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Matthew Vella
The European Union says multilingualism is at the core of European integration. But for Malta, polyglottism is the least important aspect of its European adventure. Two years since its accession, Malta is still without a workable pool of interpreters, has the least number of translators, and a derogation ironically entered into force on accession day – at the request of the Maltese authorities – does not require the translation of all legislative acts in Maltese in the EU Official Journal.
At this rate, Maltese is the cheapest, financially speaking, language on the European block. A report by the European Commission this week said costs for translation for all the EU’s institutions have risen dramatically since Malta and the other new member states joined in 2004 – by EUR259 million (Lm111 million) per year, from EUR541 million (Lm233 million).
Malta still lags behind in the translation and interpretation fields. It has the smallest team of translators, 30, and the Commission needs 65 translators for each new language. Because of its derogation from the statutory requirement that all EU law must be published in each language, Malta also churned out the least number of translated pages. While the other nine countries each produced 52,700 pages, Malta produced 33,500 – but at a rate of 1,116 pages per translator, that is surely no mean feat.
Malta also lacks a workable pool of interpreters, and is coping with a handful of freelance interpreters: every language needs 80 interpreters daily, and Poland is the country with the greatest pool, 18, out of the new member states. Total interpretation costs for the Commission, the European Parliament and the European Court of Justice last year tallied EUR176 million (Lm75 million).
For Europe, which struggles constantly with its culture war on European identity, multilingualism is necessary for EU policies to be understood if they are to be applied correctly. That means everyone, even the uninterested Maltese whose second language is English, is entitled to communicate in their mother tongue.
The forthcoming EU languages – Bulgarian, Romanian, Croatian, and Turkish – already have task forces to coordinate the translation of the languages. There are 27 fully proficient translators in these languages, and 79 more have started training. Like Malta, Irish, which was granted official status in June 2005, has a five-year derogation from having to translate all act in the language.
Malta’s translation effort has however been laced with problems. In July 2003, the draft EU Constitution was found to be replete with howlers, the work of a young lawyer who authored the infamous “igsma tal-pariri” as the literal translation of “advisory bodies”.
The University of Malta today has a postgraduate diploma, but students have to pay Lm500 for the course because it is held in the evening. Many graduates also refuse to leave the island, despite the handsome remuneration.
There is however a silver lining. An EUR160,000 project financed by the EU will see all Brusselspeak translated into Maltese through the creation of a big glossary in Maltese. So at least, the EU pumps money for the Maltese to hammer out the words for everything for laws on asbestos to zinc levels in water. There will be a word for everything, even for those advisory bodies.
mvella@mediatoday.com.mt
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