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Matthew Vella
The head of communications for the DG Interpretation (SCIC) Ian Andersen, has told MaltaToday that Maltese, the only Semitic language in the entire European family of languages, remains “a special case” because the decision for it to become an official language was taken “at a much later stage in the accession process”.
The statement confirms speculation that Malta’s demand for official EU status for the Maltese language, despite the inability of the Maltese government to provide qualified interpreters and translators, could have been a cynical, last-minute effort to harness in more supporters for the EU cause back in late 2002.
 Maltese remains destined to be the runt of the EU’s linguistic litter for much longer despite its official status, with only “a dozen” students attending a postgraduate training degree at the University of Westminster in London. The first batch of graduates will also be expected to train candidates at the University of Malta.
However, current estimates show that the interpretation service of the Maltese language is bound to remain understaffed for years to come unless a major influx of trainee interpreters can send the EU’s staff number up from eight to eighty interpreters.
“Given the very limited international use of the language up until then, the very small number of experienced interpreters and the absence of any established training capacity, Maltese constitutes a special case,” Andersen told MaltaToday.
“This is reflected in the decision by the Council of Ministers, at the request of the Maltese authorities, to suspend the full ‘official’ status of the Maltese language for three years following enlargement.”
Falling short of gearing up on the translation effort, Malta’s status as an official EU language took an immediate step backwards with a request by the Maltese government for a three-year derogation on having to translate all EU legislation and European Court of Justice judgements, into Maltese. The derogation was ironically issued on accession day, 1 May 2004.
In December 2006, the Council of Ministers will review Malta’s situation to determine whether to extend the transitional period for another year.
The situation contrasts drastically with that of three candidate countries for EU accession: currently, 55 interpreters from the EU15 Member States are following courses in Bulgarian, Romanian and Turkish.
Andersen also confirmed that the SCIC has been training interpreter trainers from Bulgaria and Romania since the early 1990s. Since 2002, more structured assistance was offered to the universities of the two candidates. In November 2004, the SCIC also started co-operation with Croatia along similar lines.
Andersen said Maltese poses “a particular problem” because the competition for Maltese interpreters in November 2003 yielded no successful candidates.
However, the Maltese language still falls behind in its staffing levels, requiring 80 interpreters every day to be fully serviced. Only eight freelance interpreters are available to provide interpretation into English, French, Spanish and Italian. No direct interpretation from other languages into Maltese is currently available.
According to Andersen, interpretation for Maltese is provided “on an occasional basis, usually at ministerial meetings, and in line with the particular priorities expressed by the Maltese Permanent Representation in Brussels.”
The SCIC is working with the European Parliament and the Maltese authorities to set up a fast-track training programme for Maltese language interpreters. The EU is providing all financial and technical support with no direct contribution from Malta save that from its annual contribution to the community budget.
The first graduates will be instantly drafted to train budding interpreters for a postgraduate course organised with EU support at the University of Malta, starting in autumn 2005. Anderson said it is Malta’s responsibility to train interpreters.
At present, the most represented new language is Hungarian with a total of 88 interpreters, taking staff, temps and freelances together. For the other new languages, with the exception of Maltese, between 48 and 86 interpreters are available per language.
The total annual cost of DG Interpretation in 2004, spread over the budgets of the bodies for which it provides interpreters, was EUR 105million, or EUR 0.23 per citizen of the enlarged Union.
With an average of 40 interpreters per new language per day, the total cost of interpretation may reach EUR 238 million in 2007-2010, equivalent to EUR 0.50 per citizen every year for the EU’s entire interpretation services.
matthew@newsworksltd.com
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