Linguistic Ability: Translation into the Target Language
Linguistic ability - translation into the target language (language 1) - is the core of the EPSO translator competition. It tests whether you can transfer meaning from a source text, typically in English, French or German, into your target language accurately and idiomatically, within a time limit and in the register of EU institutional writing. Marks reward fidelity to the source and natural target-language expression; they are lost for omissions, additions, calques and register slips.
Core rules
- Translate propositions, not words: preserve who did what to whom, modality (may, must, should), tense and aspect, negation and scope.
- Apply the target language's grammar, collocation and punctuation; use the EU Interinstitutional Style Guide for institutional names, titles and typography.
- Keep terminology consistent. If 'stakeholder' becomes 'partie prenante' in the first paragraph, do not switch to 'acteur concerné' later without reason.
- Preserve cohesion: connectors, pronoun reference and sentence emphasis. Recast a sentence when a literal structure is unidiomatic, but do not reorder the argument without cause.
- Match register: EU texts combine legal precision with political nuance. Avoid slang, and avoid archaic phrasing that the source does not have.
Worked example
Source: 'The Commission will table a proposal by the end of the quarter.' Target (French): « La Commission présentera une proposition d'ici la fin du trimestre. » Reasoning: 'table' here is not 'tabler'; the institutional collocation is 'présenter' or 'soumettre'. 'By the end of' is 'd'ici la fin', not 'avant la fin', which can imply earlier. The future tense and singular 'proposal' are retained. A literal 'tabler une proposition' is a false friend and would cost marks.
Traps that cost marks
- False friends: 'eventually' is not 'éventuellement'; 'actually' is not 'actuellement'; 'control' is not always 'contrôle'.
- Source-language syntax transplanted into the target, producing anglicisms, overlong French sentences or split constructions in German.
- Dropping a negation or flattening a modal ('may' rendered as 'will').
- Translating an institution's official name instead of using its fixed equivalent, or varying acronyms.
- Converting numbers, dates or currencies when the source already uses the target convention.