tradurre_la_comunicazione_per_le_istituzioni_europee.html

Emanuele Vacca
 
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