Effects of being a team member of the Terminology Coordination Unit for three weeks

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Each experience has an effect on you and, of course, it is important to keep on learning and to try out new things in life in order to improve, to gain some additional knowledge and to find out what you want in life. Before starting an experiment, you always ask yourself: What do I know beforehand and what will I learn from that?

As a student of the master program ‘Learning and Communication in Multilingual and Multicultural Contexts’ at the University of Luxembourg I joined a course about terminology in the European Parliament in my first semester. Now, in my second semester, I took the chance to dive into the world of the Terminology Coordination department in the European Parliament during my three-week study visit experiment. I expected to experience the overall working process of the TermCoord unit, the various tasks of the team and eventually to combine the theoretical knowledge of my previous course with the real working environment.

On my last day, I can confirm that my expectations got fulfilled: My study visit experiment helped me to learn new things by participating actively, which had a great value for me to not only remember the theory behind it but also to get involved in the working field and to learn from the practical side. My tasks were primarily related to the communication activities. I wrote articles about various topics, I got to know different programs and tools for content writing and designing, I had research tasks, I was able to join different workshops as well as meetings and I familiarized myself with the general processes and workflows of the communication team. However, I also made myself acquainted with tasks of the terminology trainees, I learned about their work with IATE and some of their ongoing projects. Furthermore, I took the chance to talk to people of the translation units to receive a clearer idea of their work as well. In general, my colleagues had a very welcoming and open-minded attitude towards the study visitors and I felt I could approach them with any question about their work in the Parliament. I appreciated that the TermCoord-team treated me equally in their meetings and that I could add my opinion and ideas as well. Overall, I am grateful for this opportunity, it enriched my life with new experiences and lovely people. This experiment had definitely a positive effect on improving some of my skills, strengthening my knowledge and widening my network.

“All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.” R.W. Emerson

Sources:

A quote from Journals of Ralph Waldo Emerson, with Annotations – 1841-1844. Goodreads. https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/251473-all-life-is-an-experiment-the-more-experiments-you-make. Accessed May 6, 2019.

Written by Xenia Sauer – Study Visitor in Communication at the Terminology Coordination Unit of the European Parliament (Luxembourg) and student in the Master program in Learning and Communication in Multilingual and Multicultural Contexts at the University of Luxembourg. She holds a Bachelor degree in Sustainable Tourism and speaks German, English, Spanish and French.