As part of the conference, DG SCIC organised a participatory event with students and trainers. Participants could choose whether to attend the workshop in English, French or German. Six workshops were organised: three on site for the trainers and other guests, and three online for the students, one in each language. The goal was to collect participants’ views on the interpreting profession and its evolution. Three questions were asked:

1. What are the key skills to be trained and acquired (traditional and new) for graduates to be successful on the interpretation scene of the future?
2. In the new context, how to maintain and enhance the attractiveness of conference interpreting as a profession and promote interest in working for European Institutions?
3. In light of the current changes, what support currently offered from the European Institutions is the most useful, what else can be done to make our assistance tools more efficient?

After the participatory sessions, a moderator from each workshop presented the results to the plenary. A Q&A open discussion followed.

Here is what transpired from the discussions, question by question.

1. Discussions in the workshops

Question one:

What are the key skills to be trained and acquired (traditional and new) for graduates to be successful on the interpretation scene of the future?

Students’ views

Students know they need to work hard and build their self-confidence to be conference interpreters.

Traditional skills involve learning how to share attention between active listening, analysing the message and reformulating it in excellent native language. As well as having an excellent A language, interpreters must have good knowledge of current affairs and demonstrate curiosity. It is essential to adopt a critical approach towards your own work and to be open to external criticism. Conference interpreting students need to train and trust their memory. They also need to train their notetaking and rhetoric skills. It is important to know how to prepare intelligently for meetings, to manage stressful situations and be professional. Interpreters need to be able to keep a poker face and remain neutral in difficult situations.

Moreover, empathy, diplomacy, flexibility and adaptability are key skills for the profession. In addition, presenting well in front of an audience, making eye contact during consecutive interpreting and managing one’s voice are important.  

To be successful interpreters, students also need to be able to cope with new challenges, such as delivering quality interpretation while using new technologies, and making digital tools our allies, rather than enemies. For instance, real time transcription can help, but can also be a distraction. Learning how to use artificial intelligence tools and new platforms can be daunting, but will certainly be an asset on the market. It is also important that interpreters are able to work in RSI (remote simultaneous interpretation). Nowadays, it is almost impossible to work as an interpreter without RSI. An essential prerequisite for this is good sound quality. Good technical skills and the ability to remain calm in the event of technical issues are also essential new requirements. Interpreters need to be adept multitaskers. Furthermore, it can be more difficult to focus fully if you are interpreting from home rather than a booth.

Students would also like to learn how to use translation tools (e.g. MemoQ, Trados Studio, machine translation) to prepare for interpreting assignments.

Furthermore, with online meetings, young interpreters face a new reality: they often have to work from home. This makes it difficult for them to get to know colleagues and clients and it can be laborious trying to sell their skills on the market. They also need to know how to work with colleagues in a real booth, as well as in a virtual booth, and how to build team spirit.

At the end of their studies, graduates have mostly learned to interpret but do not know how to be interpreters.

As for university courses, students would be interested in learning about different aspects of the profession, for instance, voice management, but also how to be a freelancer. The latter might cover which assignments to accept, the administrative side of freelancing, marketing yourself, finding clients, producing invoices, setting rates, and legal issues. Finally, a course focused on simultaneous with text or with real-time transcription could help to cope with new technologies.

Trainers’ views

To a large extent, students and trainers agree on the skills needed to become a successful conference interpreter.

The traditional skills that need to be developed are active listening, discourse analysis, communication intention, the mother tongue in all its facets and registers, and intellectual curiosity. It is crucial to develop self-learning skills from the outset. The student and future interpreter will gain agility, which will enable them to evolve throughout their career in an environment that has become more fluid.

Empathy remains important in a world dominated by the hybrid, where non-verbal communication is less present. How can we interpret the speaker with the same accuracy? Psychological skills can be developed to help this. Students will also need to learn how to showcase their communication skills more effectively to differentiate themselves from machines and demonstrate the added value of human interpretation.

In this fast-changing environment, students need to be able to work under time pressure, accept imperfection when there is no time to read all the documents and be resilient when they have to work on several projects. Students need to adapt to the digital age, without forgetting the fundamentals. “Digital native" students were born with the internet, but digital tools and technology should not take precedence over the message. They should not be distracted by the many tools available. They should learn to use these tools in a critical way so they know when the tools can improve the quality of their interpretation and when they are likely to be detrimental.

Trainers also need to be trained in new technologies: they are sometimes less well equipped than students in this area. Trainers should be flexible, too, and adjust to students’ varying needs and digital skills (e.g. can notes be taken on a tablet?)

Both students and trainers suggest working on team spirit, which has been undermined by the pandemic and distance learning. Professional ethics and booth manners must be instilled, for example, to ensure new colleagues are able to pass the microphone and share documents smoothly.

These new skills may require universities to reconsider their curriculum: what aspects should be trimmed to make room for them in the training programs? If they are included, what would it be at the expense of? Are there limits in terms of cognitive load? The teaching of new skills needs to be well targeted to achieve a balance and avoid cutting out traditional subjects.

