19 February 2009, 22:04 CET, EUbusiness Ltd.

(BRUSSELS) - The 27-nation European Union, with its 23 official languages, is facing an imminent shortage of interpreters, with English-language linguists at a premium, officials warned Thursday.

While there is a need to find interpreters and translators from the newer EU nations of eastern Europe, it is the English 'lingua franca' which is causing the biggest headache to the European Union's executive.

"The European Commission faces a shortage of translators for a number of language combinations," the commission said in a statement.

"The situation is particularly worrying in the English language department because many officials who joined the commission in the seventies following the accession of the United Kingdom and Ireland are now approaching retirement age."

Brian Fox, director of the EU's interpreting department summed up the shortage, with interpreters present, to reporters in Brussels.

"Everybody says English is everywhere but we are having real problems finding English language professionals" to interpret during official speeches and to translate written items, he said.

"Everyone speaks English and the corollary is that the English don't feel the need to speak anything else," he complained.

EU Institutions will lose at least a third of their English language interpreters by 2015 due to retirement and about half in the next ten years.

The need for interpreters in the European Union is underlined by the figures.

Last year the service worked around 152,000 interpreter days -- "that's about 750 man years," said Cox -- with an average of 750-800 interpreters, some from a freelance roster, employed each day.

In order to tackle the problem, the European Commission's directorate-general for translation announced the launch of a campaign to attract qualified professionals to its translation operation.

"With this in mind, the English language department has already established contact with a number of educational institutions, government departments and language organisations such as the National Centre for Languages (CILT)," the commission said in a statement.

The commission will also boost its presence at careers events and job fairs, in particular across Britain and Ireland.

Hi All

Please click on the document attached to this post for the Global Language Job's registration Guide.

It is a PDF so may take a min or so to open so please be patient!

Anyhting you need let me know

Thanks

V

RegistrationInstructions.pdf

Hi All

We have been thinking of more ways to make your job search as pain free as possible and I think we have come up with a brilliant idea!

Instead of having to check the job searches on this website or waiting for newsletters to be sent out you can now join the Global language Jobs group on Facebook which will be constantly updated with fantastic new job opporunities so you can see what's going on when you check your Facebook profile!

To join the group simply type Global Language Jobs into the Facebook search bar and we are the group showing the Global Language Jobs banner/logo (if in doubt it is the one with me as a administrator!)

To ensure that perspective employers still get chance to view your CV please register on the website and upload your CV here.

Any questions just ask!

Thanks

V

Suomen joulu on kylmä, todella kylmä, valkoisen taivaan ja maan kera - lunta sataa usein ja kaikki pitävät hattuja, takkeja ja huiveja kaiken aikaa. Autoissa on talvirenkaat, jotta ne eivät luistaisi. Toisin kuin täällä Iso-Britanniassa, kaikki juhlivat joulua 24. joulukuuta. He syövät paljon jouluruokia ja avaavat lahjoja Joulupukilta - hän on Suomen Lapista, etkö tiennyt. Sitten perhe menee saunaan ja sen jälkeen syö lisää hyviä jouluruokia ja juomia. On paljon melua - lapset leikkivät ja ihmiset laulavat - ja sitten kun se on ohi, lepäämme ensi vuoteen asti.



Joulu on kylmä myös Iso-Brianniassa. Lunta ei sada niin usein ja se ei ole yhtä maalauksellinen, mutta tunnelma on sama. Tänä vuonna menen perheeni kanssa kirkkoon jouluaattona ja juhlimme ruuan ja lahjonen kera joulupäivänä - 25. joulukuuta. Ruoka on hyvää täällä, kalkkunaa kaikkine lisukkeineen, mutta kaipaan perinteistä suomalaista jouluruokaa. Joululeipää, -pipareita ja kotikaljaa - vähän kuin olutta ja erittäin maukasta!



Joka tapauksessa nyt on aika rentoutua ja nauttia hyvästä seurasta. Hyviä lomia meiltä kaikilta Global Language Jobsilta!



---



Christmas in Finland is cold. Very cold, with white skies and white ground - the snow falls often and everybody wears their hats and coats and scarves at all times. The cars have their snow tyres on so they don't slip and. Everybody celebrates Christmas on 24th December unlike it here in the UK. They eat lots of food and open presents from Santa - he's from Finnish Lapland, don't you know - and then the family goes to sauna and has more good food and drink. There is lots of noise - children playing and people singing - and then when it is all over we will rest again until next year.



Christmas in the UK is cold too. It doesn't snow so often and isn't as picturesque. But the feeling is the same. This year I will go to church on Christmas Eve with my family and celebrate with food and presents on Christmas Day - 25th December. The food is good here - turkey with all the trimmings - but I miss traditional Finnish Christmas food. Christmas-sweet bread and gingerbread cookies and kalja - a bit like beer and very tasty!



