The European Commission congratulates the 27 young winners of its Juvenes Translatores translation contest for secondary schools, as announced in today’s online event. The Maltese winner is Sharon Cilia from the University of Malta Junior College, who translated from Maltese to English.
The participants could choose to translate between any two of the EU’s 24 official languages. Of the 552 language combinations available, the 2 940 budding translators from 689 schools that took part in the contest used 153, including less common combinations such as Portuguese into Finnish to Bulgarian into Swedish, and Slovak into Greek.
Commissioner for Budget and Administration Johannes Hahn said:
“The topic of this year´s contest ‘Let's get on track – towards a (greener) future’ reflects the EU’s intention to work for a better, greener and more digital Europe. And this year, the European Year of Youth, it is even more fitting to celebrate the young winners and their translation talent. I want to congratulate them, and also their teachers, who instil in their students a love for languages.”
The European Commission’s translators selected 27 winners (one for each EU country) from among 2 940 students from across the EU. In addition, 219 students received special mentions for their outstanding translations.
The European Commission will organise an award ceremony for the 27 winners before the summer.
The European Commission’s Directorate-General for Translation has been organising the Juvenes Translatores (Latin for ‘young translators’) contest every year since 2007. Over the years, the contest has become a life-changing experience for many of its entrants and winners. Some have decided to study translation at university, and some have joined the European Commission’s translation department as a trainee or a full-time translator.
Background
The goal of the Juvenes Translatores contest is to promote language learning in schools and give young people a taste of what it is like to be a translator. The competition is open to 17-year-old students and takes place at the same time in all selected schools across the EU. Malta participates annually with six Sixth Form institutions, and this year presented 23 candidates.
Multilingualism, and therefore translation, have been an integral part of the EU since the European Communities were first created. It was enshrined in the very first Regulation adopted in 1958 (EEC Council: Regulation No 1). Since then, the number of official EU languages has grown from 4 to 24, as more countries joined the EU.
2021-2022 Juvenes Translatores winners:
* The number of participating schools from each EU country is equal to the number of seats it has in the European Parliament, with the schools selected randomly by computer.
For more information:
- Juvenes Translatores website
Details
- Publication date
- 10 February 2022
- Author
- Representation in Malta