Experiences of Former Trainees

Read what former trainees say about their experience at TermCoord.

PolishIt was an absolute pleasure to be here and learn from all of you for this month, and I find this place a very special, uniquely friendly and inspiring environment, and I’m very, very happy that my first proper ‘working’ experience took place here. (You might have spoiled me for other offices, though.) Thank you so much for being such a welcoming team, for all the chances I’ve been given, and for all my personal growth that happened thanks to your example and influence. I conclude my traineeship with more-or-less defined path for the future, and that is so much more than I could say about myself a month ago.

I consider that the overall involvement of my unit in this experience was excellent. I was guided by several people from my department from the beginning of the traineeship until the last moment. What I appreciate the most is the team spirit, visible at the level of the whole TermCoord unit, as well as in the trainees’ group from my unit. This fact made the present high and excellent professional experience pleasant, in an open, collaborative, competent and constructive manner.

ItalianI think TermCoord is a wonderful Unit to be assigned to. Not only because everyone is very supportive, but mainly because what is asked of you, as a trainee, is an active commitment to the Unit’s work life. I felt like our ideas were always taken into consideration, which helped immensely with the workload. The possibility to carry out different tasks in such a friendly environment actually made me want to go to work, because I felt challenged every day to do better and learn more.

BEI have learned many things, both on professional as on personal level, that will have a considerable impact on the rest of my career and, the patience, support and advice of all my colleagues is worth a double golden medal. I am more than grateful for this unique opportunity and to make me feel a valuable part of an amazing and enthusiastic team!

During my traineeship I, as well as the rest of my trainee colleagues, was always treated as one of the permanent staff, and never undermined either felt inferior. On the contrary, my voice was as valid as any other, and my opinions, suggestions and ideas were always heard and, most of the time, put into practice. I’ve enjoyed every single moment of this traineeship; it has been a great and unforgettable experience; and I already feel nostalgic thinking that it came to an end. I acknowledge TermCoord for this opportunity and thank everyone for their kindness, support and camaraderie.

Greek

My traineeship in TermCoord has been a fruitful and very pleasant experience, because not only I learned many things on terminology, but I met some very interesting people too. The team of TermCoord was very welcoming and supportive, and they made us feel part of the team from the first day. We, the trainees, were informed about all the activities of the unit and welcomed to be involved in the ones we found interesting and to express our opinions and suggestions as well.

ItalianWorking for TermCoord, I have improved many of my journalistic skills. I have also had the opportunity to learn more about terminology, linguistics and translation themselves. I do not regret even a second of this traineeship and I did enjoy the whole of it. I would be happy to visit the unit again in the next future, and to stay in contact with most of the permanent staff just to check how they are doing.

From the very beginning until the very last day, we have had the support of all our colleagues and supervisors. This situation has very much fostered teamwork in many different ways, allowing us to enhance our communicative and managerial skills. I am really grateful to my supervisors guiding hand, who has always had time not only to answer my questions and listen to my suggestions, but also to know my feedback about certain projects and work in general. Working hand on hand with the staff members from the Unit, has been a really positive experience and I could not expect anything to be different. Teamwork and team spirit are all over the corridors, and working in this atmosphere has been just perfect.

Apart from acquiring a solid knowledge base about terminology and putting it into practice, I have also had the chance to work in a multicultural environment full of ideas and initiative. Since TermCoord members come from different countries, it was an enriching experience for me to learn from specialists from different cultures. The supervisors that I had were always very patient and understanding, gave valuable feedback and welcomed my inquiries. I highly value the fact that I was involved in all the activities of the department, because in this way I could have a general overview of its activity within the European Parliament.

Despedida en la Unidad de Terminología del Parlamento Europeo en Luxemburgo. Han sido unos meses increíbles de los que me llevo mucho personal y profesionalmente hablando… Aprendizaje continuo en un equipo estupendo. Encantada de haber formado parte de este maravilloso entorno multicultural y haberme empapado de las mejores experiencias. Gracias!

