The European Union is still trying hard to get enough functionaries in its Tower of Babel to cope with the tons of documents, laws and regulations churned out daily to be translated into our national language
In a notice confirming that the Brussels monster intends swallowing more of our graduates, language experts, and men of letters who leave our islands to live in the boring administrative blocks translating directives about pesticides and safety rules on flip-flops, the EU announced it will be holding an exam for interested migrants.
The so-called “open competition for recruitment of Maltese translators” arises out of the still vacant posts of translators working with EU institutions that are making it hard for the separate translation units to cope with the daily flow words, notes, and clauses.
Since the lifting of the three-year derogation on the translation of EU documents last May, Maltese translators have been facing a steady increase in their workload reaching around 70,000 pages per year.
The derogation was requested by Malta due to the lack of qualified translators upon accession. The EU says it still needs over 100 new Maltese translators.
If you would like to be one of them, you have to download an application from http://europa.eu/epso under the title of competition for Administrators in the Field of Translation and send it by 4 March.
A perfect command of Maltese as a first language is a must, along with a first compulsory source language being English, French or German and thorough knowledge of a third language which may also include Italian, Polish, Portuguese or Spanish.
Candidates must also have a level of education which corresponds to completed university studies of at least three years attested by a diploma. No professional experience is required.
Those who are selected will be placed on a reserve list although it still does not mean they will go to Brussels, Luxembourg or Strasbourg.
Assistance is available at the European Parliament Valletta Office that may be contacted via email on epvalletta@europarl.europa.eu or by calling 21235075.