Question two:

In the new context, how to maintain and enhance the attractiveness of conference interpreting as a profession and promote interest in working for European Institutions?

Students’ views

First, it is clear that the European Institutions offer an attractive working environment. They are known for their good working conditions. If many young interpreters ultimately do not end up working for the European institutions, this is due to other issues. Indeed, some feel that the EU institutions are difficult to reach. It is therefore important to strengthen the approachability of the institutions. Several solutions have been put forward to break down barriers and make them more accessible. For instance, opening a public line for communication with EU interpreters, organising webinars, presentations on social media on tips & tricks and things to avoid, etc.

Another issue is that not everyone is willing to move to Brussels. Professional residence in Brussels can be problematic (e.g. if French is not a working language). This issue was also tackled in the trainers’ session, where several ideas were put forward.

Moreover, greater communication on the profession and its positive attitude towards future students is needed. The distinction between translation and interpretation should be better highlighted. Just as the general public generally confuse both professions, it is difficult for young people pursuing a university course to know exactly what job prospects they will have. How to choose between translation and interpretation? The European institutions could promote and educate the public on the pivotal role of interpreters: they are a bridge, facilitators for communication, and bear a great responsibility. They are part of the EU democratic process; they help leaders take crucial decisions.

Students and young graduates would also appreciate it if more traineeships were available in the European Institutions during their studies or afterwards. Virtual or on-site dummy booth is highly beneficial to gain insight into the EU’s work and become acquainted with EU terminology. Students would like to gain a better understanding of what interpreting at the EU entails. They need clarity about working conditions, pay and work-life balance. More information is needed about the application process and the difference between staff interpreters and ACIs (e.g. via presentations in universities).

Some students mentioned the issue of the cost of their studies. They would appreciate bursaries. In this regard, it is worth noting that the European Institutions are aware of this reality and have a bursary programme for students who offer the languages most needed in the EU.

Students also felt that in online meetings sound quality is sometimes less of a priority. They suggested the institutions promote good sound quality in meetings. Fortunately, this is already the case, as Lode de Raedt underlined in his presentation “Sound inSIGHT – a different approach to measure sound quality”, including the importance of the code of conduct, during the first day of the conference.

In addition, the language combination required to take accreditation tests may be different from the ones recent graduates have acquired at university. As a result, young interpreters will need to learn new languages in order to sit the accreditation test.  This means they will have no other option but to work somewhere else in the meantime. Very often, they will find a job, keep it and forget about the accreditation test. What can be done about this? Universities could offer interpreting courses in languages that are useful for national needs but also for the European institutions. EU institutions could provide information sessions, better communicate their language needs, promote smaller languages such as Danish or Maltese, as well as making it clear that either English, French or German are required to work for the EU. Thus, when deciding whether to study interpreting, students would know which languages would be useful for their career. They would be adequately prepared and able to take the accreditation test immediately after university.

Moreover, young interpreters feel that accreditations tests are only rarely organised for some languages, such as Turkish or Serbian, to name a few. It would therefore be useful to communicate language needs more clearly.

Finally, after they graduate, young interpreters need more encouragement and help with starting a career as an ACI because taking the test can be daunting. They would appreciate monitoring and mentoring after they graduate. There could be a buddy programme with seasoned interpreters (e.g. to prepare for the accreditation test, “a day with an interpreter” kind of programme).

Trainers’ views

The profession and the EU institutions are still attractive. However, new generations of students and their parents are worried about the future of the profession: is it reasonable to invest hard work and money in an interpreter's training? They need to be reassured that there are still prospects for recruitment: the next generation is needed! Awareness raising should focus on this and the interpreting profession should be better defended. The population at large should be better informed, via awareness campaigns for the general public, as was done in France in the 1990s for the institutions. Raising awareness on TV, social media, going to the field to give testimonies by peers, young recruits, graduates and civil servants, who would be ambassadors to high schools and universities (on the model of the "Back to school" scheme). From this point of view, pedagogical assistance is a golden tool, making it possible pass on the message and to reach out to the next generation.

Awareness raising is also needed for the political world, national institutions and the general public to demystify 'Brussels' and to debunk the myth of “the useless interpreter in this digital era”. It is important to combat society’s tendency to promote international English and to put costs before the quality of work.

PRs and EU delegations in the Member States could organise events around multilingualism and promote the profession of interpreter in this way. We have the EMCI. Translators benefit from this kind of support, such as the European Master's in Translation (EMT). Why not join them?

Furthermore, young people nowadays have different expectations in terms of career and work-life balance. For many, whether they are young or not, having to move to Brussels may be a burden. One idea might be to enable them to work remotely from abroad for the institutions. This way they can still be active on their local market and do not have to make their whole family move to Brussels. One could also focus on other international organisations, i.e. on the multiplicity of potential employers present in Brussels, to make the EU capital an attractive destination for interpreters.

Following the student’s opinion, trainers also highlighted that it was necessary to bring the citizen (and the interpreter candidate) closer to the institutions, it is time for them to open their doors again: visits, traineeships, etc. Young interpreters could have contacts with young colleagues at SCIC, they need a direct contact with the reality of our work. Therefore, it might be a good idea to put together a mentorship programme and strengthen the newcomers programme.

