Given the fondness or chauvinism French speakers can have for their language, the news comes as a surprise: there is a shortage of interpreters capable of translating to French.

The shortage affects the Council of Europe, the European Union, and the United Nations.

In an effort to reverse this trend, the UN entered into an agreement this week with the two main translation schools in France, ESIT and ISIT. The UN’s aim is to have a steady stream of well-trained candidates for its recruitment exams.

These are the questions that puzzle me:

  • I’d think the foreign-language performance of native French speakers continues to improve: among 20-somethings, more French people are English-speaking or German-speaking or Spanish-speaking than among 40-somethings or 60-somethings. My anecdotal impression is that there are more of these people in France, and that their average performance level is climbing.
  • Preferences may be changing. Being an interpreter at an international organization may be thought less desirable today than it once was. Maybe other professional opportunities have developed that seem more desirable to those who would otherwise have become interpreters.
  • The path to becoming an interpreter at the UN, EU, or Council of Europe may be seen as overly burdensome. From remarks made by the UN, ISIT, and ESIT, preparation for the UN exam requires particular time and effort. Particularly if successful recruitment at an international organization is difficult for a candidate to ascertain, other professional opportunities may be preferable to candidates.