External Translation Unit

The Directorate-General for Translation (DG TRAD) provides the European Parliament (EP) with translation services for its written or electronic communications in all official languages of the European Union.

Our mission is:

• To make available in all official languages all documents relating to Parliament’s role as co-legislator and one of the two arms of the budgetary authority, in order to ensure the legitimacy and transparency of the legislative and budgetary process of the European Union;
• To enable the European Parliament to meet its commitment to the policy of multilingualism, designed to ensure the equal treatment of languages and permitting all citizens of the European Union to communicate with the institutions and have access to the documents of those institutions in their own language;
• To support the Members of the European Parliament and its administration in their multilingual communication with citizens by providing high-quality, modern, multilingual services in text, audio and video and ensuring that content is clear and in all official languages of the EU;
• To ensure that all these services are supplied as efficiently and effectively as possible.

The External Translation Unit (ETU) of the European Parliament is responsible for outsourcing on average 30 % of the translation work of the European Parliament, involving four different kinds of tenders with more than 100 external partners (both individual translators and large translation service providers).

As a translation trainee in the Placement Team of the ETU, you will:

• Have the opportunity to work in a multilingual and multicultural team of ten colleagues;
• Learn about the life, tasks and problems of a civil servant in a European institution;
• Discover the functioning of DG TRAD and all its activities and follow closely new policies in this area;
• Gain a thorough knowledge about the outsourcing policies of the EP;
• Place translation requests with external contractors into all official languages of the European Union, and into non-official languages;
• Negotiate with both the language units, other in-house units and the external contractors;
• Verify compliance with contracts and solve potential issues;
• Suggest any changes that a newcomer might notice which would contribute to a more efficient functioning of the service;
• Learn to use in-house IT tools.

As a prospective translation trainee, you are:

• Proficient in spoken and written English;
• Able to work in a team and to communicate effectively;
• Interested in the business side of translation and you would like to see it from another perspective, i.e. outsourcing in a European institution;
• Responsible and able to work with external companies and individuals in an activity that involves creating purchase orders;
• Conscious of the importance of working to and within strict deadlines;
• Open-minded and flexible, with strong organisational and interpersonal skills.

If you are interested in this offer, please submit a motivation letter in English summarising your educational background and your reasons for applying. The motivation letter should not be longer than 600 words.

Please also submit relevant supporting documents (university diplomas, course transcripts, and so on). The motivation letter and the supporting documents are to be uploaded as a single PDF file.