Third EU young translator contest starts

Simultaneously with pupils from all over the UK, up to 3,000 school students from all over Europe tried their hand at translating a text as fluently as possible from and into the chosen language. The participants could choose to compete in any of the EU's 23 official languages.

The pupils taking part came from all over the world, including Kalix near the Arctic Circle in Sweden, Heraklion in Crete, Saint Martin in the West Indies and Paralimni in Cyprus.

“Juvenes Translatores”, which means “young translators” in Latin, is held simultaneously in all the participating schools, from 10 to 12 Brussels time (GMT+1), under the schools' supervision.

Leonard Orban, European Commissioner for Multilingualism, said: “The translation contest has become a much-awaited opportunity for young people to test the language skills learnt at school in a real-life situation and to get a taste of the work of a professional translator. Success in the contest has encouraged some contestants to take up language studies.”

The European Commission will publish a study on Friday 27 November, which suggests that even in the current economic crisis, the language industry is doing well and language job applicants have a bright future.

Background

This year's contest was launched in September when interested upper secondary schools in the EU registered to participate. From all those, 600 schools were chosen in a random selection, and their names were published on the contest website (see link bellow)

Up to five pupils, of whom all must have been born in 1992, from each selected school, will do a translation test on the contest day. They will receive a short text by email in the morning and will have two hours to translate it as fluently as possible from and into the chosen language (all the EU's 23 official languages).

After the test the translations will be sent to the European Commission, where translators of the Directorate-General for Translation will evaluate and mark them. The contest jury will choose the best translation from each member state and publish the names of the winners on the contest at the end of January 2010 (see link bellow).

The feedback from the two previous contests indicates that teachers generally appreciate this opportunity to promote foreign language learning. The pupils like the challenge and feel motivated knowing that other pupils in other countries are translating the same text.

As in previous years, all winners will win a trip to an award ceremony in Brussels to receive their prize and to meet a number of EU translators.