“Interpreting in a European Environment: 2014, the Hellenic perspective”

This presentation aims at examining interpreting in a European environment in the year 2014. More specifically, once analyzing the situation in Greece and the course of conference interpreting for the last two years, there will be a comparison on interpreting in different European countries. More specifically, an attempt will be made to compare working conditions in Western Europe’s markets on one hand and in Greece on the other hand. What is more, concerns of professional conference interpreters in Greece and abroad about the current economic conjuncture and about the future of our profession will be analyzed and compared.

Furthermore, professional status, rates, situation of the market will be compared between Greece and other countries of the region. In other words, a quantitative feature will be added to support the hypothesis that there is a huge gap between Greece and other European countries, which is not necessarily the case for other countries of Southern Europe.

Finally, there will be an analysis of the social status that interpreters had and still have in the birthplace of Democracy. Based on tangible examples coming from professional experience, there will be a presentation of how the Greek society perceives conference interpreters.

Angelos Kaklamanis studied French literature at the University of Athens. Then, he realized his postgraduate studies in professional translation and conference interpreting at the University of Strasbourg. Moreover, he was awarded a scholarship by the State Scholarship’s Foundation (I.K.Y). Today, he is PhD candidate at the department of International and European Studies at Panteion University of Athens.

He works in the fields of interpreting and translation as freelancer in Greece and abroad. Furthermore, he has offered his services in the framework of the 4th European Social Forum. He speaks English, French, Italian and Romanian.