Most international organizations are bound by their statutes to advertise vacancies internationally. Tests are usually administered in several cities, and competition is very keen. In UN organizations, nationalist quotas do not apply to language services. The European Parliament requires all translators and interpreters to be nationals of one of its member countries. The Commission in Brussels will hire interpreters from nonmember countries only if the quality of service offered is superior to what is available within the European Community.
U.S. citizens must have a security clearance before they can be hired by the UN or the U.S. government.
Qualifications
Interpreters and translators must have a general knowledge of languages and their cultures in order to perform adequately. They must respect deadlines, eschew guesswork and not accept assignments beyond their subject-matter or language capability. They must be able to produce "authentic" renditions. For example, when U.S. representatives sign a SALT agreement with the Soviet Union, they must be certain that they are signing the same version in Russian. Interpreters should have clear voices without strong accents.
Interpreters and translators normally work into their mother tongue only, although some rank several "active" languages into which they interpret. The professional organizations have developed several rating systems; The American Association of Language Specialists (TAALS) system is the one most widely used in the U.S.:
A = principal active language(s) into which they can interpret and which they speak as a native.
B = other active language(s) into which they interpret.
B* = other active language(s) into which they interpret consecutively only.
C = language(s) from which they interpret regardless of difficulties of terminology or idiom.
The A, B and C ratings apply to both translators and interpreters, the B* to interpreters only.
A rating of A or B is not only determined by proficiency in producing written or spoken discourse but also by the passive knowledge of the C language from which candidates must translate. An interpreter or a translator with English A, French and Spanish C will therefore work from French and Spanish into English only. A B instead of a C in French would make this person far more versatile, since he or she could also perform work from Spanish into French and English into French.
Translators may work from just one language into the mother tongue, but usually they have at least two C languages. Employers tend to insist on an increasing number of combinations.
Obviously you cannot choose your mother tongue(s); A languages are a given. B languages are usually a combination of early learning, prolonged study, work abroad and, not infrequently, a multilingual family background. C languages, especially in the case of younger interpreters, were often learned in school. A person's ability to learn several languages well enough to use them professionally seems to be independent of educational systems and methods of language teaching.
Based on its experience teaching languages to Foreign Service personnel, the Foreign Service Institute at the Department of State has rated the world's languages according to difficulty of learning. The Romance (or Italic) and Germanic languages are deemed the most easily acquired by native speakers of English. (This ranking of German is not borne out by the authors' experience, however.) Second are the "regular" non-European languages, like Indonesian and Swahili. The third and largest groups are the languages unrelated to English: Finnish, Hindi, Russian, Thai, Lao, etc. The fourth are languages that are not only unrelated to English, but have unusual writing systems: Arabic, Korean, Chinese and Japanese. State Department personnel are paid according to both the difficulty of the language they must use and how proficient they become at it.
Combinations of English, French and Spanish are most frequently offered by language specialists, followed, at a considerable distance, by German and Portuguese. These common combinations are also the ones most often in demand. English and French are most frequently used for scientific purposes. Rare languages may at times be needed, even urgently, but their overall volume of use and the number of people specializing in them is much lower.
World events occasion special language needs. After the overthrow of the shah of Iran, in 1979, Farsi/English and Farsi/French interpreters were needed for the International Court of Justice in The Hague. The rise of OPEC in the 1970s increased the need for Arabic interpreters, and it was at this time that Arabic was added to the UN's working languages. Changes in U.S.-Soviet relations may increase the need for Russian specialists. Multinational corporations' language needs are dependent on business cycles. Currently, Japanese and Chinese are in growing demand.
U.S. government agencies, especially the CIA, the NSA and Department of State, are currently searching for people with Asian, African and Eastern European language capabilities; speakers of these languages are difficult to find in the U.S.
Training
In order to perform adequately, interpreters and translators must have a certain know-how, knowledge of the world, languages and cultures and integrity. The first generation of language specialists, who worked at the early League of Nations and UN meetings, were self-taught or employer taught. Their knowledge was due more to their multinational European background and upbringing than to scholastic effort. Training today has become more formalized because it is increasingly difficult to find competent language specialists.
An undergraduate degree is almost always required of translators and interpreters. This may be a degree in foreign languages, international relations, government or economics. Besides specific training in languages, potential translators or interpreters should have a basic understanding of mathematics, pure sciences, social sciences, history, business administration and economics. An undergraduate preparation in these fields is useful but often must be supplemented by other training in specific areas, such as law, finance or specialized scientific fields.
