The world is very different now for man, hope and power to a body of change.
[Music]
Hello and welcome to a new episode of 2.56 square meters, a podcast about doll matching.
I am Michaela Haller, Freiberufliche Konferenz Dollmatcherin for Englisch and Karlsruhe
and I am involved in this podcast with colleagues who know better about some topics than I do.
And today it is my dear colleague, Lotta Stenner, who will give you a few insights into her work as a dollmatcher in the EU.
Hello Lotta, welcome to the podcast, nice to have you here.
Hello Michaela, nice to have you here today.
Before we get into the topic, I would like to briefly talk about my hearing aids.
No, the podcast feed was not broken.
The last episode is actually more than three months ago.
Well, what should I say, a big project, several small ones and the desire to do something different in the work-free times
than talking about dollmatching or dollmatching led to you having to wait for this episode for so long.
And all of you who would like to listen to me have to be very strong now.
Because the distances between the episodes will also extend in the future.
The monthly frequency of the last two years was quite ambitious
and is for me as a one-woman show in this form simply no longer possible.
I recently wrote to a listener that my podcast is now coming out of the TravelSimTurbs,
the only podcast that comes from Germany.
And a bit more to go on, I would say.
The pressure is big, but I'll stick to it.
Now I don't want to let my guest wait any longer.
But above all, I would like to briefly introduce her to you.
Lotta, you are born and raised in Finland.
You have been living in Germany since 2006.
In the meantime, you are living in the nice city of Aachen.
You have made your MA in language, culture, translation in German.
And then you are a European Master's in Conference Interpreting
at the University of Turku.
And if I have read it correctly, you have been a freelance conference interpreter since 2009
or since 2010, also accredited conference interpreter
in the Finnish Cabinet at the EU institutions.
Yes, exactly.
You have found out everything correctly or said it correctly in your memory,
because it adds that we have known each other for a very long time.
Yes, since Germasheim.
Since Germasheim, when I came to Germasheim in 2006 for my bachelor's degree,
you also started there in the Master's.
And I would like to say at this point that you are one of the most important people
in your first, not always easy years in Germasheim.
Who studied there or maybe just studied there.
I have a lot of students there as listeners.
He knows, she knows how I mean it.
Now we have met both of us in our university memories,
but we want to talk about your professional daily as an EU interpreter.
And I am totally happy that you are taking the time today.
I must admit, my knowledge about the dual-match in the EU
restricts itself to a two-day excursion to Brussels during my master's studies.
And in my memory, we are there, especially in the large technical,
very comfortable cabins.
And a sitting in which it was very easy to discuss a certain formulation.
I think it was somehow in English about the question
whether it should or should or may now.
And I am sure that I will learn more today.
You have started quite quickly after your graduation in Germasheim
with the EMCI, with the European Masters of Conference Interpreting.
And there is a clear focus on the dual-match for the EU institutions.
Was it clear to you at the beginning of this study
that you would like to go to the EU?
Yes, that was actually clear.
I had just made my decision to go to Germasheim
and then went back to Dortmund for a short year.
But it was clear to me, also for private reasons,
that I would go back to Germany.
And it was clear to me that when I was in Germany
it was clear to me, when I was working as a freelancer in Germany,
that I also wanted to work for the EU institutions.
And this EMCI course is actually very specialised
in the institution, I would say, especially in the course in Durgo.
We also had, as doctors, doctors, mainly freelancers
and also staff interpreters from the institutions in Durgo.
And the intermediate exams that we had
and the final exams were both a pretty good preparation
for this accreditation test at the EU institutions.
And for me it was only two months
between the final exams of the EMCI course
and the accreditation test in Brussels,
which was a really good preparation.
I was, so to speak, in a mood.
Exactly, because the EMCI course is quite intense
and you get a little bit thrilled about the institution.
That's why I had these two months.
