DGT Radio

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DGT Radio feature

On 9th July July, TermCoord’s Head of Unit was interviewed by Catherine Vieilledent-Monfort from the European Commission for DGT Radio’s Radio Lingvistika programme. You can listen to the interview here. In this article we want to tell you more about DGT Radio and its activities.

What is DGT Radio? DGT RADIO is part of DGT’s educational programmes. It was set up as a support to the thematic training of translators and brings home knowledge and fresh news on Linguistics and European policies. Since 2016 we have hosted journalists, experts, academics, colleagues to comment on hot topics in the world of economics and linguistics. No waffle! For the newcomer in the service, the colleagues or the seasoned linguist.

How does it work? The conversations take place in English or French. Contact DGT-Radio@ec.europa.eu.

Tune in online (Webstreaming)

 

 

 

Radio Ekonomika

 

 

 

Every Thursday 9:30 – 10:00am 

Radio Lingvistika

 

 

 

Every other Tuesday 2:30 – 3:00pm 

or listen to our podcasts whenever and wherever you like:

Economics for translators and the rest of us: Radio Ekonomika 

Let us talk language: Radio Lingvistika

(use Firefox or Chrome, or download. You can also subscribe)

Radio Ekonomika is a weekly programme based on conversations about economic and financial issues. An expert or a journalist specialised in economics and finance will introduce some important themes from the news, give some explanations and comments in non-technical language. Radio Ekonomika started with the observation that economics is highly technical matter, which impacts our everyday life and our daily work, including at EU level (we are all dummies!).

Every other week, Radio Linguistika focuses on linguistic issues, from general topics like minority languages, European citizenship and multilingualism, to DGT’s internal processes (demand management, machine translation, editing, terminology, etc.) where the colleagues would like to know more.

We also invite colleagues from all services and other institutions to present key documents or policies, the overall aim being to share knowledge and break silos. For example, I keep a very good memory of a session with colleagues from the Council about their Guide to Inclusive Language, and one on the platform “What Europe Does for me” with EP colleagues.

What have been the most popular episodes so far? Language and Geopolitics in Cyprus, The Economics of Culture, The Circular Economy, The Sharing Economy, L’économie et les langues, La langue des populistes, Le Monde d’après Babel with Barbara Cassin, and more recently EU Terminologists against COVID, What is Sustainable Finance (EIB speaker), What’s It like to be DGT Field Officer? In 2019, we were lucky to have Commissioner Moscovici review his mandate, Former Ambassador Pierre Vimont discuss European frontiers, and Directors General explain the policy agenda on Migrations, Health or the MFF.

How might DGT Radio be useful for colleagues in other DGs or institutions?  The radio is an opportunity for the colleagues to learn and to present their expertise or specific policy area in non-technical language, and exchange in an informal way. Colleagues in DGT and in other DGs have interest in hearing about key initiatives (in a compact format of 30 minutes) from other services or at EU level regarding the reform of the Eurozone, taxation, the MFF or the digital economy for example.

This helps develop an overall, cross-cutting view of the work environment and of the institution. It is motivational and a tool for consistency to get a better grasp of policy issues and of the EU agenda. It is important to tune in to the corporate world and listen about what others do.

How can colleagues get access to it? The programmes are open to all DGT colleagues, colleagues in the institutions and outside as well via podcasts.  An announcement is made on the intranet and the link to the streaming is inserted. In addition, those who wish so may ask to be informed in advance on a personal basis: it is enough to click on the link to access the programme at the given time or listen to the podcast later.

DGT partners have also shown interest in the programmes, especially the academic programmes and students in translation that are part of the EMT Network.

Results Despite Covid-19, Radio Lingvistika and Radio Ekonomika just did not stop but continued broadcasting online. From 1/1/2020 until end July, 31 programmes of DGT Radio were put on air. Both radios are on the worldwide map, first in Europe and the United States, almost equally, but also in Ukraine, Russia, Canada and China, for example.

Nexts sessions: We look forward to the coming sessions on “La concurrence, le droit, la stratégie” with the COMP DG and on Corporate Communication with the Commission’s Spokesperson. Translation, after all, is at center of all EU policies.


Written by Catherine Vieilledent-Monfort.