Androulla Vassiliou, European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth, will present trophies to the winners of this year’s Young Translators’ (Juvenes Translatores) Contest, organised by the European Commission.
Twenty-seven secondary school students, including Malta’s Natalia Grima (EN-MT), of De La Salle College, Birguone, from each Member State, have been invited to Brussels to receive their award and a diploma for producing the best translation from their country.
The award ceremony takes place tomorrow, Tuesday, the 27th of March at the Charlemagne building in Brussels, starting at 11am.
“I would like to warmly congratulate each of the winners. To be the best young translator in your country is quite some achievement. Languages open doors in life and I am sure these young people will benefit enormously from their special talent,” said Commissioner Vassiliou.
The Commissioner also congratulated the winners’ teachers and parents for their “fantastic inspiration and support.”
Each student selected a one-page text written in one of the EU’s 23 official languages. They then translated it into any of the other 22 languages.
Although many chose English as a source language, the total number of language combinations used was 148, which is the highest since the contest was launched in 2007. The theme this year was volunteering (to mark the European Year of Volunteering 2011), which inspired many contestants to enrol as volunteers for charities afterwards. After the ceremony, they will meet the Commission’s translators who drafted the original texts for the contest and marked the translations.
The Commission’s Directorate-General for Translation organises the Juvenes Translatores (Latin for ‘young translators’) contest every year. It is open to 17-year-old secondary school pupils and takes place on the same day in November in each of the schools selected all over Europe. The contest promotes language learning and linguistic diversity, and is also a unique opportunity for the pupils to try their hand at a translator’s job and to test the language skills acquired at school.
The contest has gained in popularity each year. For this fifth competition, the number of entrants was the highest ever at more than 3 000.