Three languages added to the ‘Tower of Babel’

January not only signalled the inclusion of an additional two countries into the EU but three new official languages also. Romanian, Bulgarian and Irish have driven the number of official languages up to 23. Preparations have been under way for the January start for many months.

Interpretation services in Romanian and Bulgarian will employ around 50 interpreters across the EU institutions for each language. It is, however, expected that the first few years will see a shortage of interpreters from the two countries.

The European Commission has also been working with two universities in each country to prepare for accession and there has been a "high out-put and high success rate" from this co-operation, according to one official.

Similarly for translation the Commission has been working since last year to get the service ready with 40 translators in each language.

All official texts produced by the EU will also be translated into both languages with proof-readers working in the Official Publications Office for the past year and a half to prepare for the January launch.

Bulgaria will also bring the Cyrillic alphabet into the EU official text, the third after the Latin and Greek alphabets. The Commission’s translation services say changes brought about when Greek became an official language in 1981 mean computers and keyboards can be adjusted to the new script.

Irish has presented more of a challenge for the institutions. A lack of properly qualified professionals has created difficulties in attracting people to work in the services. The Irish government was granted a derogation in 2005 for five years and only laws adopted jointly by the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers under co-decision will be translated into Irish. Correspondence from the public in Irish will also be replied to in the language. The Commission has so far employed five translators to carry out the work while the Official Publications Office has two proof-readers able to prepare the official journal and the office’s website with Irish content.

Interpretation services will be far from complete from January with Irish only allowed to be spoken in Commission and Council meetings when requested by the Irish government. The Parliament will provide Irish interpretation during daytime plenary sessions using six freelance interpreters, with one staff member currently undergoing a course in Irish interpretation. Across the institutions, inter-pretation will be available from Irish but not into Irish. Commission and Council services expect requests for Irish interpretation during a maximum of 50 days a year, with one official saying "we will have a great deal of difficulty in doing even that". Four members of staff at the Commission and four freelance interpreters are undergoing courses to help brush up on their Irish. With interpretation services also stretched at the Irish parliament, a request from the Commission for help with its services could not be met.

A course set up at the University of Westminster in London in Irish interpretation has begun training candidates but ultimately how the service proceeds at EU level over the coming years will be determined by the commitment of the government authorities. "We have had the same problem with Maltese and two and a half years later we still don’t have enough interpreters. It is often down to the number of the population but also the courses that are set up to train people," said one parliamentary official.

Another issue with Irish is establishing appropriate words for EU jargon and phrases which do not readily exist. A similar problem existed for the Baltic states which for years conducted their diplomacy in Russian - and the process is still continuing. "We are now on the seventh version of the word for a ‘regulation’ in Latvian," said one official.

January not only signalled the inclusion of an additional two countries into the EU but three new official languages also. Romanian, Bulgarian and Irish have driven the number of official languages up to 23. Preparations have been under way for the January start for many months.

• Primary Source