Either way it's time to relax and enjoy good company. Happy holidays from all at Global Language Jobs!

The most difficult country I went to live in was Chile back in the early 1990’s.

I flew in from Sydney via Easter Island and landed with about £200, a surfboard and a rucksack.

To be fair just in case things had gone pear shaped I had an onward ticket to Europe but all the same it was somewhat daunting.

The first night I spent in a very cheap and somewhat dodgy hostel/hotel. The environment was very alien especially as I spoke very little Spanish on my arrival; an “O” Level 7 years previously was about my limit. And it was extra difficult trying to understand not just Spanish but the Chilean version thereof.

On the second day however I started looking for work and somewhere decent to live. However I needed the job first otherwise I could not afford to rent. So I went to all the English language schools and within 2 days I had secured a few hours work a week so this was a start.

The first few days were rather strange as I struggled so much to communicate but I keep reading up on Spanish grammar and kept going.

I then decided to put an ad in the local Santiago paper and I landed a fantastic client who was an extremely wealthy businessman who wanted to improve his English. He paid me really well and even found a house by the sea for me to live in: a place called Papudo which also had some surf which was great. So I spent the summer there teaching this businessman English and being paid pretty well also.

I think with the right attitude it is possible to get integrated into most countries and the only difficult part is those initial few weeks.

I am way too old to do it again but I still have the travel bug and would like to do some photography trips at some point but I would want to be back home in Yorkshire within 2 weeks!

Moi.

Kate tässä. Joo, joo, minä taas.

Kirjoittaisin useammin, mutta olen niin kiireinen töissä. Olen myyntiryhmän johtajana.

Opiskelen suomea Leedsin yliopistossa osa-aikaisesti, koska asuin Suomessa Tampereella viime vuonna. Työskentelin siellä musiikkifestareilla ja kaipaan Suomea tosi paljon. Mutta täällä Global Language Jobsilla työskentely on antoisaa ja hauskaa.

Teidän pitäisi tulla mukaan hauskanpitoon!

Hi.

Kate here. Yes, yes, me again.

I should write more often but I’m too busy at work. I’m the new sales team leader here.

I study Finnish at Leeds university part-time, because I used to live in Finland, Tampere, last year. I worked there at music festivals and miss Finland terribly, but working at GLJ is rewarding and fun.

So why don’t you all join us in the fun!

The first day of a new job is usually a) busy, b) exciting, c) terrifying or d) all of the above. Here at Global Language Jobs, you can add another option - e) unusual.



I'm Kate, the newest member of the Global Language Jobs team. As an English girl in an English office in an English village you would not expect to be considered a minority, but there are so many other nationalities here that the number of native English colleagues by no way dominate the office (except for Swedish speaking Scouser Mike who is always heard before he is seen!). Because of this diversity it isn't like other workplaces where everybody speaks, thinks and works the same.



English is my first language, my comfort zone, despite having a colourful background of Latvian and Puerto Rican descent - no, I don't speak Latvian or Spanish, but Finnish...don't ask - so I see the perks of GLJ quite differently to some of my colleagues. A couple of years ago I planned to move to Finland, nowhere near fluent in the language then but desperate to learn. But English speaking jobs just weren't available, nor was there any online support for help in the area. I was left with the unfortunate impression that there just wasn't a need for English speaking workers in Finland. But, as Global Language Jobs has shown me, all countries in Europe require links to their neighbours and what better than to employ fluent speakers from all over the globe.



If GLJ had been around in the past, I'm sure my situation would be very different. But, for now, I'll stay in England. After leaving Liverpool for the rural charm of Saltaire, it's sometimes like living in a new country. Considering I find it easier to understand my new colleagues at GLJ than broad Yorkshire accents, I would say that this is definitely e) unusual.

A new week and lots of new things going on here at GLJ…. First of all I’d like to welcome Kate who is the newest arrival! Kate is English but can also speak fluent Finnish and is from the football-city Liverpool in the north of England. I’m sure Kate will be brilliant at finding you all great jobs in Finland and in the UK!

Second of all – we’re getting a makeover! Nope, unfortunately we’re not going on Extreme Makeover the television show. However, you will see some big changes on the site shortly in terms of functions and design which will make the job hunting not just easier but also more enjoyable. Also, we are expecting a few guestbloggers who found jobs through GLJ and look forward to read their stories here on the blog.. So keep reading ladies and gents…

The last few days we have had a lot of people e-mailing over their CVs to us. Instead of doing that, please go to "Candidate Registration"and fill in your details and upload your CV. That way employers all over the world will be able to find you and you don’t have to lift a finger…



It's Friday afternoon and nearly time for a well-deserved weekend. Some of you (depending where in the world you are!) have already left university or work and are probably out enjoying yourselves! I wish you all a great weekend and look forward to see you all online next week.



Au Revoir!







