Photo journal: Breaking down the EU language barrier

In one year's time, we are due to move to the Berlaymont building where we will have more space. This goes to show the importance of architecture in our business!

We have 450 full-time interpreters, but some 700 people - staff and freelance - work here on any given day.

It can take one to two years to train a new interpreter to EU standards. This means there are not many interpreters from the new countries in Brussels yet.

I am coming to the end of my career so I will not be learning a language of a new member state, but younger interpreters are being encouraged to do so.