From May, the 16th to May, the 25th students worked on Module 7 of PolidEU project “Management of documents in the EU institutions: translation and interpretation” (Gestion des documents а l’UE : traduction et interprétariat).

The aim of the work on the module was to analyze the challenges of the institutional translation in the EU due to the existence of 24 official languages. During the lecture Jean Monnet PolidEU Project leader Elena Alekseeva told the participants about the implementation of the principles of translation, as they were stated in the basic EU treaties, as well as about the functioning of offices and departments that provide translation services for the EU institutions. Further work in the framework of the module was carried out in the form of discussion on the effectiveness and necessity of having 24 official languages. Each participant prepared a small report on the work of translation agencies, on the budget spent on translating or difficulties of translators’ work in multilingual institutions.

As a result of the discussion, students came to the conclusion that the official plurilingualism is one of the fundamental elements of the European identity, and preserving it is essential to insure the respect of the rights and freedoms of a citizen as a key feature of the EU, regardless of the financial costs.