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Charles trains interpreters
Rigorous program makes demands both in and out of classroom
For The Prague Post (April 15, 2004) Along with the 400 hours that Martin Kukal is required to spend in the classroom, he needs to squeeze in about 600 hours of listening to the radio, watching television, reading newspapers and surfing the Internet. And when all of that is out of the way, he works to expand his working vocabulary in both Czech and English. Kukal, 32, is a student enrolled in the European Masters in Conference Interpreting (EMCI) program at Charles University, a master's degree-level course of study for interpreters hoping to work for the European Union. Ivana Cenkova, coordinator of this rigorous program in Prague, says only half-jokingly that EMCI students are allowed to take a break and sleep at night. Missing classes, however, is another story: "No excuses -- only if you're dead," she says. Launched as a pilot project by the European Commission's Joint Interpreting and Conference Service and the European Parliament in 1997, the EMCI working group -- today comprising 15 European universities, including Charles -- set up a consortium in 2001. Now in its fifth year in Prague, EMCI trains the cream of the crop of the country's interpreters. Admission standards are high. About 50 people apply each year, but the maximum number of students the program will accept is 20 -- and it rarely accepts that many. This year, 10 students are enrolled in EMCI at Charles University; two years ago, there were three. "The Czech Republic is a small country and there aren't so many good candidates," Cenkova says. Languages offered in the program this year are English, Czech, French, German and Italian. The curriculum focuses on languages spoken within the European Union and accession countries, and individual course offerings depend on the university being able to find local professional interpreters. "There are many people who know the languages," Cenkova says. "But not [all can] be an interpreter." And with entry into the EU less than a month away, the Czech Republic has even more reason to be training its language masters. The EU translation service -- the world's largest such service -- will work with 20 languages as of May 1, when the EU expands to a total of 25 members and adds nine new languages. Because correspondence, legislation, publications and press releases all need to be translated into each EU member country's language, the number of translated pages is expected to increase from 1.5 million in 2003 to 2.06 million this year. This is the last year the program will be offered annually at Charles University. After the Czech Republic joins the EU, the university will offer the course every two years. Prospective students can have an undergraduate degree in any field. To be accepted into the program, they must pass both a written and an oral exam. In the 400 classroom hours, the program focuses on simultaneous and consecutive interpreting. But students are expected to do research outside class as well -- doing background reading; following issues on television, the Internet and radio; and preparing glossaries. The expectation is that the number of contact hours (group work hours and self-directed study) will total not less than 1,000 hours. Even with such strict demands and intensive training, the program does not guarantee that every student will receive a European Masters certificate -- a requirement for securing an EU interpreting job. Cenkova estimates that only 60 to 70 percent of the students pass, including one retake exam opportunity. Last year, seven of her 11 students passed -- six the first time and one during the retake. If the workload and failure rate don't deter aspiring interpreters from applying, the price tag might. The price of the program is 74,000 Kc ($2,740), which includes a 2,000 euro (66,000 Kc/$2,500) fee that fortunately has come in the form of scholarship money awarded by the EU. So far, all of the Czech students who applied for the program have been awarded the EU assistance. No one said that joining the EU, much less working for it, would be easy. However, as Cenkova says of her program, "It is progressive."
Mindy Kay Bricker can be reached at
features@praguepost.com
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