Working at SERI: Alexis Matthey

What do you do exactly?

As a translator in SERI's Language Service, I translate official texts into French, mainly from German. Our task is to transpose content from one language into another, without any loss of meaning or value, as each version is equally authentic. We work in a highly constrained environment with no scope for invention because everything is set in a defined context. This often entails a great deal of research, a sound knowledge of the subject matter and a high degree of accuracy.

What do you like about your work in particular?

The sheer range of texts we receive! The tone, terminology and style can vary greatly depending on whether we're working on a press release, a web page, a memo or a Federal Council dispatch. I also enjoy translating draft legislation because that's where the basic concepts and rules are defined, which paradoxically gives us more freedom. On a personal level, what keeps me motivated is the interaction with colleagues, the sense of service and the feeling of being useful.

What challenges do you expect in the near future?

The translation profession is going through a period of extremely rapid change. We were among the first to be exposed to the AI revolution, which has raised doubts about our raison d'être due to advances in machine translation. We can see that the AI tools we use every day save us time, but do not replace our human judgement. We certainly need to be clearer about explaining what we do now and what our added value is.