Fruitful exchanges at the ninth Translation Contact Network meeting

banner TCN with the Centre's logo
On 6 June 2024, the Translation Centre hosted the ninth Translation Contact Network (TCN) meeting at its premises in Luxembourg, bringing together several participants from various EU entities and representatives from the Translation Centre. This annual event serves as a platform for information exchange and experience sharing between the Translation Centre and its clients, with the aim of fostering mutual understanding, discussing current and future needs, optimising working methods and searching for best practices and synergies.

For the first time since the pandemic, the Translation Centre hosted the TCN on-site at its premises in Luxembourg, facilitating face-to-face exchanges between participants from various EU entities and the Centre’s representatives. The TCN operates through an annual plenary meeting convened by the Centre in autumn and ongoing communication via email throughout the year, an approach that ensures continuous engagement and support.

This annual event is designed to connect, inform and inspire our clients, helping them to understand how to best make use of our language services to meet their specific needs. The TCN discussions create a space for experts from the Translation Centre to communicate with clients, helping them to better understand how we operate and how to make optimal use of our services.

This year, the TCN meeting covered a wide range of topics, including the presentation of innovations in tools and workflows for handling translation requests, testing the Client Portal functionalities, clarifying questions and providing guidance on the annual planning of translation work; best practices on working methods; overviews of relevant quality feedback received during the year and measures taken; information on new service needs; discussions on the report on client survey outcomes; and informing attendees of Management Board decisions of relevance to clients. The following presentations were on the agenda:

  • The Centre’s Business Development Strategy (CdT, Business Development Team);
  • AI and Translation (CdT, Advanced Language Solutions Section);
  • The journey of a translation request: an example of an end-to-end process (CdT, Workflow Management Section);
  • Translating into the languages of asylum-seekers – EUAA experience (European Union Asylum Agency – EUAA);
  • Workflow tips and tricks – get the most out of the CdT’s services (CdT, Workflow Management Section);
  • The IATE search widget for EU bodies (IATE Support and Development Team);
  • IATE Terminology Projects Module – a tool for subject-field experts (CdT, Central Terminology Coordination Team);
  • Terminology footprint – why it matters (Croatian terminology coordinator).

Each presentation was followed by a round of questions and answers, which gave rise to lively exchanges between participants and the Centre’s representatives.

Overall, the ninth TCN meeting led to fruitful dialogue and collaboration, and the face-to-face format allowed for more dynamic interaction, sparking enriching and productive exchanges among the Centre and its clients. We thank all the colleagues who attended the conference, trusting they gained valuable insights on maximising the use and benefits of our services. We look forward to implementing the ideas discussed and continuing to improve our services to meet the evolving needs of our clients.

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