In Vilnius to discuss translation and interpretation

In the capital of the country with the EU Presidency an international conference on September 28^th and 29^th with a theme organized by the European Federation of National Institutions for Language

On September 28 and 29 the international conference Translation and Interpretation in Europe will be held in Vilnius at the Lithuanian Language Institute, organized by the Institute for the Lithuanian Language, the State Commission for the Lithuanian Language and the European Federation of National Institutions for Language (EFNIL).

There are linguistic institutions in all the member states of the European Union. EFNIL, founded 10 years ago in Stockholm on October 14, 2003 by representatives of some European institutes among which from Italy the Crusca Academy and the Works of the Italian Dictionary Institute of the National Council of Research – both with headquarters in Florence, offering 37 institutions from 30 European countries to participate in a forum in which they will gather, debate and publish information on their activities on the use of language and on the language policy within the European Union.

The 11th EFNIL Conference, which will take place in Vilnius this year, represents an event of particular importance not only for the theme taken on (translation and interpretation) but also because in this second ½ of 2013 Lithuania has the Presidency of the European Union. On the occasion of the European Day of Languages the European Commission organized the Conference of Unity in Diversity: languages for mobility, jobs and active citizenship on September 25^th and 26^th, immediately prior to the EFNIL Conference.

Since its inception, the European Union has always been geared to multilingualism. The rule formulated by the first six member states (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and The Netherlands), which established as official languages, the national languages of the member states, continues to be valid even today for the 27 member states of the European Union and their 23 official languages. Since it is not possible to master all these languages simultaneously, the institutes of the EU maintain extensive interpreting and translating services to ensure communication among their representatives and those of the member states.

L’Efnil, la rete delle istituzioni linguistiche di tutti gli Stati dell’Unione Europea, promuove la conservazione e lo sviluppo della diversità linguistica europea in quanto fondamento della diversità culturale e linguistica del continente. Le attività di traduzione e interpretazione, costituiscono quindi due settori di particolare interesse per l’Efnil. Per questo al Convegno Translation and Interpretation in Europe sono state invitati a parlare dei compiti, delle pratiche e delle esperienze dei Servizi di Traduzione e di Interpretazione i rappresentanti della Commissione Europea e del Parlamento Europeo, tra i quali Marco Benedetti, Direttore Generale della Direzione dell’Interpretazione della Commissione Europea, e numerosi altri esperti internazionali. L’incontro includerà anche una tavola rotonda dal titolo The importance of translation and interpretation for the national language(s) in Europe.

The Crusca Academy has always played an active role in promoting multilingualism, even before the formal establishment of EFNIL. In 2011 in fact they hosted a conference in their headquarters in Florence that led to adopting the “Recommendations of Mannheim and Florence for the official languages of Europe,” the document at the heart of establishing EFNIL in 2003. In Vilnius, the Crusca Academy will be represented by Cecilia Robustelli, member of the same EFNIL Executive Committee, who will preside the afternoon session of the conference on September 28^th.

Perla Resssese