EU: Eight months after enlargement, the EU is continuing to struggle with the massive burdens for interpretation and translation for all 20 official languages of the European Union.
A Commission official on Friday admitted to "teething problems" as the Brussels executive fights to cope with translating documents into all languages - creating some 1,300,000 pages in 2004.
The problem is being dealt with very practically. The Commission is no longer allowed to be so long-winded. Documents, which previously could be any length, may now be no longer than 15 pages.
But even with reduced translation obligations, the Commission has to cut corners by using freelance translators.
"This poses some problems in terms of quality," admitted Manuel de Oliveira Barata, who deals with translation in the Commission.
Some ministers from new member-states have been known to ask for the English version of a document because it is at least comprehensible.
Translation for all EU institutions is expected to cost €453 million a year, or €1.78 per citizen.
The other problem is interpretation (expected to cost €238 million a year, or €0.31 per citizen). There are on average 60 meetings a day in Brussels - using up to 800 interpreters.
It takes four hard years to train an interpreter so that the qualified person feels comfortable speaking about difficult technical matters, from the intricacies of the stability pact to trade clauses to the fisheries policy.
A perfect example of the difficulties of introducing a new language to the EU regime is Maltese - spoken by about 300,000 people.
Malta started training its interpreters only in 2002, later than the other accession countries, and none of its applicants hase yet made the grade in the EU.
As for Irish becoming an official EU language, this issue is set to languish on the political back burner for the coming months.
As Commission spokesman Frederic Vincent made clear, the reason is not just technical; there can, in principle, be as many languages as you like as there is enough physical space to accommodate the staff.
The reason is political. With Spain looking for recognition for its regional languages as well, other member-states fear the floodgates will be opened to several minority languages.
Mr Vincent said it was up up to the Irish and Spanish governments to "convince their partners around the table" that their languages should be integrated into the EU.