And then I prepared myself again intensively
for the accreditation test with this speech repository,
on which you can also talk relatively authentically,
dole match and then you have to work in the EU policy
or also the function of the EU institution,
because it is also a dole match test,
in all speech combinations that you want to offer.
Then there is an interview about EU topics
and the function of the institution.
For which languages did you actually do the test
directly after your study?
There I had to test English and German
both as C languages.
I had the final exams in Durga in the EMCI course.
I had German B and English and French C.
But I didn't want to do the test at the beginning
with this complete speech combination.
Yes, I wanted to start a little slower.
And then I added German as a return language
and French C later,
because then you can test new or existing languages at any time.
If you already have your foot in the door,
then that would probably be easier.
Otherwise, it would have been more important
if you had already offered all languages at the beginning
and I had let it test.
I don't think I would have done that.
But if you hadn't taken it,
would that automatically mean that you wouldn't have taken it?
Or was that also a kind of security for you?
No, no.
So then you would have taken me with the language combination
that I had understood.
That was at the Finnish cabinet at the time.
I'm always talking about the Finnish cabinet.
Yes, that's clear.
That there are certain differences to the other cabins.
That means that they also organize these tests,
so each day from one another,
the individual cabins load their candidates in
or is that organized somehow in the center?
So I think that the cabins do...
in each cabin it's a bit different.
So the criteria...
In the Finnish cabins, for example,
they also change depending on the demand.
In the Finnish cabins, I think,
you have to have a return language from the beginning.
And I think that in the larger cabins
you also have to have a certain number of languages.
I assumed that there would be at least three in the German cabins.
But I have to say,
I don't know myself very well in the German cabins.
Because the requirements are now in time.
So the Dolmetsdienstes work together already.
So the General Direction Skick
and the Parliament of the Dolmetsdienst.
Because, for example, when I had the accreditation test,
the jury was sitting there,
the Dolmetscher was responsible for both
the Parliament and the General Direction Skick.
The General Direction is responsible for the commission
and for the Council.
And the Parliament has its own Dolmetschdienst.
Yes, then the Council also has its own Dolmetschdienst.
And these three Dolmetschdienstes
recruit from a joint list.
So when there is an accreditation test,
then you come to this joint list of all three institutions.
And then you have an online calendar
in which you enter your availability.
Yes, I then wear one.
At these days, I would be available.
All three institutions are separated in the online calendar.
So I could say, I don't feel so ready yet
to work for a court office, for example.
Then I can say, OK, I'm not available for those,
or I'm available for all.
And then I get the offers in this web calendar.
And then I have to accept or reject it.
That's how the application process works.
Yes, I understand.
And how is it with the Court Office?
Now I'm curious.
I heard that from others, too.
They said, oh, the Court Office,
that's what all the experienced people do.
The old hares and hares,
who have already collected their experiences
in the other institutions.
Because that's even more complex.
Do you also work for the Court Office?
Or does that not apply to you at all?
Or how do you handle that?
Yes, so I worked for the Court Office twice so far.
Now actually last fall, the first time,
and now this spring again.
And that's already intense.
So I think it also depends on the language combination,
language combination,
whether you can work for the Court Office
or can work.
There you need, I think, a very good Frenchman.
Thank you.
He would be out already.
The special thing about the Court Office
is that you get a paid preparation day.
That means you arrive there on the eve of the preparation day
and then you go there at 9 o'clock on the preparation day.
Then you get the documents for the case
in which you then match a doll on the day.
So that's good, because it's already very complex.
So it's good that you have this preparation time.
Now it was like this for me, for example,
that, for the first time when I was at the Court Office,
the most important thing was that I was there.
The most important speeches that I had to prepare
came first at 17 o'clock on the preparation day.
So it was more a preparation.
Yes, exactly.
Yes, I thought that was a very, very good experience
and I would also like to work again for the Court Office.
It's a bit different from the character of the work.
Yes, it's intense.
It's more juristic, less political, I would say.
Exactly.
Let's take another short step back to the speeches you're doing.
