Daniel Pashley studied at Hymers College from 1980 until 1990.  He is an EU conference interpreter and a qualified broadcast journalist with newsroom experience at ITV News, he speaks a number of European languages and knows his way around the EU institutions.

We spoke to him to find out more about his career:

Did you always enjoy learning languages at school?

I did. I was always interested by languages, including English, but learning foreign languages had an additional escapist element. It seemed to be a key to unlocking new cultures and new experiences.

Who was your favourite teacher?

I don’t have a favourite teacher as such, but I do have fond memories of many teachers, in particular Mr Tordoff, Mr Nichols and Mrs Powell (all modern languages teachers).

Did you keep in touch with anyone from Hymers?

I am friends with a few members of my year on social media and I enjoy seeing the updates that they post.  

What do you remember most about Hymers?

I remember most the feeling of impatience; waiting to get out and see the world beyond (a feeling which I think must have taken hold in the last couple of years). I also remember the many music concerts I was involved in.  

Were you involved in extracurricular activities?

I sang in the choir and played clarinet in the orchestra and wind band, which I very much enjoyed. I remember the Christmas carol concerts with particular fondness.

What did you do after leaving Hymers?

After leaving Hymers I went to Kings College London to study French and German. After that I spent a few years working in publishing and marketing before deciding to do an MA in Interpreting and Translating at the University of Bradford. After this I passed a freelance accreditation test at the European Commission to become a conference interpreter, and a few years later I was taken on as a member of permanent staff at the European Parliament. I have since worked for the interpreting services of the three major institutions; the Parliament, the Court of Justice and the European Commission, where I currently work.

Can you tell us more about your new role as a Swedish Interpreter?

I am actually an English interpreter. I work from my four other languages (French, German, Dutch and Swedish) into English. But there is also a managerial part to my job, since I took on the role of managing the Swedish interpreting unit in 2020. My career has always involved languages to some extent (when I worked in publishing it was always for multilingual publications in one way or another), but in 2002 I took the decision to focus more intensively on my languages and become an interpreter. I have never regretted the decision.

What have been your career highlights?

My career highlights have been working as an intepreter at a number of high profile EU summits, which really give you a “fly-on-the-wall” experience, listening to the EU’s leaders talking to one another in quite a candid way, which is fascinating. I also have travelled all over the world with the European Parliament, which has taken me to Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Ethiopia, China and Suriname, to name a few places.