EU

#JuvenesTranslatores - European Commission announces winners of its annual translation contest for schools

Published

7 years ago

February 5, 2019

Congratulations to the 28 winners in the 12th edition of the European Commission's Juvenes Translatores translation contest for secondary schools! The best young translator from each of EU's 28 member states will now travel to Brussels to collect their awards and to meet with European Commission's professional translators.

The European Commission has today announced the authors of the best 28 translations on the topic of the European Year of Cultural Heritage in its annual Juvenes Translatores competition for secondary school students. The European Commission's translators – the organizers of the contest – selected them from this year's 3,252 participants from 751 schools across Europe.

Commenting on the results from the competition, Budget, Human Resources and Translation Commissioner Günther H. Oettinger (pictured) said: "I am impressed by the language skills of these talented young people. Learning languages is key in today's society. Languages open the door to more job opportunities and help people understand each other's cultures and standpoints better. I wish all winners and participants to continue pursuing their interest in languages and spread the love for languages around them.”

This year's edition of the Juvenes Translatores competition took place on 22 November and ran simultaneously in all participating schools. The competing students used 154 out of the 552 possible language combinations between each of EU's 24 languages. Some of the most interesting choices were translations from Portuguese into Dutch, and from Hungarian into Finnish.

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 competition has become a life-changing experience for many of its participants and winners. For example, following her trip to Brussels, the Slovenian winner of the 2010 edition, Tina Zorko, decided to study translation at university and has recently joined the European Commission's translation department as a full-time translator. "My trip to the award ceremony in Brussels is one of my fondest memories," Zorko said. "Seeing Commission translators at work gave me an insight into the life of a real translator and reinforced my dream of someday becoming one."

The contacts of Italy's 2016 winner, Carolina Zanchi, with the translators from the European Commission, inspired her to learn more about applied languages and she is now studying patholinguistics in Germany. She said:“It is no hyperbole to say that Juvenes Translatores really changed my life. My sincere thanks to all those who make it possible every year.”

Background

The goal of the Juvenes Translatores competition 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 secondary school students and takes place at the same time in all selected schools across the EU.

Translation has been an integral part of the EU since the Community was first created, and was the subject of the very first Regulation (EEC Council: Regulation No 1) adopted in 1958. Since then, the number of languages has grown from 4 to 24, along with EU's enlargement.

This year's winners are:

Juvenes Translatores 2018-2019 winners

COUNTRY	WINNER		PARTICIPANTS for COUNTRY
COUNTRY	Name, language pair	Name of the school, city	Number of schools	Number of students
Austria	Valentin Fraß EN-DE	BORG Birkfeld, Birkfeld	18	79
Belgium	Ance Martinsone EN-LV	Europäische Schule Brüssel II, Brussels	21	93
Bulgaria	Йоана Георгиева DE-BG	Езикова гимназия „Проф. д-р Асен Златаров“, Хасково	17	80
Croatia	Dea Šimat EN-HR	Srednja strukovna škola Blaž Jurjev Trogiranin, Trogir	11	51
Cyprus	Γεωργία Χειμαρρίδη EN-EL	Λύκειο Εθνομάρτυρα Κυπριανού Στροβόλου, Λευκωσία	6	28
Czechia	Markéta Sahanová EN-CS	Gymnázium Jírovcova, České Budějovice	21	99
Denmark	Astrid Sloth Larsen EN-DA	Frederiksborg Gymnasium & HF, Hillerød	12	51
Estonia	Liisa-Maria Komissarov EN-ET	Hugo Treffneri Gümnaasium, Tartu	6	30
Finland	Katalin Bárány HU-FI	Puolalanmäen lukio, Turku	13	59
France	Léa Marissal ES-FR	Lycée Militaire de Saint-Cyr, Saint-Cyr-l'Ecole	72	320
Germany	Deborah Dietterle EN-DE	Kopernikus-Gymnasium Wasseralfingen, Aalen-Wasseralfingen	94	341
Greece	Ελισάβετ Tσαγκάρη-Ντυμπάλσκα PL-EL	Γενικό Λύκειο Βραχνέϊκων, Πάτρα	21	94
Hungary	Kitti Laura Kántor EN-HU	Budapest IX. Kerületi Szent-Györgyi Albert Általános Iskola és Gimnázium, Budapest	21	96
Ireland	Cáit Paircéar GA-EN	Coláiste Íosagáin, An Charraig Dhubh	11	42
Italy	Giulia Rorato SL-IT	Liceo Scientifico Statale "France Prešeren”, Trieste	73	359
Latvia	Elvis Groskops EN-LV	Saldus novada pašvaldības Druvas vidusskola, Saldus pagasts	8	32
Lithuania	Tomas Lugauskas EN-LT	Daugų Vlado Mirono gimnazija, Daugai, Alytaus r.	11	48
Luxembourg	Annika Elisabeth Küster EN-DE	Ecole européenne de Luxembourg II, Bertrange	4	12
Malta	Francesca Vassallo MT-EN	Saint Aloysius College Sixth Form, Birkirkara	5	23
The Netherlands	Ceres Verkaik EN-NL	Anna van Rijn College, Nieuwegein	26	91
Poland	Krzysztof Warzocha ES-PL	XX Liceum Ogólnokształcące z Oddziałami Dwujęzycznymi im. José Martí, Warszawa	51	237
Portugal	Ana Silva EN-PT	Instituto Educativo do Juncal, Juncal - Porto de Mós	21	97
Romania	Maria-Alexandra Gherghel EN-RO	Colegiul National „Dr. I. Meșotă”, Brașov	32	151
Slovakia	Sofia Gregorová DE-SK	Súkromné gymnázium, Lučenec	13	58
Slovenia	Nika Kobetič EN-SL	Gimnazija Bežigrad, Ljubljana	8	39
Spain	Sara Picos Gómez EN-ES	IES De Brión, A Coruña	53	241
Sweden	King Fägersten EN-SV	Tyska Skolan, Stockholm	20	84
The United Kingdom	Natalia Glazman ES-EN	Woldingham School, Surrey	71	317
TOTAL			740	3252