EurActiv, the European Media Network present in 15 cities, publishes free EU news and facilitates EU policy debates for policy professionals in 15 languages. With 3 million page views and 675,089 ‘unique visitors’ per month, EurActiv is the leading online media for EU affairs. We address 80% of our readers in their own language.
EurActiv targets EU policy and business stakeholders, journalists, NGOs and other multipliers across Europe. EurActiv provides a ‘one-stop shop’ where users can compare major stakeholder positions, original source documents, videos and informed opinion from guru bloggers.
Translation and localisation have always played an important role in EurActiv. The media network has put an emphasis on translation and has recruited translators in some of the main agencies, notably in Brussels. Thanks to the translators’ work, the network agencies can quickly exchange the content all over Europe. This allows the reader to discover news from several countries. In this context, the use of online terminology tools, such as IATE, the EU’s multilingual terminology database, has been crucial to insure high-quality translations.
Over the last two years, the Fondation EurActiv Politech has also organized several workshops on translation with the support of the OIF (International Organisation of La Francophonie). More than 150 Master students in translation from 7 French-speaking universities (including Belgium, France and Switzerland) have come to Brussels to learn more about translation in European affairs. They visited the Commission’s building, were introduced to the difficulties and the backdoors of translation within the EU institutions. They also visited EurActiv’s headquarters to hear some tips and tricks of translation within an EU online platform.
As head of French translation, I am in charge of the translation unit in Brussels, which consists of 2 people: an intern and myself. I teach her/him how to improve her/his skills in the field of translation in an online press agency. We translate about 4 articles a day. We work as a duo: one translates, the other revises. We publish content for EurActiv France in close collaboration with the editorial team in Paris.
I found my position with EurActiv directly after my 6-month internship at the European Parliament. Several aspects of my job are really interesting. I have the opportunity to follow daily news about the EU. My colleagues come from all over Europe. I can thus practice my foreign languages in the office. The advantage of working at EurActiv is that the journalists work in the same office. It means that if I have a question regarding the original text I can simply ask the author, which is very practical.
My experience in Luxembourg (3 months in the French translation unit and 3 months in TermCoord) helped me to find my job : EU experience was one of the criteria for the job. Thanks to that experience I gained an overview from inside the European institutions. It gave me a better insight on the mechanisms of the EU legislative process. I also learned how to easily find legal documents online and to manage terminology databases. It was very helpful as I practice those activities on a daily basis.
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If you have any questions regarding EurActiv’s translation activities, please send me an email at aubry.touriel@euractiv.com
Aubry Touriel
Responsible of the French version of Euractiv.com