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Language combinations From a practical point of view, what are the useful active and passive languages? There is no absolute, definitive answer to this question. The situation is constantly changing and very often the response will depend upon where the interpreter is based and what areas s/he chooses to work in. Some languages, while not being very sought after in international conferences, may be useful for visiting delegations or negotiations, either at government or corporate level. This general remark notwithstanding, certain patterns and trends can be discerned, both concerning language combinations and institutional and private markets. Active languages In Western Europe, English, French and German are much in demand in both the governmental and non-governmental sectors. In the European Union institutions, there are 11 official languages (the above three, plus Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Greek, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and Swedish), and some combinations of these 11 languages are particularly sought after. Other language combinations such as French and English into Spanish, Portuguese or Italian are of less interest, unless the interpreter can also offer a third, preferably Germanic, passive language. Looked at from a global viewpoint the languages for which there is substantial demand seem to be the following (shown in alphabetical order and not in order of decreasing importance): Arabic, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Russian and Spanish. Chinese is becoming increasingly important but only very few non-Chinese interpreters have it as a working language. The same is true of Japanese, a language very much in demand but only used as an active language by Japanese interpreters. To this should be added the fact that in quite a few countries (particularly those with emerging economies) a bilingual market has sprung up around the national language, for the main part in combination with English. Passive languages In a highly competitive market situation, a knowledge of a lesser-known language is likely to improve an interpreter's prospects of getting work. This is particularly true of the European institutions with regard to Portuguese, Greek, Dutch, and the Scandinavian languages. In the case of some conference languages, such as Arabic, Chinese and Japanese, interpreters working into that language also provide the "return" into, as a general rule, English or French ("return" means that the interpreter works not only into her/his active language but also back from that language into another from the same booth). They must therefore be able to work both ways. For that reason there is currently very little demand for these languages as purely passive languages. It need hardly be added that nowadays English is to all intents and purposes a must as a working language for any interpreter. At international congresses, whether organized by international institutions or other bodies, it is the means of expression used by a good many of the participants, either as a mother tongue or as a medium of expression. Recent trends concerning working languages It goes without saying that trends in the use of working languages are inevitably determined by political and economic developments in a continually changing world. By way of illustration, with the opening up of Central and Eastern Europe, the number of intergovernmental conferences and private congresses using the languages of that part of the world has risen. Both NATO and the OECD, for example, recruit interpreters with Russian and when organizations like the Council of Europe meet in one of the countries of Central Europe, a booth covering the language of that country is normally provided. The market for interpreting How large, in terms of interpretation "volume", are the different segments of the interpreting market? On the basis of what has already been said, it will be readily understood that it is again difficult to provide an exact and valid answer to this question that will not soon be outdated. The situation changes according to countries and markets. For instance, the UN system is currently in the throes of a fairly serious crisis; the European institutions have ever-changing needs; private or non-governmental markets in Europe are subject to the same vagaries as the economic system as a whole. These general points should be borne in mind when reading the following pages. Some indication of the present situation is set out below, the languages being shown in alphabetical order and not in order of importance - which would be difficult to establish anyway, particularly if attempting to discriminate between active and passive use of any given language.
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