Translation traineeship DGT Oct 15

Hello dear translation traineeship candidates,

I'm posting this topic so that hopefully we could share some kind of useful information pieces (whether TO is making calls, sending letters, etc.), understand the process a little bit better and go through it together.

I'll be waiting for your posts.

Sending good vibes your way!

hey, same to you ! I got a phone call yesterday and then an email as well. I didn´t lobby, nothing. But as I already accepted a translation traineeship at the Parliament, I can´t accept this one... good luck, anyway

belledenuit,

thanks for replying and congrats on getting the EP traineeship!

Hello everybody,

Just to let you know I just got the call form the TO, so keep an eye on your phones!

Molina,

Congrats and thanks for the tip!

Today ~5 pm I've received a letter in my personal email account informing me that I've been selected, and asking to confirm the offer, otherwise it would lapse. Of course, I am pleased to accept the offer and I've already done that.
But so far I haven't received any calls, so maybe the TO does not necessarily call (even selected candidates). Just my two cents here.

Molina, hoping to meet you in Luxembourg this October.

Once again, good vibes towards all the DGT candidates!

Congratulations everyone!

@marmak and the others, what is your language combo (and background)?

@Marmak: which language unit were you selected for? I'm from Poland. Looking forward to meet all of you, apparently they will be sending other practical info once all trainees accepted their offers.

@jvs: It's third time I apply and from my experience, applying without MA degree in translation , 3 relevant experiences in the field was a fiasco (at least for DGT units for "bigger EU languages", such as EN, DE, ES, IT, PL...). Even though I had a relatively interesting CV after my BA (5 languages fluent+ studies + exchanges and work experience abroad) they only accepted me once I could provide them with proof of 2 years professional experience as translator and post-Master diploma in legal translation.

Oh shit, great profile. I have a translation MA but am fluent in only three languages and most of my translation experience was either as a volunteer or intern.

Plus I only recently started working as a translator so I wasn't able to list real paid experience as a translator on my application yet.

But it's good to know that they also accept people who've applied a couple of times before. Maybe next time  

I'm from Lithuania, so it's not that highly competitive (usually up to 30 candidates before preselection) - the perks of being from a small and relatively unimportant member state.

I have Masters of Laws (Vilnius University) with the specialization in finance and tax law field, plus additional professional training in accounting and audit.
Worked as a legal trainee and as a financial manager for a little bit more than a year.
No experience as a translator.
English - C2 (plus course of Legal English), Spanish - B2, German, French - A2.

Don't feel too good in the ennironment of lawyers, auditors and accountants, always liked languages and working with texts, so I'm thinking about translation/interpretation masters, but, first of all, I want to try on this career before fully committing to it.

Maybe I could ask for some advice for a newbie translator?

Hi marmak,

Well done to you for getting the traineeship despite not having a qualification in translation! I imagine your motivation must have been very strong. I am trying to do something similar, just in a different field. Did you outright point out things you disliked about your previous jobs? Thanks!~

Hi mimi11,

Thanks for your kind words, but I think it's quite common that people without degrees in translation work as translators. There's no requirement to have completed translation/language/something of that nature studies to work as an EU translator. But you must have a degree in interpretation or certain level of experience if you want to work as an EU interpreter. There also are lawyer-linguists in the EU institutions.

http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/translation/workwithus/staff/permanent/index_en.htm
http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/scic/become-an-interpreter/interpret-for-dg-interpretation/index_en.htm
http://europa.eu/epso/apply/jobs/perm/2014/lawyer-linguists/council-parliament/index_en.htm

No, I didn't write about the things I'm not very keen on in the fields of law and finances at all, mostly because I think it's simply irrelevant, but also because, in my opinion, it would show questionable manners/morals to almost badmouth your currrent education/situation/job/employer/etc and would leave a bad aftertaste.

In the work experience segment of the application just told about the jobs I had and the tasks I was responsible for.

In the motivation part I wrote about what I do like about translation (to the best of my understanding) and tried to prove that I have the necessary skills for this profession.

Hope it's helpful and good luck!

Hi marmak,

Thanks for your reply . I'm currently working on mine, hopefully will get my point across eloquently enough. Fingers crossed. Thanks a lot and good luck in Luxembourg ^^. x

Hello everyone ,

I also got a phone call last week and an email. Now I'm waiting for any further information and I thought it would be useful to join the Facebook group posted here. However, it seems that most of its members are still waiting for a call/an interview/an email or at least some feedback because they applied for other DGs.

Hi annikomare,

About FB, I think things will sort themselves out quite soon.

Congrats and meet you in Lux!