Moreover, interpreters do not always match the EU language profile requirements. Support should be provided for certain language combinations.

Trainers also believe that bursaries are fundamental, especially for accession countries to attract young people to the profession.

Finally, trainers had different opinions on interpreting as a career. Some believed the attractiveness of European careers is declining in general (competition from the private market, less interesting salaries sometimes, working conditions), while others thought a freelance activity for the institutions had many advantages, such as interesting meetings, social coverage, training possibilities, attractive remuneration and stability.

Question three:

In light of the current changes, what support currently offered from the European Institutions is the most useful, what else can be done to make our assistance tools most efficient?

Students’ views

Students unanimously believe that the European institutions’ support is very useful and interesting. Pedagogical assistances and mock conferences, in particular, are highly appreciated. Students would appreciate it if mock tests could be organised during these sessions and EU trainers could provide more information about accreditation tests and give feedback using the same selection criteria. Another suggestion was for interpreters from SCIC to give a lecture about their life as an interpreter and everyday work at the EU institutions, followed by a Q&A session.

Students are also very satisfied with study visits to European institutions. However, not all students have this opportunity, so they would like to see more visits organised. Moreover, students would like to be more involved when the European institutions organise events. They would like to be invited to take part, even at their own cost if there is a budget issue.

Useful EU tools mentioned included EUR-Lex and IATE.

As far as the Speech Repository is concerned, students are grateful for the number of speeches available and they use the repository frequently. Some ideas to improve the content would be to increase the diversity of languages, accents and countries or continents covered.

Students also said they would like access to speeches used for accreditation tests and we took the opportunity to explain that some of these speeches are available in the “advanced, test-type” category.  The Speech Repository team noted that it would be interesting to underline which of those speeches had actually been used for accreditation tests. In this way, students could be well prepared and know what to expect when they take the test themselves in the future, thus increasing their self-confidence and reducing stress.

Furthermore, students were keen to have access to recordings of seasoned interpreters in meetings. The good news is that some meetings with interpretation are already available online, for example, on the Streaming Service of the European Commission.

Finally, some students thought the KCI could be enhanced with an exchange forum. They also think the EU Institutions should be more available on social media. Against this backdrop, we remind people that you can follow our various accounts on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter (i.e. EUinterpreters and EPinterpreters).hese accounts promote every event dedicated to students, such as the London Language Show and the SCIC Universities Conference.

Trainers’ views

The support SCIC offers is highly appreciated, especially pedagogical assistances (PA) and training for trainers. It enables the creation a local network of trainers and the sharing of ideas.

There were calls for a return to entirely in-person pedagogical assistance (PA) and study visits. This is more expensive, but the returns on investment are multiple, especially in terms of recruitment. On-site PA is more helpful and stimulating. A PA assignment could also be used to meet the local interpreting sector, survey the market, see other schools: the SCIC official would act as an ambassador for the profession. Some universities did, however, appreciate the mix between online and onsite events.

In addition, the EU could organise modules on how to use RSI on different virtual platforms. This would reduce stress levels among the young who mainly learn how to interpret remotely on one platform, depending on the licence their university has.

Like the students, the trainers are aware that it is crucial to restore students' confidence, which can sometimes be shattered by overly harsh feedback from teachers, who raise the spectre of the "Brussels interpreter" like a scarecrow. We must also encourage potential test candidates. Instead of scaring young interpreters, maybe we should insist on the well-known positive aspects of the profession by offering insight into the daily work of SCIC interpreters and showing the flexibility they enjoy in terms of work-life balance. To increase the visibility of our profession and attract new talents, the EU could also go into schools when pupils are choosing their subject options and organise or take part in language competitions or other events.

SCIC could suggest research topics/theses that could be relevant for the institutions and the students.

The Speech Repository and KCI are highly appreciated. However, the KCI, in particular, needs to be more user-friendly and integrated into the training process.

2. Conclusion

Interpreting in the 21st century is a challenging and demanding profession but, at the same time, a highly motivating one. The changing nature of clients’ needs in general, and those of the European institutions in particular, has to be reflected in the way we provide our services. SCIC is very aware of this and has embarked on an in-depth reflection process with all its stakeholders, including the next generation of interpreters. For the first time, interpreting students – selected from the universities we cooperate with – had the opportunity to join a participatory event and share their views, ideas, suggestions, and fears.

The final goal for most interpreting students is to work for the EU Institutions. The tests are strict and demanding. Indeed, for the interpretation services of the EU to deliver the expected service and survive in an ever changing and more competitive world, quality is a must but, in the post-pandemic 21st century world of work, flexibility is also a condition sine qua non.

Preparing for the excellent standard expected in the EU accreditation test is the key to success, and the EU interpretation services will be there to offer guidance and support. Sharing information, ensuring the availability of pedagogical and financial tools, and building capacity on new delivering modes: these are three fundamental pillars to ensure the Next Generation of EU Interpreters are ready for the challenges ahead.

All the presentations and recordings are available on the webpage of the SCIC Universities conference.