You already said that you work in the Finnish office
and you started the test in English and German.
And then you added French and Finnish,
but also Finnish-German, that's the retours you're doing.
Was that a big step for you?
Because actually, in the EU, you always connect it
with the mother tongue principle.
That means you simply mix a lot of C-language
into the mother tongue.
When did you decide that you were getting ready there?
Was that a big step for you?
And how did it feel?
Well, in that sense, it wasn't a very big step,
where I always had German B during my studies
and always had retours.
And it was for me, when I did the accreditation test,
it was clear to me that I would do it at some point.
I think I was in the first four years or something.
Oh, I don't remember.
I forgot the time.
Exactly, I've been working for the institution for 12 years.
I think maybe it was the first four years
when I still didn't have a retour,
but then I did the test.
And I was also happy about it.
Especially when the Finnish Council President was there.
Of course, I got even more from the Finnish into German.
Yes, it is always a stress factor,
because many other cabins then hang on to my German
and to continue to do Dolmetschen is Slovenian or Greek,
because most of the other cabins don't have Finnish in the team.
And the subject of the language language principle,
yes, that's the rule,
but in our smaller languages it doesn't work,
because it doesn't have enough Dolmetschers
in the German or English or French cabins that would have Finnish.
Yes.
That could continue to Dolmetschen as a C language.
That's why we have to offer retours in the Finnish cabins.
But that's always the case.
For us it's normal and it's not so problematic.
For me, the challenge is that Finnish doesn't come so often.
I work mostly for the parliament.
There are 13 Finnish members.
Maybe they don't come so often,
or maybe they speak English,
and maybe it's just short contributions.
That means you never get a lot of routines there.
With the exception of the Finnish cabins,
I worked more in the cabins and also in the ministry council.
And then you had more opportunities to go to Germany
for a longer period of time because of the Finnish cabins.
The lack of routines, that's a problem for me.
If that's just a short contribution,
I'll just call to the word and say three sentences in my opinion
and then put myself back in.
And then you're 180.
Yes, I can imagine that.
It would be nice if there was more opportunities to do that.
And luckily, sometimes both of them work in the private sector.
It can be on a European business or something like that,
that the Finnish delegates then speak more or have a longer period of time.
And I'm always happy about that.
You have the feeling that you really had time to get into it.
How high is the amount of your work for the institution
and how much do you work on the free market?
I can imagine that Finnish is now outside of European business,
not a language that has such a classic conference language
that you find a lot on the free market.
Do you still have contracts there?
Or the EU is probably your main contractor, I assume.
Yes, exactly.
I would say I work maybe 80%.
For the EU institutions, sometimes a little bit different from year to year.
Maybe even 80% to 90% for the EU institutions.
And then on the private market, as you say, we European business leaders,
because in the other conferences they often say,
"Oh, yes, the Finns, they all speak English."
Often it is the same.
And it can also be that they find themselves saying,
"No, we do that in English."
Therefore, the demand for Finnish on the private market is not very high.
Therefore, it is already very good to have the state-of-the-art EU institution.
However, we are of course not very many Finnish Dolmetscher in Germany.
For example, in relation to the Dolmetscher conference, we are three Finnish Dolmetscher.
How many Dolmetschers do you have in the Finnish dressing room?
How big is your team?
First of all we are the staff of the Dolmetscher.
This is about 10 at the Parliament, I would say.
And also 10 at the Commission.
There are two at the Court.
Two staff of the Finnish Dolmetscher.
And then we are about 30 active freelancers.
They work for all institutions.
All in all, yes, good 50.
Have you ever thought about, when I may ask you,
or played with the idea, also as a fixed Dolmetscher,
as a staff interpreter, to apply at the EU?
Or are you very satisfied with your free calling status?
Of course, I thought about what I would do then,
if that would be an option.
But I would say, luckily, the question has not been asked yet.
Because in the end of 2009, I made my EMCI decision.
And since then, there is no place for Finnish as a fixed Dolmetscher.
