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Tom - Linguistic Administrator

With expertise in several European languages and experience in editing, terminology and linguistic guidance, Tom works at the Council’s Translation Service as a Linguistic Administrator. 

On top of my existing knowledge of French, Spanish and Portuguese, I’ve added Polish and Czech through interinstitutional language courses and now use them all in the course of my regular work. Dutch is next up!

Tom from Belgium and the UK

I’ve just reached 10 years as a linguistic administrator here at the English language unit in the General Secretariat of the Council (GSC) Translation Service (LING), and I’ve been very lucky during that time to be involved in a wide range of interesting tasks. 

In the English unit we’re something of a special case as we’re required to provide translation capacity from 21 of the other EU official languages (with the exception of Irish and Maltese). For me, this meant that on top of my existing knowledge of French, Spanish and Portuguese, I’ve added Polish and Czech through interinstitutional language courses and now use them all in the course of my regular work. Dutch is next up! 

Another core responsibility is editing English-language texts sent to us by drafters from across all GSC departments, as part of our service to help ensure the best quality original documents possible. LING has developed further support initiatives providing linguistic guidance to GSC colleagues to which I now contribute: ACED, a tool containing detailed assistance on how to achieve clear language in English drafting; and Wordsmith, a monthly article giving tips on tricky nuances in English and French. 

I’ve also worked extensively on terminology, creating and updating IATE entries in support of the translation process both within my unit and during secondments to LING’s terminology coordination sector. In my case, this has involved a specific focus on the justice and home affairs domain, where I’ve recently coordinated a team of colleagues monitoring files in the field of migration and asylum. 

All in all, it’s stimulating work that plays an important role in the political process. There are plenty of options for getting involved in different schemes where you can put your skills to good use and develop new ones. It’s fair to say that no two days are exactly alike!