T&I student Chiara Salce at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France

Second-year Translation & Interpretation student, Chiara Salce, spent a week of her summer working at the Summer Part Session of the Parliamentary Assembly at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France. She worked as the liaison interpreter of the President of the European People’s Party, an Italian MP, and interpreted for him at meetings and dinners during the week of the assembly. The experience was very interesting to her, as she had the chance to interpret at different meetings on different subjects, from human rights to Italian politics.

Chiara learned that interpreting during dinners may have been easier in terms of terminology, but were often more stressful because the interpretation happened in front of the other MPs and guests. Her most challenging moment was when she had to use her “C” (third) language, Russian, to do whispered interpreting into English at a meeting with human rights activists. Nonetheless, all the parties involved were very kind to her and her interpretation efforts were successful in the end. The experience was particularly rewarding because when she wasn’t working, she could listen in on various meetings at the hemicycle and hear the “real” interpreters at work.