Eurodan in English

There’s no getting away from it – summer is slowly contemplating autumn; once again, all over the Western world, the thoughts of those involved with learning start irresistibly to think about a new year. The natural year starts to wind down just as the man-made one begins again.

For me, the autumn represents the third new beginning in a row since I left behind my London office life in 2001 – first the “year off” in Germany, then the course in Bradford, which has of course allowed me to pursue this, the culmination of a dream which seems to have been hard-wired inside me from as long ago as I can remember, and which I only embraced and made reality frighteningly recently.

It’s difficult to express the joy and wonder I’ve felt on walking through the various lobbies of Brussels’ European institutions – seeing the flags ranged in the corner, silently tuning into the various conversations as they drift past. It’s sometimes been hard to stop myself from grinning from ear to ear. To finally belong there, and to be working in a field I love so much, is the most precious, wonderful prize. You can keep your lottery wins.

The last couple of times I’ve been asked what I do for a living I’ve been saying “I’m an interpreter” – trying it on for size. It still seems a bit big for me yet – like trying on Dad’s jacket when you’re a little boy. Let alone saying “I’m an interpreter for the EU”.

It’s worth mentioning before I go into any further raptures that this precious prize is very much on approval, and may perfectly well slip through my fingers over the course of the next six months, based fairly and squarely on my mentors’ judgement of my performance as an interpreter in the booth. Very, very good interpreters can and do fail the sort of test that you get at the end of the six-month insertion scheme – and there’s always a dollop of luck, it seems.

Still, whatever happens, I’ll always know that I tried. And you never know, I might actually pass! But it’s certainly getting my emotions worked up. I find myself getting tearful at the most banal things – which really surprises me. It seems that discovering your true self is a very powerful journey – exposing strong emotions; relief, hope, joy, but also fear of failure, and sorrow at having waited for so long for the Sun to shine – before realising that you have to be brave and step out of the shadows yourself.