At TermCoord, trainees are given the opportunity of exploring their creativity and they get recognition for that. Furthermore we feel we are really part of the team – team work is much appreciated and stimulated. The atmosphere is warm and friendly and that results in more productivity and helps dealing with tight deadlines.

PolishOne month of the traineeship has been interesting and valuable professional experience. I have learned a lot about working and organisation in the European Parliament. The atmosphere in the Terminology Coordination Unit was very nice and friendly. Everyone was very helpful. I am also very thankful for all the tasks given to me and for every help and advice what to see and how to spend time in Luxembourg. During my traineeship I met many interesting people. I also gained many skills that I would like to use in my future career.

danishBeing a small and intimate unit, I from the very beginning felt most welcome by everyone. Not least my supervisor and the secretary were very helpful and patient with me, and the worries I had as to my work performance following an accident I had in February turned out to be no issue at all. The atmosphere in the unit is relaxed and informal, everything is exemplarily well-organised, and the Head of Unit is very inspiring and considerate towards his interns. There is appreciation of one’s work and a room for social activities (Greek dinner, birthday cakes and barbeque), all important aspects that makes you want to do an extra effort as an employee whenever needed.

IrishMy traineeship in TermCoord was a valuable professional experience. All of my colleagues were a delight to collaborate with and I am grateful for the opportunity to get an inside look at the European Parliament, see how the translation service works, and help TermCoord’s functioning in whatever way I can. I also appreciated the chance to go to interinstitutional conferences and talks such as the Translation Forum at the Commission in May. As I mentioned above I would have liked the freedom to choose more training sessions and conferences to attend. Additionally I would have liked more structure and better information about my tasks but as this period was a busy one with the European elections, perhaps future trainees will have a calmer environment and more opportunity for this.

BEJ’ai beaucoup apprécié l’atmosphère multiculturelle et l’ambiance qui règnent au sein de l’unité. J’étais contente d’effectuer des tâches très variées et de me voir confier plus de responsabilités. J’ai eu l’occasion de m’intégrer complètement au travail de l’unité et de participer à des réunions interinstitutionnelles comme l’IATE coordinators’ meeting et l’IATE management group meeting. Mon expérience à l’unité TermCoord m’a beaucoup appris et m’a semblé être un complément très utile aux compétences acquises au sein de l’unité française. Je remercie les membres de l’unité pour leur accueil et leurs précieux enseignements.

IrishI really enjoyed the opportunity to try new things and learn new skills and all the staff, particularly my supervisor, included me varied aspects of the unit’s work: e.g., attending IATE management meetings, providing training to trainees. By attending weekly internal meetings, I was kept up to date with what everyone in the unit was working on. I improved my IT skills through work in IATE and learned new website and social media skills. It was an interesting opportunity to be able to write articles for the external and internal website. I also honed my editing and proofreading skills and certainly felt like a useful member of the team.

It has Italianbeen a great experience. The multicultural and multilingual environment allow trainees at TermCoord to practice many languages and learn different things. The tasks are always different so it’s quite difficult to get bored! There are very few deadlines, so trainees are never under pressure. TermCoord staff is always very friendly with the trainees.

ItalianI was delighted to work for TermCoord. The atmosphere was always warm and I had an excellent relation with everybody. The Head of the Unit, is an outstanding, dynamic trainer and gave me and the other trainees the opportunity to actively participating to the Unit’s activities. My relations with my supervisor were excellent – the best supervisor I could have ever asked for. We worked harmoniously together; she has always been available for every, even tiny, doubt and always supported me in my work.

GreekThe Unit has a great experience in welcoming new trainees and therefore we became part of the team immediately. We were assigned important tasks and we had the opportunity to contribute to TermCoord with new ideas. My supervisor was very friendly and supportive. She was always available for me, our relation was excellent and our cooperation was harmonious.The atmosphere was warm and I had an excellent relationship with everybody. Our Head of Unit is an excellent professional who knows how to motivate people and get the best out of them.