Anna

Anna, I’m not sure how cold you think it gets in England, but I was in Åre in Sweden last week for a last minute snowboarding holiday and it was -21 at times and even colder with the wind blowing in your face.



It has to be said though it was a fantastic holiday and everyone I met was extremely friendly and the general conception about Sweden being horrendously expensive was not true at all. Granted if you want to buy a pint you might need a new mortgage but all the food was fantastic and reasonably priced. When I compare it to snowboarding in the Alps it is certainly no more expensive and, because the mountain restaurants in Sweden are the same prices as those in resort and the presence of värmestuga, it may even be cheaper and is certainly easier to get into the warm without spending a fortune.



The comparison is a bit similar to doing business in different countries and looking for a job in different countries, you might expect to ski resorts in the EU to be very similar in price and attitude but they can be completely different. You might expect two customers or two jobs in different countries in the EU to expect the same service or skills but in reality there is a marked difference between countries in Europe, even those that are right next door to each other. GLJ can help you to overcome these differences and find your dream job because you won’t have a Brit like me trying to help you find work in Sweden based on a week’s snowboarding…that’s what Anna is for.



Anyway, happy job hunting



Steve

How cold can it get in England?? In the mornings I normally walk to the train station but today it was just so cold I decided to take the bus. The only problem is: when taking the bus you also have to stand at the bus stop, WAITING for the bus which is the most frustrating thing I know. Especially when it's freezing outside! Hey, I escaped Sweden and I get this?!



One of the main subjects here at the GLJ office has actually to do with this. There are literally two teams. Team 2 consists of the Nordics, Germans, and English that like to keep the windows open now and again to get some fresh air in. Team 2 consists of the more southern European nationalities and they like it to be hot hot hot and keep closing the window as soon as they get a chance. I guess this is what you get when you put all these different nationalites in one room. I can promise one thing though, to Italian Sara's delight...today this Swede won't be opening any windows! (as long as the heater is switched off...



Anna Ceder

Hello Everyone!

Let me introduce myself, I'm Anna Ceder, the newest arrival here at the GLJ office! I'm originally from Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, but have lived here in Leeds in the north of England since one year back. Leeds is a fabulous place to live with all the friendly people, the nightlife, the shopping - and yet we have the beautiful countryside so close by!

Since I first visited London at the age of 16 I have wanted to move to England to live permanently. I have always found people from different countries and cultures extremely fascinating and the fact that I'm now working in an office full with English,French, Spanish, Italian, German......(I'm probably forgetting someone now.. sorry!! Well. You're getting the point. I'm very excited!

We at GLJ are committed to promoting the spread of language education and the possibility of using those languages in your work.
To that end we invited 2 sets of schoolchildren over from Dixons Academy over to our offices in Salts Mill so that they could sit with our German and Spanish teams which are the languages that the pupils are interested in.

The schoochildren were aged between 13 and 14 and all gained from seeing our European native language speakers selling GLJ over the phone. We also employ English speakers who have an excellent command of foreign languages and this shows the children that they can put their languages to use.

As we roll out the Occident International European Marketing Agency they will see that there are even more careers for them using the languages learnt at school and on exchanges.

We are committed to carrying on with this vocational education and we will shortly be taking on pupils who have just left school and are wanting a period of work experience.

Indeed it will shortly become a separate section in our website for Internships or Placements whichever terminology you prefer dependent on which side of the Atlantic you are on.

As GLJ shoots up the organic rankings and the number of clients increases we are now recruiting for the following language positions:

- French, German, Spanish and Italian Recruitment Executives to work on the GLJ website

- A crack PHP web designer: languages useful but not essential

If you are interested post your CV on the website and also contact us directly with details of your currently salary and an outline of your career plan for the next 5 years.

In addition to this we officially launch this week our European Marketing Agency under the brand name of Occident International. The Occident Group already employs 30 European language speakers from our offices just 15mins from Leeds City Centre in the beautiful Salts Mill. The plan is to reach 50 by the end of 2008 and to expand even further from there so if you are interested in Marketing and you are fluent in another language and you live or wish to live near Leeds you may land a dream job!

So keep in touch with us and we will keep you updated on progress.

The New Year has started extremely well for Global Language Jobs as we have crept up from Page 9 on Google organic search to Page 2 which will help all our recruiters find more candidates and our candidates find more jobs and more quickly.

We aim to push onto Page 1 as quickly as possible and to expand the number of search keywords.

We will be sending out an email to candidates and recruiters in the next few days and we would really appreciate if you could send us any feedback of what additional facilities and information you would like on the site. One area we are keen to develop is an international business community on-line.

We have also recently launched new sites in most Western European countries. These are in the early stages but reflect our very European approach with the large number of European native language speakers in-house.

Have a great 2008 and if we can be of any help finding you a job abroad or please get in touch with the GLJ Team and rest assured we can speak over 12 languages so communication should not be a problem.