EU hiring Irish translators

Shenshen · 01-07-2016 08:45AM #1

I was listening to Newstalk this morning and one of the stories that caught my attention was about the EU now hiring translators for Irish - there are 60 open positions at the moment, and they were interviewing someone who claimed it could be over 100 in the next year or 2.

The person was gushing about the great opportunity for people with a degree in Irish, how fantastic it was that there would be all those jobs for them, translating every single EU transaction and live-translating for meetings and discussions.

And there was me thinking I'm normally very happy to defend the EU, I think it's a great institution which has achieved much throughout its existence. But this - sorry, this is an incredible, massive waste of money to keep a small lobby group happy.

By all means, provide translation to delegates who otherwise wouldn't be able to fully follow proceedings, but can you show me 1 person, just 1 person on earth who would require this service as they can't follow the discussions in English?
By all means, encourage people to learn the language and to use it where they can, but to waste resources on providing translation and material in Irish that nobody needs and wants (I'm not sure how many MEPs that lobby group has in Brussels) is absurd.

Here's a link with some details : http://www.thejournal.ie/irish-translators-eu-recruiting-2813266-Jun2016/

seamus · 01-07-2016 08:47AM

It's not the EU's fault. The Irish Government registered Irish as our official language. The EU is simply doing what it's required to do by translating everything into the official languages of the member states.

The EU can't turn around and say, "Nah, we'll just ignore your official language because nobody reallys speaks it anyway".

We didn't register English because the Brits already did that (whoops), and this is the first time anyone with a qualification in Irish has been able to get a job that's not teaching.

sullivlo · 01-07-2016 08:49AM

Will they also provide translation for our own MEPs who don't speak Irish?

EagererBeaver · 01-07-2016 08:50AM

Yup, once the Brits leave, English will cease to an official language.

The bizarre thing is Ireland will now have to spend a small fortune of its own translating to English so people here can read it...

munchkin_utd · 01-07-2016 08:52AM

seamus wrote: »

It's not the EU's fault. The Irish Government registered Irish as our official language. The EU is simply doing what it's required to do by translating everything into the official languages of the member states.
<snip>

+1

it was the IRISH Government who got unanimous agreement from all countries in Europe to have Irish added as an official language.
So the democratically elected Irish government had a democratic vote involving the democratically elected government of 27 EU countries and all voted yes.

I too think its bonkers, but it was initiated by the irish, and agreed by the countries, so you cant blame "the EU" when they essentially had no hand in deciding the matter.

Winterlong · 01-07-2016 08:52AM

With the UK leaving the EU I wonder will there be any country that has English as their registered language?

If not then I guess all the english translators will be terminated.
I presume that means Irish MEPs will only have irish translations available to them when listening to debates on the floor?!!

munchkin_utd · 01-07-2016 08:53AM

EagererBeaver wrote: »

Yup, once the Brits leave, English will cease to an official language.

The bizarre thing is Ireland will now have to spend a small fortune of its own translating to English so people here can read it...

nope, English is also a "working language" and that cannot be changed without a unanimous vote of all countries, which Ireland can veto

Shenshen · 01-07-2016 08:54AM

seamus wrote: »

It's not the EU's fault. The Irish Government registered Irish as our official language. The EU is simply doing what it's required to do by translating everything into the official languages of the member states.

The EU can't turn around and say, "Nah, we'll just ignore your official language because nobody reallys speaks it anyway".

We didn't register English because the Brits already did that (whoops), and this is the first time anyone with a qualification in Irish has been able to get a job that's not teaching.

I'm not sure who to "blame" here - I know the EU has to follow its guidelines in this case. But it still has me wondering about if it's a good thing the people with an Irish degree now have job opportunities. Personally, I'd soon hate my job if all I produced was paper that nobody would read and translations nobody would listen to. Surely the futility would get to you?

Winterlong · 01-07-2016 08:54AM

munchkin_utd wrote: »

nope, English is also a "working language" and that cannot be changed without a unanimous vote of all countries, which Ireland can veto

Ah, thanks for that. Looks like a few of us posted the same question/presumption at the same time.

gramar · 01-07-2016 08:59AM

seamus wrote: »

We didn't register English because the Brits already did that (whoops), and this is the first time anyone with a qualification in Irish has been able to get a job that's not teaching.

That doesn't stop this from being a completely pointless and hollow job. There is no purpose to their work as there is no requirement for it other than a classic example of bureaucracy at its worst.

seamus · 01-07-2016 09:00AM

Shenshen wrote: »

I'm not sure who to "blame" here - I know the EU has to follow its guidelines in this case. But it still has me wondering about if it's a good thing the people with an Irish degree now have job opportunities. Personally, I'd soon hate my job if all I produced was paper that nobody would read and translations nobody would listen to. Surely the futility would get to you?

If one is pursuing a qualification in Irish, surely you'd be aware that futility is what awaits you in your future?

munchkin_utd · 01-07-2016 09:04AM

gramar wrote: »

That doesn't stop this from being a completely pointless and hollow job. There is no purpose to their work as there is no requirement for it other than a classic example of bureaucracy at its worst.

well, blame the Irish government then as they started it !!

Duggy747 · 01-07-2016 09:15AM

Irish person: "agus anois ar t g ceithre...."

Translator: "...*clears throat*...............Ara', would ya ever feck off outta da', ya shíte-hawk ya!"

LeinsterDub · 01-07-2016 09:19AM

Shenshen wrote: »

By all means, provide translation to delegates who otherwise wouldn't be able to fully follow proceedings, but can you show me 1 person, just 1 person on earth who would require this service as they can't follow the discussions in English?

