ABSTRACT
The European Parliament (EP) is often referred to as the most democratic European Union (EU) institution, with 705 directly elected Members. These Members may use any of the official languages of the EU when listening, speaking, reading, or writing. The translation process involves many different stakeholders. In the EP, the profile of the translator has been transformed into that of “intercultural language professionals”. Their main purpose is to provide multilingual translations and to communicate with multiple audiences in order to foster a better understanding of the work of the European Parliament and its Members. Increasingly, the focus is on three formats: text, audio and video. In this chapter, the more traditional forms of translation of the EP’s policies and legislation are compared with multilingual strategic communication through analysis of the profile of an intercultural language professional. The relevant training challenges and opportunities are also presented and discussed.
