The EU policy of communicating in 23 official languages (multilingualism policy) is unique in the world. All official languages enjoy equal status. EU citizens in the 27 member countries can use any of them to communicate with the European institutions, which helps to make the Union more open and more effective.
A multilingual organisation like the EU needs high quality translation and relies on professional linguists to keep it running smoothly. The role of the language services in the various EU institutions and bodies is to support and strengthen multilingual communication in Europe and to help Europeans understand EU policies.
The Directorate-General for Translation (DG Translation) is the in-house translation service of the European Commission. We work in all the official languages of the European Union and, as new countries join, their main languages are added to the number. Other EU institutions and bodies (Council, Parliament, Court of Justice, Economic and Social Committee, Court of Auditors etc.) have their own translation departments, whereas the various agencies, spread around the EU, have a translation centre in Luxembourg to handle their translation work.