Interpreters and Conference Interpreting

Hello everyone,

I'm currently studying interpretation at Marie Haps and I'm starting to look at my options for when I graduate (still a long way to go until June, but better be prepared early).

As I want to add German as a C, I think it would be wise to go to a German-speaking country for about a year. At the same time, I would like to work as an interpreter (I don't want to spend a year without at least practicing in a booth so early in my career), with my working languages, namely French A, English B, Spanish C. And it struck me: why not go to Vienna, since there are quite a few organisations (UN, OSCE, etc.) there, and immerse myself in a German bath at the same time?
As far as I know, there are no other German-speaking cities with a large concentration of international organisations (could always live on the German side of the Strasbourg's bridge, but not sure that would be the best option).

So my questions are simple: is there an interesting market for interpreters in Vienna? I'm afraid I already know the answer, but to work as a freelancer for the UN there, do I need to be accredited, and if so, what are my chances to succeed as a young graduate? Is there anything else I should know about the interpreting market in Austria?

Thanks for your pointers!
Guillaume

Hello,

You need to have passed the UN accreditation test to work for UN institutions. I don't know how much work you would get in Vienna, but why not live in Vienna and base yourself professionally in Paris, Brussels or Geneva? As a beginner you wouldn't work every day so you would still spend most of your time in Vienna.

I'm not too clear on what it means to be based professionaly in a city and live in another one...If I live in the suburbs of Brussels, yes, I will officially be based in Brussels itself. But between Vienna and Brussels? Would that mean that to work for my clients in Brussels, I would need to pay for my travels and accomodation? After all, they would say to me, you declare that you are based in Brussels, not in Vienna, so we're not paying for you to travel here.
Now, if they want me to work in Brussels and pay for the travel as well, that would be better, but I don't think they would do that for a beginner...
So maybe I'm missing the point, but what does it mean to be based in a certain city when you don't live there or in the vicinity?

Thanks again!

I'm just trying understand this concept myself. Basically you have an address in one city which is your professional address, even if you normally live in another.
Yes you would need to pay for your travel and accommodation but it would be worth it because you would get more work as a local. It seems a bit bizarre, but if you then got the odd day of work in Vienna, you would have to charge them travel expenses even though you live there, otherwise it's distorting the market. I'm very confused about the whole thing personally! And I have absolutely no idea where you would pay your taxes and social security but that's another matter...

guillaumimoso wrote: Would that mean that to work for my clients in Brussels, I would need to pay for my travels and accomodation? After all, they would say to me, you declare that you are based in Brussels, not in Vienna, so we're not paying for you to travel here.

Yes that's how it works. I don't know anything about Brussels rates and Vienna taxes, but in many cases living in country A and working in country B does not reduce the amount of money you earn.
For example, someone who lives in London but works in Paris will have to pay 23% of income tax on a daily rate of between 600 and 800 euros. An interpreter living and working in Paris will work for the same rate but their income tax is much higher. So at the end of the day, the London interpreter has to pay for the train/airfare+accomodation, but still earns as much as someone who would work and live in Paris, because they don't pay as much tax in London than they would in Paris.

It gets even more confusing if you are based in Brussels, live in Vienna, and get an offer for a conference in Rome... and whether in this case, you should charge your domicile rate or the local rate...

What I know for sure is that you only pay taxes in the country where you spend most of your time (provided that there are tax agreements between the countries where you live/work, so it might not apply to non-EU countries).