‘Juvenes Translatores’ – St Aloysius’ back to victory

St Aloysius’ College wins the Juvenes Translatores competition for the third time, after a three-year domination by the Junior College

The European Commission has announced the winners of its annual translation contest Juvenes Translatores. Andrè Mifsud from St Aloysius’ College is this year’s winner with a translation from English to Maltese.

The 28 winners, one from each member state, will be invited to Brussels on 10 April to receive their trophies and diplomas from Commissioner Günther H. Oettinger, responsible for Budget and Human Resources.

Commissioner Oettinger said: “It is amazing to see so many talented young people. Learning languages is a skill that is vital for your careers and personal development. Multilingualism defines us as Europeans.“

Thirty students from six Maltese sixth form colleges (equivalent to the number of Malta’s MEPs) participated this year. The schools were Junior College, St Aloysius’, De La Salle, Giovanni Curmi Higher Secondary, St Martin’s and Gozo’s Sir M. A. Refalo. Eight other Maltese participants were given a special mention for the quality of their translation.

The contest continues to garner strong support. This year, over 3,300 students from across the EU translated texts on the 60th anniversary of the European Union. They could choose from any of the 552 possible combinations between any two of the EU’s 24 official languages. Students sat for the competition in 144 language combinations, including Polish into Finnish and from Czech into Greek. All winners chose to translate into their strongest language or mother tongue, as the staff translators in the EU Institutions do.

The European Commission’s DG Translation has been organising the Juvenes Translatores (Latin for young translators) contest every year since 2007. Its aim is to promote language learning and give young people a taste of what it is like to be a translator. It is open to 17-year-old students and takes place at the same time in all selected schools across the EU. The contest has inspired and encouraged some of the par- ticipants to pursue languages at university level and become professional translators. Translation is an integral part of the EU and was the subject of the very first Regulation in 1958.

The most successful Maltese school since 2007 is the Msida Junior College with five victories. De La Salle won the contest twice and the Giovanni Curmi Higher Secondary once. This is St Aloysius’ College third success.