In 2009, there was the last so-called "concure" for these places.
And since then, it is the case, if someone goes into a calm state
of the finished cabin, the place will not be replaced again.
So the institutions, at least now, as I said,
from the view of the finished cabin, they also have to save.
And I think at the moment it is rather the case,
that the Dolmetscher rather focus on the freelancers.
So there are also no restricted places there.
There are three categories.
There are the freelancers, then these so-called "tems",
so these restricted places, and then the employees.
And in the finished cabin, since I've been here,
since the 12 years, nothing has been written out anymore.
That's why the question has not been asked for me,
what actually, or rather what is easier for me,
because if I were to write out a position now,
maybe I would, I think, just, I would apply.
But if I would then exist,
and if I would eventually get a position,
then of course we would have to move.
There are a few other members, right?
Yes, exactly, now with our two children,
we are actually very happy here in Aachen
and have a firm friendly circle here.
And I am actually very happy at the moment
with this system that we have here,
that I then drive back to Brussels again and again.
And from Aachen it is only one hour.
And yes, that would be all different
if I had a firm position at some point.
Then I don't know what we should wish you,
that no position will be written out in the next ten years, maybe.
Yes, maybe, okay.
We'll press the thumb.
It looks good.
Okay, that's cool.
Yes, amazing.
But what will we actually do now, let's talk about money,
what will we actually do now?
We will pay professional employees at the institutions.
I suspect that the honoraries are determined
that this is probably not a secret at all.
You probably don't have to trade again every time.
Can you guide me through there?
How is that with travel costs, with honoraries,
hours and so on?
Well, the distribution is traded for all
through the international association
the conference hall match AIC.
So AIC has traded with the EU institutions.
And these are legislation that, as I said,
are equal to all Dolmets.
And also independent of the format,
whether I work in the ministry council
or in a chairman position in the European Parliament.
That's the same legislation.
And yes, there are two categories.
If you start, then you are in this beginner category.
The day setting is a bit lower.
Now I'm in the higher category for a long time.
That's why I don't have the height of the beginner category.
But if you work 250 days for the EU institution,
then you automatically enter the next category.
And yes, then it's no longer possible.
So there are only two categories.
And then it is so that in this higher category
you get about, that's now about,
about 550 euros per day, but that's net.
So that's net what you get.
And then the EU tax has been removed,
this community tax and a rental payment.
That's a bit of a feature in the institutions.
I think AIC then traded with the institutions.
That for every workday a share flows into a rental fund.
Then you can choose the rental fund yourself,
from such a fall.
And so you have to pay attention to that.
Because 550 netto is first of all a low-budget market.
But then it comes to that,
what you get as a rental payment for every day.
And of course, if you pay from the rental,
then you get the health insurance.
You get health insurance over the EU.
Because you only need a German health insurance.
So these health insurance only applies to the days
when I'm on the road for the EU.
So travel days and working days.
So only if I have a sick horse or an accident,
so accident insurance is also included,
then I have quite a few benefits.
And for travel days you also get a honora,
which is then a half-day fee.
Okay.
I think these explanations are very useful.
Because if you only listen to the rental payment,
then it doesn't come to that much.
But of course, it seems to be a honora with benefits.
Exactly.
And sometimes you have to think that it's netto.
I don't have that in my head now.
Because if you worked long enough for the EU,
then you just look at what is on the control.
And then you check it out.
And then you check out the netto benefits.
But yes, as I said, that is then brutto.
I have calculated it once.
Brutto comes at the same level,
what I would say would be a normal day-to-day level.
Then let's talk about how you also feel about the work for the EU.
So, is that a challenge for you?
If you've been working on this system for days
and you know that it's a challenge for you,
a parliament seat or a fraction seat or working here,
is it as usual for you as a business as usual?
Is it a nine-to-five job?
Or do you still prepare intensively every day?
Not every day, I would say,
because some things have already become routine.