Translation is a 2 way thing. I can show you 650+ MEP who couldn't follow it an Irish MEP spoke in Irish and this will be also about translating the documents

Hotei · 01-07-2016 09:22AM

LeinsterDub wrote: »

Translation is a 2 way thing. I can show you 650+ MEP who couldn't follow it if spoken in an Irish MEP spoke in Irish and this will be also about translating the documents

Can someone translate this for me?

cowboyBuilder · 01-07-2016 09:23AM

Total and absolute waste of money to appease those nazi gaelgoers ..

osarusan · 01-07-2016 09:25AM

Some years ago, UL lecturers put together a paper on Irish language policy, and one statistic that came up was that since Irish became an official EU language, there had been something like 30 minutes of Irish ever spoken in the EU parliament.

Not sure if that has changed at all since then.

LeinsterDub · 01-07-2016 09:26AM

Hotei wrote: »

Can someone translate this for me?

Irish MEPs are entitled to speak in Irish. The translators will translate the Irish for the rest of the MEPs . It's not just translating English to Irish or Spanish to Irish

osarusan · 01-07-2016 09:30AM

Anyway, Ireland would have veto over it:

The European Commission Representation said it “noted” the report that English would cease to be an official language of the EU but said it was “incorrect”.

“The Council of Ministers, acting unanimously, decide on the rules governing the use of languages by the European institutions. In other words, any change to the EU Institutions’ language regime is subject to a unanimous vote of the Council, including Ireland,” the statement said,

Annasopra · 01-07-2016 09:30AM

LeinsterDub wrote: »

Irish MEPs are entitled to speak in Irish. The translators will translate the Irish for the rest of the MEPs . It's not just translating English to Irish or Spanish to Irish

Yeah how much Irish needs translating?

LeinsterDub · 01-07-2016 09:32AM

Joeytheparrot wrote: »

Yeah how much Irish needs translating?

Every EU and regulation law , Irish has primacy in our constitution.

sullivlo · 01-07-2016 09:33AM

LeinsterDub wrote: »

Irish MEPs are entitled to speak in Irish. The translators will translate the Irish for the rest of the MEPs . It's not just translating English to Irish or Spanish to Irish

Well then they'll need a really, really specific qualification - fluency in Irish AND another EU language.

Off the top of my head, only French, German, Spanish and maybe Greek are taught in schools. So you'd need people able to speak Irish AND Flemish, Dutch, Portugese, Italian, Swedish, etc etc etc.

Very niche job market.

Shenshen · 01-07-2016 09:33AM

LeinsterDub wrote: »

Translation is a 2 way thing. I can show you 650+ MEP who couldn't follow it an Irish MEP spoke in Irish and this will be also about translating the documents

How many of them do you think would be able to speak Irish well enough to attempt that?

Shenshen · 01-07-2016 09:34AM

LeinsterDub wrote: »

Every EU and regulation law , Irish has primacy in our constitution.

Sorry, but aren't those ALREADY translated into English here? You know, so the Irish can actually understand them?

LeinsterDub · 01-07-2016 09:39AM

Shenshen wrote: »

Sorry, but aren't those ALREADY translated into English here? You know, so the Irish can actually understand them?

Didn't some guy recently get off a speeding fine because there was no Irish version or the Irish version was different? If your not happy with Irish primacy you should ask your TD to raise it in the Dáil.

snubbleste · 01-07-2016 09:43AM

Why all the EU hate?

LeinsterDub · 01-07-2016 09:44AM

snubbleste wrote: »

Why all the EU hate?

EU and Irish it's like the perfect storm :rolleyes:

maudgonner · 01-07-2016 09:49AM

sullivlo wrote: »

Well then they'll need a really, really specific qualification - fluency in Irish AND another EU language.

Off the top of my head, only French, German, Spanish and maybe Greek are taught in schools. So you'd need people able to speak Irish AND Flemish, Dutch, Portugese, Italian, Swedish, etc etc etc.

Very niche job market.

No. It will go Irish -> English and English -> Flemish, Dutch, Portuguese etc.

Like it does with other languages - there will be an intermediate stage. English would be used as the intermediate language currently, and that's unlikely to change. But if it did, it's likely that French or German would be used as an intermediate, so you would only need to have fluency in Irish and French/German.

biko · 01-07-2016 10:05AM

snubbleste wrote: »

Why all the EU hate?

Because it's ****

Snickers Man · 01-07-2016 10:14AM

LeinsterDub wrote: »

Irish MEPs are entitled to speak in Irish. The translators will translate the Irish for the rest of the MEPs . It's not just translating English to Irish or Spanish to Irish

As I understand it, they are only entitled to speak in Irish when introducing themselves at the start of an intervention. Effectively Irish can be used for throat clearing in the European Parliament and that's it.

Irish is NOT a working language of the European institutions. They have three working languages: English French and German although in practice English and French dominate.

Basically, when speaking in the European Parliament you can only use Irish to say "Ahem..."

(Gobdaw IRish MEP: "A úachtaráin, a dhaoine uaisle. Tá áthas an domhain orm bheith anseo ar shon muintir na h-Éireann agus tá súil agam go mbainimíd rath as an díospóireacht seo. "

Translator: "Er, good morning.")

ted1 · 01-07-2016 10:18AM

Malta are in the same boat , they nominated Maltase as their official language , it'll be interesting to see what The Republic of Scotland does. Same with the liberated state of Gibraltar ,

EU hiring Irish translators

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