A-Z of terms - good vocabulary development for writing students

http://www.plainenglish.co.uk/files/alternative.pdf

Translation resources - particularly how to write clearly in all European languages

http://ec.europa.eu/translation/index_en.htm

Plain English Campaign free guides

http://www.plainenglish.co.uk/free-guides.html

Translators at the European Commission's pick of websites

http://ec.europa.eu/translation/english/english_en.htm

Vocabulary training exercises in English, French, German and Spanish

http://www.vokabel.com/index.html

Conversation questions

http://iteslj.org/questions/
Alphabetical listing of conversation topics with questions for class discussion

English study resources

http://www.englishstudydirect.com/index.htm

Corpus linguistics and corpus concordancers

http://www.englishstudydirect.com/OSAC/dicconc.htm

French translation section portal at the United Nations

http://csdportal.unog.ch/fretrans/

What makes a good teacher?

http://theweek.com/article/index/207881/targeting-teachers

Careers in the United Nations system

1          Here is a great website with links to many good sites for preparing for a career generally.  It comes from the New York UN Staff Development website.

http://www.unejn.org/documents/CareerDevelopment/CareerDevelopmentWebsites.htm

2          Vacancies in the UN System:

http://www.fao.org/VA/vac.htm

http://www.who.int/per/vacancies/ftindex.htm

http://www.ifad.org/job/

http://www.unesco.org/per/vacancies_eng.htm

http://www.unfpa.org – search for ‘vacancies’

http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/vacan_e/vacan_e.htm

http://www.unsystem.org

http://www.undp.org – search for ‘vacancies’

http://www.unicef.org/employ

3          Internships

http://www.unog.ch/80256EDD006AC19C/(httpPages)/A422C95289E684DD80256EF300344EFD?OpenDocument

Note interns should be currently enrolled in a Masters and are not paid.

4                    How to get started – do a competitive exam for a post.  This is the pathway to a career in the United Nations as a young professional.

http://www.un.org/Depts/OHRM/examin/ncrepage.htm

The National Competitive Recruitment Examinations (NCRE) is held on a yearly basis in countries that are selected on the basis of their representation in the Secretariat.

Every year, the Organization targets the nationals of Member States that are not adequately represented in the Secretariat for recruitment through competitive examinations. The purpose of these examinations is to recruit young qualified and motivated professionals for junior positions (at the P-2 level.) 

The deadline for submission of application is now closed (no exceptions), and the written examinations will be held on 1 December 2010. If you have submitted an application within the deadline, you will receive official notification of your convocation status. 

For more information about the examination, please download the full text of announcement of the Examination Notice in English and in French. 

http://www.un.org/Depts/OHRM/examin/2010e.pdf

The specialized areas this year (to give an idea) are Administration, Demography, Economics, Human Rights, Legal Affairs, Radio Producer (Arabic, Chinese, French), Security, Statistics, Web Design / Development.

Applicants should hold a first degree and be no more than 31 years old.  Fluency in either English or French is required.  Applicants should be nationals of the list of member states for that year.  This year it included:

2010 Participating Member States 

1  2   3  4

Afghanistan 
Angola
Antigua and Barbuda 
Belgium
Brunei Darussalam
Comoros 
Dominican Republic
Equatorial Guinea 
Finland 

Grenada 
Iran
Japan 
Latvia 
Liberia 
Libyan Arab Jamahiriya
Liechtenstein 
Monaco 
Montenegro 
Mozambique

Namibia 
Nepal 
Norway 
Republic of Korea 
Saint Lucia 
Samoa 
Saudi Arabia 
Slovenia 
Solomon Islands 
Spain 
Tonga 
Turkey 
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom 
United States of America 
Yemen 
 

Here is a list of Frequently Asked Questions

http://www.un.org/Depts/OHRM/examin/ncefaq

5                    Have a career using languages

http://careers.un.org/lbw/home.aspx?viewtype=LE

These are the six official languages at the UN:  Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.

Posts for which you can take a competitive exam include

·                                 Interpreters

·                                 Translators

·                                 Editors

·                                 Verbatim Reporters

·                                 Proofreaders

However, bear in mind that you will be competing with experienced people, so you need to study and practice these skills.

Here are the current exams open

http://www.un.org/Depts/OHRM/examin/languageexam.htm

The University of Geneva Translation and Interpreting Department is very famous – it is a good place to study for a career as a translator or interpreter. 

http://www.unige.ch/eti/index.html

These careers are very much in demand in Brussels too.

http://www.routesintolanguages.ac.uk/translation/news/1748

http://ec.europa.eu/index_en.htm

Following the rules

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/corrections/errors-and-omissions/errors-omissions-we-should-follow-the-rules-of-grammar-even-if-they-sound-a-bit-wrong-2089137.html

Help with career development

http://www.unejn.org/documents/CareerDevelopment/CareerDevelopmentWebsites.htm

France scores an F for education

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2021009,00.html

French style guide at the European Commission

http://publications.europa.eu/code/fr/fr-5000400.htm

Spanish translators' portal

http://paginilla.net/