For example, in the European Parliament,
the fraction seats, for example, that is quite routine.
And I know relatively well what to expect.
Of course, I always read the documents there.
They are available, sometimes they are not available in advance,
or only the daily order.
But then, for example, last week,
I worked in Luxembourg in the Minister's Council,
and that was the Minister's Council of Justice and Inner Affairs,
and I don't do that that often.
But then it requires a much more intensive preparation.
And that is also different from the format.
Yes, that was not a business as usual for me at all.
I work, I would say, almost 70-80% of the time
I work for the European Parliament.
As I said, very little.
Until then, for the Minister's Council,
from now on, for General Election Skik,
for then practical work groups,
council work groups, or yes, the Minister's Council.
And in Parliament, I know almost everything.
And there I know, OK, in the Plenarsitzung,
is that and that important?
And in the Fraktionssitzung, I can prepare like this and that.
Of course, there are always new topics,
and that makes the Plenarsitzung exciting,
because I know the different factions,
I know the opinions, so to speak,
what is expected of which factions.
But there are always new topics,
and in these topics, I have to work well.
Especially when it comes to legislation,
a new text, like now, for example,
in the last Plenarsitzung was this climate legislation,
this big package, fit for 55.
Yes, but there is not everything running as planned.
That is probably exciting,
when you sit there and think,
something else is happening here,
than I was supposed to do it.
Yes, that is what makes me so excited.
There are always something new,
and I think for me,
the work will never become so routine,
that it would be boring or something like that.
There are also, after 12 years,
you have to prepare,
and it is always exciting.
I think that with unusual vocabulary
or unusual topics,
I think there is a small gloss,
I don't know where I read it,
but it somehow went from the view of an EU member,
to the view of their experiences in the fishing excursion,
I think I reported,
and the desperate search for the name of a certain fish,
did you have such fishing excursions moments,
where you thought,
I have never heard of that.
Why is she talking now?
Yes, luckily I didn't have to do it so often,
in these working groups,
for example in the council,
where the topic of fishing is,
because I like to eat fish,
but otherwise...
That's not my topic,
that's what it sounds like.
But I had to work in such a council working group,
and it was about high-sea fishing,
and these are fish species,
which are not so common,
and then I was...
No, I was prepared in advance,
and friends of mine
gave me a fish finder,
it's actually a book with pictures,
and the name of fish in different languages,
and I noticed that these species of fish,
that you talked about,
are fish that live very deep in the sea,
and they are all incredibly ugly,
these fish,
and I am amused by that.
And they all have an incredibly complicated name.
And sometimes I also notice that in animals,
that there are birds,
that they have a lot of names,
or even plants,
they have a general name,
especially in English,
and then the Latin name is mixed,
so it's very complicated,
flora and fauna.
Yes, that's a big challenge for me,
because there's a kind of fish species,
five species, they all sound very similar,
but it's...
It's just based on the names,
probably.
Yes, if you look at these fish,
they are very important for some countries,
some member states,
and when you talk about it,
there's fish species and so on,
and numbers and quotas and so on,
that's really a challenge for me.
Do you have any favorite sitting formats,
or do there also formats where you say,
"Oh, not again, this or that,"
where you say,
"No, here I am in my element,
that's great, that's what I do the best."
You say,
"You work a lot for the parliament,
and I hear from your story that it's also fun for you
to work for the parliament."
Yes, so I can say,
fishing is not my thing,
but I think we have it now.
Yes, but I really like it in the European Parliament,
because I like to debate this political debate,
about Dolometsch.
In terms of change, it's nice to have a council work group
for Dolometsch,
because under circumstances,
you only write one text the whole day,
the whole day is supported,
and then you can get a little deeper into the topic.
In the parliament,
there's a meeting day, for example,
where there are a dozen topics on one day,
and that's sometimes very exhausting,
because you quickly switch from one topic to the next,
but that's of course also short-lived,
and I would say my favorite seat format,
or I would say topics that are human rights issues,
outside political issues and human rights issues.
