English booth for the ESF 2006

1. Selection

a. information

There will be 25 rooms with simultaneous interpretation

Numbers of interpreters per language:

EL-Greek 88
EN-English 88
FR-French 36
TR-Turkish 36
IT-Italian 26
DE-German 26
ES-Spanish 26
Albanian 14
Bulgarian 14
Czech 14
Slovenian 14
HU-Magyar 14
PL-Polish 14
Kurdish 14
Croatian 14
Serbian 14
Macedonian 14
Romanian 14
RU-Russian 14
AR-Arabic 10
PT-Portuguese 6
Catala 6
EU-Basque 6

Total of interpreters = 522

b. criteria for selection

Therefore, Babels-uk proceeds to the selection of the EN booth according to the following criteria:

Professionals and Experienced Interpreters

As the reliance on the English booth will be very important in Athens, Babels-uk has decided to give priority to the quality of interpretation by selecting mainly professionals and experienced interpreters.

Occasional and 1st experience Interpreters

As the inclusion of 1st experience and occasional interpreters is politically important, we have also pre-selected a small number of beginners whose linguistic combination included rare languages (Eastern languages, Greek, Turkish, Arabic, etc.). These volunteers will join the project after self-assessing their skills with the sit-prep tool. The Sit-prep is a DVD with recordings of speeches from past forums, and with instructions on Simultaneous Interpretation which allow beginners to make sure that they feel they can make it or not for the ESF.

Broad combination of languages

As the linguistic needs of the ESF are known very late (the programme of the event is often finalised few weeks before the ESF) it is very difficult to do an accurate selection. For this reason, Babels-uk has decided to select mainly interpreters who have a large number of working languages in order to respond to a diversity of linguistic needs we can’t anticipate.

Interpreters based in Europe

For budget reasons and given the large pool of english native interpreters based in Europe Babels-uk has decided not to select interpreters outside Europe.

Stages of the selection process

(note that stages are cyclical as Babels-uk will select interpreters by round of 30 interpreters approximately)

Confirmation

Babels-uk will send an email to the interpreters short-listed according to the criteria mentioned above.

Travel arrangement

Once confirmed, you just have to wait for Babels-el volunteers, Lina Filopoulou, to contact you. They will assist you in arranging your travel to Athens. Note that any ticket brought without liaising with Babels-el runs the risk of not being reimbursed, so wait for them to contact you before you buy any ticket. However, to save time, it would be very helpful if you could start looking for the cheapest solution to get to Athens.

Those interpreters who come from Western European countries (UK, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Austria etc.) will have to book and pay for their tickets. When they come to Athens, they will be reimbursed for their expenses. This is to allow interpreters and coordinators who come from Eastern European countries (Czech Republic, Romania, Russia, Turkey, Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia, Albania, Bulgaria etc.) not to pay in advance for their tickets. As soon as they are confirmed, Lina will contact them, she will book a pre-paid ticket and will send it to them electronically with precise instructions. All interpreters and coordinators who travel to Athens should keep the COUPON, RECEIPT and should also make a PHOTOCOPY of their ticket.

2. Accommodation

All interpreters and coordinators will stay at houses or at low cost hotels booked by the ESF Organizing Committee. Both interpreters and coordinators will be offered free accommodation. We urge participants to let babels-el know for any particularities on their part concerning allergies or any other health issues. Participants will be sent emails about their lodging and instructions how to get there in April. The coordinators responsible for accommodation are Dimitris E. and Panayotis P. You can contact them by sending an email at babels-el@babels.org

3. Meals during the ESF

The Organizing Committee of the 4th ESF reassured us that all interpreters and coordinators will be given coupons for the 4 days of the Forum. They will be offered two meals a day but no drinks.

4. Programme and booth planning

As you might already know if you already participated in the ESF, the programme is always finalised few weeks before the ESF which make Booth planning very tough to Babels. For this reason, you might be given your schedule when you arrive in Athens. We know that this is not ideal as interpretation requires preparation. We will do our best to give you your schedule as soon as it is ready.

However, we have already lobbied speakers and organisations taking part in the ESF for them to provide Babels advance information on the seminar and on their speech. As in London, a team of volunteers will be set up in Athens in order to receive and process this information and to attach it to your schedule.

Babels-uk@babels.org