Have you ever wanted to get a tour around the inner depths of the European Parliament? We know that it is not a chance you get every day. However, there are some lucky people out there! On Friday, 27th February, the students and two professors of the Master in Learning and Communication in Multilingual and Multicultural Contexts of the University of Luxembourg had the opportunity to hear about the functioning of the EP’s Directorate-General for Translation (DG TRAD), in particular about multilingualism and translation work, to get to know the Terminology Coordination Unit (TermCoord) and the historical chamber of the European Parliament.
The students first received a warm welcome by Rodolfo Maslias, the Head of TermCoord and member of the external teaching staff of the Master. He then gave the floor to Kent Johansson, from the Multilingualism and External Relations Unit, who explained how the linguistic policy works in the European Union, and more particularly in the Parliament. After his speech, Michel Catuhe, Head of the French Translation Unit, talked about the work in the translation units and the organisation of DG TRAD.
Mr Maslias and the TermCoord trainees then guided the visitors around the premises of TermCoord. The linguistic trainees explained their tasks, such as term extraction or the selection of new terminology for IATE, while the communication trainees talked about our website and social media management.
To end the tour, the students visited the historical first chamber of the European Parliament and the library, both of them located in the Schuman building of the Parliament.
It was a pleasure for the TermCoord team to guide such an enthusiastic and multicultural group (34 nationalities in just one class!). The visitors were all very interested and curious about our work and we were very happy to answer their questions. We hope to see them all again… who knows, maybe guiding the tour around the European Parliament for other students
By Marina Gutiérrez
EN, FR > ES Translator and Interpreter
Linguistic trainee at TermCoord