And that's what the European Parliament deals with,
of course, a lot of people.
And I find that very interesting,
and that's also very current.
Sometimes you can read in the newspaper the next day,
and each topic was discussed in the European Parliament,
and that's what I find very exciting.
That's how it was.
Yes.
There hasn't been a series of episodes for almost two years,
in which the impact of the pandemic
on our work on the language came to light,
and that's why I have a question for you.
How has the pandemic affected your work in the EU?
Because on the Stolmetschen market,
is everything in-person again?
Were there any remotes or are there hybrid seats?
How is the situation there?
In the meantime, everything is back to normal.
But in March 2020, when it started,
I was pretty much like it was for me.
I was very lucky because I actually went to my parents' house.
The last plenar seat I worked in,
that would have been my last job anyway,
that was the plenar seat,
which was first laid out from Strasbourg to Brussels,
and then I was in Brussels,
and then the plenar seat was practically broken off,
and all the Dolmetscher were sent home,
because then it was said,
this is now too big a risk,
we're going to break it off now,
all of them are sent home.
It was for the first time for the freelancers,
there was no work there.
As I said, I was extremely lucky,
because I was in my parents' house anyway,
but for many colleagues and colleagues,
it was only a hard time,
because then the contracts were signed,
which the EU also had for the first time.
So the institutions had,
that these contracts were paid out,
but the EU institutions have,
in this association with the AIIC,
the rule is that you have a 60-day regulation,
so if there are more than 60 days in advance,
then the institutions can sponsor the institutions,
so without any restrictions for the freelancers,
and then from the end of May 2020,
the contracts were sponsored,
and that was a bit different here in the dressing room.
I think in the bigger dressing rooms,
German, French, English,
there was work again,
so I think there was the hard time,
maybe four to six months,
but I have to say,
I don't know the situation so well,
I know more about the Finnish dressing room,
but in the Finnish dressing room it was,
I would say, nine months,
so until the end of 2020 it was pretty hard,
and I also know some colleagues who said,
okay, freelancers now of course,
who said, okay,
I have to choose something else,
a different job,
one of them changed,
and I work in a company,
in a circle business,
which I find very exciting.
And another colleague started studying logistics,
and so on, but she also worked as a dolematcher.
There were stories like that,
but the institutions,
especially the European Parliament,
also tried to support the freelancers,
which is of course also of their own interest,
because they were free or freelancers at some point.
Especially in a smaller question.
Yes, if all of you are interested in logistics,
then you have more material.
Yes, exactly.
And that's why in the summer of 2020,
there was first a so-called
contract-based mitigating measure.
That was both from Skick as well as from Parliament,
for people who, in one of the previous three years,
at least 40 days worked for the institution,
you got three days of work paid out,
and then you worked later
when the institution normalized itself a bit.
And then in the fall of 2020,
there was also the so-called
Covid-19 Skills Maintenance Scheme.
That was only from the European Parliament.
And then you made an online lecture
or an online course on a certain topic.
So there was, for example,
Criminal Justice Essentials, one,
one was European Financial Regulation,
and then there was Privacy and Data Protection.
Then you made an online course like an online lecture,
and then you had an online test at the end,
when you understood it and made a small clause,
then you got three days of work paid out.
And that's how the European Parliament
tried to offer freelancers a little bit of work,
so that they don't orient themselves
in too large numbers, so to speak.
But as I said, there were also big differences
between the cabins, because the Parliament
only had the most important seats
and also in many seats
you could only offer the six largest languages at the same time.
Because you didn't have enough space,
because of course there was only one Dolmetscher per cabin,
which of course was also good,
and then you had to switch between
several seats technically.
And then the Dolmetscher sat in several seats,
but there weren't enough cabins for all languages.
And then in 2021 you started to build hubs,
so that you could also add remote Dolmetscher.
I think the first four were London,
Riga, Vilnius and Vienna.
