G.F. Abela Junior College win the Juvenes Translatores competition one more time

Abigail Callus, a student at G.F. Abela Junior College is the Maltese winner of the 2016-2017 translation contest for schools ‘Juvenes Translatores’. Along with 27 other winners (one from each Member State), she will go to Brussels to collect the award for the most accurate translation on 6 April 2017.

On that day the winners will receive their trophies from Commissioner Günther Oettinger, responsible for Budget and Human Resources.

“My congratulations to the winners of the 10th competition. Your parents and teachers must be very proud of your achievement, and I applaud you for taking on the challenge and showing such promising talent. Languages open minds and break down barriers. They help us understand other peoples and cultures. Congratulations for showing creativity and flair in all 24 EU languages. Well done to you all!”, said Commissioner Günther Oettinger.

For the 10th time since 2007, over 3000 students from across the European Union translated texts, this time on the subjects of languages and translation. They could choose from any of the 552 possible combinations between any two of the EU’s 24 official languages. Students used 152 language combinations, including translating from Greek into Latvian, and from Bulgarian into Portuguese. All winners chose to translate into their strongest language or mother tongue, as the official translators in EU Institutions do. In the case of Abigail Callus, she translated a text from English into Maltese.

All winners will be awarded a prize, a trophy and a paper diploma. And it doesn’t end there; the contest has its success stories. On 1 February, the European Commission welcomed its first staff translator who started off her career as a Juvenes Translatores winner. And who would have guessed? It happens to be another Maltese!

The European Commission’s Directorate-General for Translation has been organising the Juvenes Translatores (Latin for ‘young translators‘) contest every year since 2007. Its aim is to promote language learning in schools and give young people a taste of what it is like to be a translator. It is open to 17-yearold sixth-formers and takes place at the same time in all selected schools across the EU. The contest has inspired and encouraged some of the participants to pursue their languages at university level and to become professional translators.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the contest and the 60th anniversary of the birth of the European Union. Translation has been an integral part of the EU from the outset, and the subject of the very first Regulation in 1958, starting with 4 languages and reaching 24, signalling that the use of all EU languages has been central all these years.