Friday the 30th of January was my last day working at the Danish Delegation to the OECD. It was a really strange day. I had a lot to do in order to finish a report to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and when four interns stop at the same day it tends to be kind of an unproductive day. Everyone is just too chatty and of course that is really nice!
I now have to replace my entire mental dictionary! From acronyms such as DAC (Development Assistance Committee), DCD (Development Cooperation Directorate) WP-EEF (Working Party on Aid Effectivenees) and INCAF (International Network on Conflict and Fragility) to real, normal language when I return to Denmark to finish my thesis.
Actually the latter acronym was a fusion of two groups: FSG and CPDC, respectively Fragile States Group and Network on Peace, Conflict and Development Cooperation. I worked a lot with those. Very interesting themes and I was lucky enough to get some ideas for my thesis from this work.
However getting adjusted to “normal” academic language might only be for a short while. I am already scouting the opportunities for employment after the thesis. Which I have to give in on the 24th of April. Then I might be faced with another insider culture with yet another vocabulary of strange acronyms.
For now I’m still in an OECD mode languagewise. Other words that I have heard so often that I dream of them at night are: ODA (Official Development Assistance), OOF’s (other official flows). And that’s just the work on the development side of things. Then there was work in the ExCom (Executive Committee) as well as the Council, which is OECD’s governing body. Here phrases like renewal of mandate, evaluation of committee for this and that as well as ministerial council meeting (MCM) are some of the most common.
But of course there is more to the OECD than just pure language. Even though there are two official ones (that can become a problem for some people when the translators leave at 18 o’clock sharp regardless of whether or not the meeting itself continues!).
A lot of the things you learn by working in such a place is to small talk and you discover how political alliances are forged. An intercultural dialogue is necessary and lets just say I have discovered a lot of new things about the people from other countries! For instance that it is not the French or Italians who have the sexiest accent in English. Rather it is the Czechs. Maybe that has something to do with the fact that one Czech delegate bears a very strong resemblance to the lovely Russel Crowe. Also I have learned that the IMF must be a very boring organisation to work for as one IMF delegate always fell asleep in the meetings. These are all examples of very important intercultural lessons I bring back home with me ;-)
I now have to replace my entire mental dictionary! From acronyms such as DAC (Development Assistance Committee), DCD (Development Cooperation Directorate) WP-EEF (Working Party on Aid Effectivenees) and INCAF (International Network on Conflict and Fragility) to real, normal language when I return to Denmark to finish my thesis.
Actually the latter acronym was a fusion of two groups: FSG and CPDC, respectively Fragile States Group and Network on Peace, Conflict and Development Cooperation. I worked a lot with those. Very interesting themes and I was lucky enough to get some ideas for my thesis from this work.
However getting adjusted to “normal” academic language might only be for a short while. I am already scouting the opportunities for employment after the thesis. Which I have to give in on the 24th of April. Then I might be faced with another insider culture with yet another vocabulary of strange acronyms.
For now I’m still in an OECD mode languagewise. Other words that I have heard so often that I dream of them at night are: ODA (Official Development Assistance), OOF’s (other official flows). And that’s just the work on the development side of things. Then there was work in the ExCom (Executive Committee) as well as the Council, which is OECD’s governing body. Here phrases like renewal of mandate, evaluation of committee for this and that as well as ministerial council meeting (MCM) are some of the most common.
But of course there is more to the OECD than just pure language. Even though there are two official ones (that can become a problem for some people when the translators leave at 18 o’clock sharp regardless of whether or not the meeting itself continues!).
A lot of the things you learn by working in such a place is to small talk and you discover how political alliances are forged. An intercultural dialogue is necessary and lets just say I have discovered a lot of new things about the people from other countries! For instance that it is not the French or Italians who have the sexiest accent in English. Rather it is the Czechs. Maybe that has something to do with the fact that one Czech delegate bears a very strong resemblance to the lovely Russel Crowe. Also I have learned that the IMF must be a very boring organisation to work for as one IMF delegate always fell asleep in the meetings. These are all examples of very important intercultural lessons I bring back home with me ;-)