And then this year there were even more.
Pratislava, Budapest, Ljubljana, Prague, Sofia and Zagreb.
And that was the only thing.
You tried to connect as many seats as possible
in the first Parliament buildings,
so that the Dolmetscher could sit in many seats.
And then you also set up mobile cabins
in the Parliament buildings.
And then you built up hubs.
And at the same time you also had the remote Dolmetscher.
So then the Freelancers had a unique school
in which you learned to operate these platforms.
Interaction is the platform that the Parliament uses.
And here I'm only talking about the Parliament.
The European Parliament did that.
And then as Freelancers you could apply.
You could say, "Okay, I would be ready to work from home."
Then you got this school.
And then you also got workday offers
from where you worked from home.
That's what it's called.
In the European Parliament it's called NCRSI,
Non-Colocated Remote Simultaneous Interpretation.
The main thing is that there's a good reference.
Yes, I think it's called Non-Colocated
because otherwise these hubs were where you worked.
So that's how it went for a long time.
And then I also worked from home for a few days.
It was a mix like that.
I was also in Brussels.
I worked from home once.
But for me it was a total of ten remote usage days for the Parliament.
But now it's like this.
Since yesterday, since June 13,
three Dolmetscher pro Kabine are allowed to work again.
So three Dolmetscher are allowed to work together again in the Kabine
in the European Parliament for the General Direction Skick.
It worked a bit earlier.
For example, in the Minister's Council last week
it was about the General Direction Skick.
We also sat there three pro Kabine.
Now it's like you would give up the remote Dolmetscher
if I understood that correctly.
I don't know if you keep the hubs with you.
Maybe I have to get it out of the drawer again
if hopefully not.
But if it's needed again.
Exactly, in any case, you have built up everything now
and you have collected experience.
You can use it again.
But as I said, now it's all normal again.
The authorities in the European Parliament
are allowed to participate in certain sessions.
But that's not decided yet.
Whether it will be kept as it is now.
Planner sessions are not allowed to participate in any remote sessions.
Partly the sound quality was very suboptimal.
But in certain session formats
it may be possible that remote sessions are allowed to continue.
Yes, exciting.
It's not as different as on the free market.
First of all, everything is gone.
Then remote and then hybrid again.
And now it's a lot of normal again.
What interests me now,
we will get to the end of our episode.
But in Finland, many people think
about the current news situation.
And just in the last few weeks,
Finland was very much in the news
than it was about the progress of Finland to NATO.
And I would be interested to know
if you also noticed that in your work.
So is that a lot of topics?
Did you have more meetings there?
Maybe that's why you went there?
Or did it not make you notice it that much?
It made itself noticeable.
In the sense that it is also in the European Parliament
that there were more topics and also the Finnish subordinates.
Maybe they have touched on more of the word
and have also thought about it.
And there were also more interests
from the other subordinates.
What this development is about.
But that I had more meetings now.
That was so far not the case.
I think it would be a bit different
if I had my living in Finland.
I think there the Freelancers,
colleagues, colleagues now had more,
more input.
And then also on the highest level.
Yes, for the Prime Minister
and for the Prime Minister.
I think there is a lot going on right now.
Only there are colleagues in Finland
who do that.
And it is interesting to see
how that continues to develop.
In my daily work you can see that through the topics
that are current.
But otherwise a number of seats are not yet.
You had something that interests me.
Before we get to my favorite category of anecdotes.
But maybe that is already an anecdote.
I'm sorry about that.
Is there a seat where you may notice
that there is no Finnish subordinate
or Finnish subordinate there?
Because you mean there are just 13
subordinates.
That is not a lot for me now.
Or is there always someone there who listens to you?
It is actually so that the subordinate
has to be booked extra.
Is it not automatic that there is the Finnish subordinate?
So the subordinates have to say,
yes, I would like to have the Finnish subordinate
for this issue or for this faction seat.
In that sense, there is always a need there.