Where to start, the possibility of having a traineeship in any of the European Institutions was always on my “realistic bucket list”, I thought it would be a stretch for me to achieve, but achievable nonetheless. You can imagine my reaction when I actually received my confirmation email of this traineeship. Fast forwarding several months, and here I am, in the TermCoord unit, taking part in huge projects and fulfilling my professional needs by actually working on things that are relevant to my fields, surrounded by an amazing bunch of permanent staff members and trainees. I can tell you that the trainees from the other units envied us for having such a loose atmosphere within these office walls, yet a very serious work ethic.

I really enjoyed my time here. It was really providence that led me to choose TermCoord. I believe what I’ve learnt here, I will never be able to learn elsewhere. I really enjoyed researching terminology and working with IATE! Sometimes I find myself looking forward to going back to work after a weekend, which is rare for me (or for anyone, I’m sure). Before I came here, working in an EU institution was really like a pipe dream. I imagined a group of people who take themselves seriously, and nothing could be further from the truth! Before I came here, I had no knowledge of what the EU did, or what it means for ordinary people. I loved seeing how much people are passionate about their own culture/ country. I loved how my view of the world has expanded through learning to see through others’ perspectives. I will definitely be going back, and educating my British friends about the EU. Thank you for having me.

ItalianI will always have beautiful memories of my traineeship at TermCoord. This experience has opened my mind and taught me a lot from a professional and human viewpoint. Since the first day, all colleagues have been very helpful and kind. All TermCoord staff are very professional and passionate to their job. Thanks to them I increased my interest in Terminology, Translation and Languages. It is really the ideal environment to work.

Before leaving I would like to thank you all again for this great opportunity and for your support and feedback. It feels good to know that you appreciated my work. During these six months I have met the most interesting and inspiring people and I will take with me not only the experience and new skills that I acquired, but also great moments, laughs and the best colleagues I could have asked for.

I am very surprised to have met such a friendly, human and enthusiastic unit. I did not feel like a trainee but one more member of the TermCoord team. They are very participative, active and they really take care about the trainees’ opinion and their work evolution.

The traineeship was very enjoyable and a positive learning experience. I feel now that I have a good understanding of the role of the Terminology Coordination Unit in the Parliament and the wider importance of terminology work in creating an effective multilingual European workforce. A great opportunity that I would definitely recommend others.

The working environment in TermCoord was very friendly and international! I was really lucky to be part of this team since I had the chance to actually work and become even more familiar with activities in communication and terminology. Having to cooperate with people from different backgrounds and with different nationalities, enriched my personal and professional interest and I got motivated to “search” and “discover” the unknown until now field of terminology.

The whole traineeship experience at the EP’s DGTRAD has been delightful. The wide variety of tasks offered by the terminology unit and the French unit allowed me to put many skills into practice while benefiting from a good know-how transfer. Besides, working in such a multicultural environment has been a very rewarding experience both at the professional and personal levels.

I believe that having been given the opportunity to do a hands-on experience on the terminology work made me appreciate more the necessity of such work which is unfortunately, sometimes not given the merit it deserves. I have learnt not to take terminology work for granted as this involves a lot of research behind it. Wanting to become a translator in the future, made my experience at TermCoord more justifiable since I can now clearly see the way terminologists professionally analyse languages before they input terminology in databases such as IATE.

I always used IATE for translations at University and it was something like an honour for me to work on it. I had the opportunity to work on a real terminology project which is the best experience for me. I had the chance to visit as well the German Translation Unit where I was introduced to several tasks of the Translators. Yet at the Terminology Unit itself I could see what it means to be a Terminologist at the European Parliament.

It was great to work in an international atmosphere without the emphasis being placed on any one particular European culture. During missions, it became clear how difficult it is to organize a government among such diverse populations. Yet, I was amazed at how efficiently this happens. For example, interpreters make it possible for committee meetings to be held in 23 different languages.

The language of Europe is translation
Umberto Eco