By Trad. Lucía Pacho
Dear ladies, gentlemen, colleagues, and professors,
I’d like to say a few words on the celebration of the 25th anniversary of St. Bartholomew’s Institute. I was asked to make a short video or a dynamic presentation but I must say I’m not very good at these kinds of things. I saw a video made by another former student (Laura), who is living in London and I thought “wow, that’s really good! I don’t know if I’ll be able to do something so cool ”
But this didn’t put me off writing a few words. My hope today is to transmit a message to the students: I think you’re lucky enough to be able to study here and you should make the most of it! So please take these words as a token of gratitude for everything the Institute has given me. And when I say “make the most of it” I mean take advantage of everything: ask questions in class, research any aspect or subject you like, study with enthusiasm and don’t be afraid of possible failure.
I graduated in 2006 and have taken the long path to my PhD now at the University of Geneva. In a nutshell, after finishing my studies at the Institute I went to Spain, to the Pompeu Fabra University, where I got my degree as a Legal Translator and Interpreter with Spanish, English, French and Catalan. Then I went to work to Germany and later I did a double master’s Degree in Law between the Toulouse 1 Capitol University (France) and the Autonomous University of Barcelona (Spain).
I have always combined work and study and I must say it’s not easy at all. On the way I stumbled several times, but when you’re determined to do something then you get the energy to get by somehow. Some authors talk about the three Ps: passion, purpose and perseverance.
Now I’m working on an interdisciplinary research project on Legal Translation and EU Law. Just to give you some context, in the EU there are 24 official languages and legislation is published in all of them. But sometimes, linguistic divergences inevitably emerge among the different versions of multilingual texts, because each language shapes the world in a different way and each country has a different legal system. In case of doubt, the Court of Justice of the EU is responsible for interpreting EU law, based on the premise that no language version prevails over the others and it is necessary to interpret them uniformly, i.e., in the light of the versions existing in the other languages.
25th Anninversary Instituto Superior Particular Incorporado San Bartolomé
By Lucía Pacho