But it can of course be, for example,
in a faction seat that the subordinate
just has a different seat,
a report-stated seat or something.
And then it can be that there is no one
actually sitting there.
But we, Dolmetschen,
actually always, because we don't know
whether in the hall, for example,
any employee of the subordinate sits
and then makes a note,
if he or the subordinate
can't be there by himself.
So that's in the faction seats.
And many of the other seats,
for example, all excursions seats
and all plenar seats,
they will be live, so to speak,
that's a live switch.
So they will be broadcast live
to the Internet, including Dolmetschen.
That belongs to this principle
of versatility and versatility
as a prerequisite for democracy,
that all citizens in the EU
have the right to follow this democratic process.
Yes, to follow it live.
Exactly, exactly.
And that's why, even if there are
specifically Finnish subordinates,
Dolmetschen would, as always,
continue to be a Dolmetsch for the Finnish population
and the Finnish EU citizens.
Yes, great.
Yes, great.
Then it is promised
and everyone is expected.
In the end, the rubric anecdote still comes.
So the question to you,
whether there is still something funny
or remarkable,
what happens to you as a Dolmetscher
at the EU, at the institutions.
We have already heard about sea fishing
and about many or not many subordinates,
but maybe you have something else to think about.
Yes, yes, maybe something funny,
but at the same time also a bit embarrassing.
Okay.
Maybe that's for, for example,
I don't know, you said
some of the Dolmetschen students,
maybe that's also somehow interesting to hear.
Yes, even in the Plenarsitzung
at the European Parliament,
you can do something embarrassing.
Absolutely.
Embarrassing is welcome.
Yes, I said,
I had also added German as a retort
to the EU institutions.
And then it is so that you also,
for example, in the Plenarsitzung
retort Dolmetschen,
there was a Finnish subordinate
who was in charge of the Plenarsitzung.
She was the president of that seat.
And this Finnish subordinate,
she is no longer in the European Parliament,
that is already a few years ago,
she once spoke Finnish,
once Swedish, once English.
And whenever she spoke Finnish,
then I was just responsible
for going to the Germans to Dolmetschen.
But then I had to change my channel quickly.
Of course, I always had to change
the German channel and then back.
Then I just talked to her
as President of Dolmetschen,
as she spoke Finnish.
And then I wanted to turn off my microphone.
But then it is sometimes like this,
that the German cabinet
then was already faster
than me, because the microphone clung to my channel.
So I was very stressed
because then you have to be very fast
with the channels and so on.
And then I actually wanted to turn off my microphone.
But then in that moment
I saw that the German cabinet
had already clung to my microphone.
So I thought in my head,
"Oh fuck".
Unfortunately, I said this "Oh fuck"
but also loudly.
And at the same time,
because I was actually there,
to turn off my microphone,
I turned on my microphone,
because the microphone was off,
because the German cabinet
had already clung to me.
And then I just said
very loudly "Oh fuck"
in the German channel.
And the German officials
who were there in the hall
threw themselves away.
And yes, that was very embarrassing.
I just wanted to disappear
for the first time.
I think so.
Out of the cabinet.
But then my colleagues
just said,
it was a welcome change.
I have to say,
thank you very much for this
very beautiful and open anecdote.
It's always very welcome.
I have to see if Apple Podcast
is going to be this episode
as explicit or something like that.
But explicit content.
But let's see,
we are at risk.
Thank you very much for that.
And above all,
thank you for being in the podcast today.
Thank you very much for being there.
I really enjoyed it.
It was really exciting,
that you made this first episode
with me after this long break.
That was fantastic.
As always, dear listeners,
I look forward to your feedback.
Be it a retweet, a comment,
a like or a very classic email.
The best email address
for that would be
[email protected].
Also,
throw a look at the show notes
where surely the one or the other
information is linked.
I thank you for your patience,
your interest, your praise
and your criticism.
I wish you a wonderful summer.
Keep your eyes and ears open
and see you next time.
[music]
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