Multilingualism and EU Law
Irene is currently undertaking a PhD at the European Institute University in Florence, focusing on multilingualism and law within the EU institutions. She completed a translation traineeship at the Council of the EU and has kindly agreed to talk to us about her research topic.
Irene, thank you for taking the time to answer our questions. Before we begin, could you tell us a little bit about yourself and your background?
Thank you for the interview, I feel like a celebrity now! Joking aside, I was born in a little city in Galicia, Spain, not very cosmopolitan but at least bilingual (Spanish and Galician, our regional language). I was fascinated by the different languages and cultures of the world from a young age, so when I finished secondary school and the moment to make life choices arrived, I decided that I would study something that would allow me to travel and live abroad. I ended up studying Law because I wanted to become a diplomat or to work for an international organization one day.
What made you decide to start a PhD program after obtaining your degree in Law? Why did you choose Florence specifically?
I was lucky enough to enjoy studying the field that I had chosen for my degree, and I was good at it as well. As a result, pursuing my studies was just a natural course of action. I specialized in studying EU law, for which there are programs in most Law faculties in Europe. However, I knew I wanted to go to Florence, both for personal and for professional reasons. Personally, I was in love with Italy and with Florence in particular, because of its breath-taking beauty. Professionally, the European University Institute that is located there offers a top-quality program for social sciences and hosts scholars from all over the world. In conclusion, the Institute’s stimulating international environment, together with its stunning location, got me from the very beginning.
What is the typical day of a PhD student like, if there is such a thing as a typical day? Do you find it difficult to stay on top of everything without having the sort of structure BA or MA students have during their studies?
I don’t know if I am the typical PhD student. I have very diverse interests and what I like most about the PhD is that it allows me to cultivate them more than any “normal” job would. In that sense, I am as free to organise my own time as I was as an undergraduate student, or even more so. This of course makes it difficult to stay motivated and focus on my thesis sometimes, therefore the support of fellow researchers is extremely helpful. It is also good to have a routine. I like to start my day by doing some sport, then sit down for 6-8 hours to work on my research, finishing with some other extracurricular or social activity in the evening. In my opinion, it is important to be constant and methodical, but also to grant your brain the time to reflect before writing. After all, the goal of a PhD is the production of new knowledge, with by far more intellectual freedom and less guidance than in previous levels of education. As such, discipline and motivation become paramount, you have to build your own plan and give yourself a series of concrete steps, otherwise it is easy to be overwhelmed by the immensity of the task in a time frame of several years.
Could you tell us more about your research topic? What are you currently investigating and why do you believe this topic should be explored?
My research topic is multilingualism in EU law. I study how EU law is produced in 24 different languages at the same time and how the interpretation problems that the coexistence of such a great number of language versions of a single piece of legislation poses may be solved. Most recently, I completed an internship at the Council of the EU in Brussels in order to acquire more data on the use of languages (through translation and legal-linguistic revision, mainly) throughout the ordinary legislative procedure. The EU is the body with the greatest number of official languages in the world, all of which are equally authentic for the legislation. This constitutes a fascinating and unique object of study, where great complexity must be unravelled.
Where does Law overlap with the study of languages? Where do you think the link between these two disciplines lies?
As many famous legal theorists have said for some time now, language is the vehicle of expression of the law, and its open-ended nature engenders all sorts of problems of interpretation. Law must be interpreted in order to be applied, but this is not always an immediate and straightforward process, especially when the text to be interpreted is written in 24 different languages. Multilingual legal text production and interpretation is the link between law and language that lies at the core of my research, but there are many other possibilities. The overlap between law and language, traditionally neglected both by lawyers and by linguists, is being more and more studied, although there are many uncertainties about this “new field”, even regarding its very name: “forensic linguistics”, “jurilinguistics”, “language and law” or “law and language”? From text mining for the scholar analysis of the use of legal terms, arguments or expressions; to corpus linguistics for the purposes of judicial interpretation of the law; through legal translation and the compilation of comparative dictionaries of legal terms… The possibilities are there to be explored.
As part of your PhD program, you completed a translation traineeship at the General Secretariat of the Council of the EU. What were your expectations before the traineeship? Why did you think this experience would be beneficial for your research?
To be honest, I had no particular expectations of the traineeship, except for the fact that it would give me an inside perspective into the practice of the EU institutions regarding language management for legislative purposes. This expectation was generously met and the whole experience was excellent in all its aspects. Not only did I acquire plenty of data on the day-to-day management of the bearing of languages in the legislative procedure, but I also learnt about the methods for the translation of legislation and for its legal-linguistic revision. All this shed light on a complex subject that is (largely) regulated by unwritten practice to a great extent.
Was this experience useful, both for you professionally, and for your PhD? What were the main aspects that you found interesting about the translation process?
It was extremely useful. I now have a better understanding of the processes underlying the production of multilingual legislation. As part of the translation service, I learnt how to use EU translation memories and terminology databases, and the use that was made of them was one of the most interesting aspects for me. This is because translators there don’t necessarily have a legal background and the choice of words in the target language is done based on their use in previous texts and their definition in terminology databases. Sometimes brand new terms appear and a lot of research has to be done in order to get the precise meaning right AND to decide how to render that meaning in a language that had no words for that concept until that moment. The work was done with great professionalism and, for me, it was so much fun as well!
In the broader context of multiculturalism and multilingualism, what do you think about the prevalence of English as a lingua franca, both in Europe as a whole and within the EU institutions? Do you think that the situation might change post-Brexit?
The topic of English as a lingua franca within the EU institutions is partially related to my research. In that regard, I try to be as objective as possible: there are arguments both for and against. This can be applied to Europe in general and to the world. A lingua franca facilitates communication, but it also creates a situation of inequality where its native speakers have a comparative advantage. As for the aftermath of Brexit, there is no doubt that English will remain an official language of the EU, but a big debate has been triggered (or better, fuelled) about the role of English for internal communication in the institutions. Some advocate for the return of French, others for a greater variety of languages to be used every day. Trying to be objective again, the fact is that English is the language that the vast majority of the new generations of EU officials have in common and that interpretation and translation for internal communication purposes are costly, and the objective is to reduce costs. A different issue is communication with the public, which does need to be done according to the official policy of multilingualism. Therefore, my personal opinion is that this tendency won’t be reversed in the near future for policy-making, but greater effort should be put in disseminating information about the EU in all its official languages.
After your PhD, what are your plans career-wise?
I am not sure yet, maybe academia if I find an interesting opportunity to pursue my research, maybe the institutions that I am studying, or maybe something different. We will see what future brings.
And finally, what is your favourite untranslatable word in either of the languages you speak?
I consider myself a mild linguistic relativist, so I take untranslatables with a pinch of salt. They seem to be a trendy topic recently, with many mainstream articles about them, some of which include examples that I wouldn’t call untranslatable. Personally, I have often dreamt of a language made of my favourite words from each of my languages, which have memories and connotations attached to them that cannot be translated. I use untranslated words mostly for endearing names and food in my mother tongues, which I guess make these categories the closest to my heart.
Thank you, Irene, for your answers and your time. If you want to know more about Irene, take a look at her LinkedIn profile.
