Politics can be hard to make sense of at the best of times, but for parliamentary interpreters and translators it is a full-time job.

At the European Parliament, translation is a mammoth task. Since 2007, there have been 23 official languages spoken by the EU member states, each of which must be translated into the 22 other languages – a total of 506 possible combinations.

An army of 700 is employed to translate official documents such as agendas, draft reports, amendments, resolutions, written and oral questions, and minutes. Interpreting – which refers to oral translation – requires up to 1,000 interpreters to be on hand for plenary sessions of Parliament. More.

See: BBC