On the 11th and 24th of March, the KCTI Careers Corner hosted outreach events on career opportunities for interpreters in the English and Irish booth. The sessions were aimed at undergraduate students at Irish and UK universities, particularly those with a talent and passion for foreign languages.
The UK event was introduced by Morag Neath, head of the English and Irish interpreting unit (Directorate-General for Interpretation). Staff and freelance interpreters from the English booth explained what conference interpreting involves, how DG Interpretation functions and detailed the various routes into the interpreting profession.
The Ireland event was introduced by Ross Noble, head of sector for Irish (Directorate-General for Interpretation). In addition to covering the points above, staff colleagues from the Irish sector focused on issues most relevant in the Irish context, such as the language profile for prospective conference interpreters working from/into Irish. Cormac Smith from the Irish Permanent Representation was also on hand to discuss the support the Irish government provides to encourage Irish nationals to come work for the European Institutions.
These online talks were attended by a total of 165 + 15 participants, who were also able to ask working interpreters questions as part of a lively question and answer session.
We are pleased to share the recordings of both events here on the KCTI website for anybody who’d like to find out more about opportunities for interpreters in the English/Irish booth.