The 27 winners of the EU’s annual translation competition receive awards for their language skills

Twenty-seven youngsters - one from every country of the European Union – were rewarded for producing the best translation in their country in the European Commission's annual young translators' contest, Juvenes Translatores.

Each will receive a trophy and certificate from Androulla Vassiliou, European Commissioner for Education, Multilingualism and Youth.

The competition was held in November 2011 and was open to 17 year-old school students, who represent both their school and country.

“This contest encourages pupils to get to grips with foreign languages in a deeper way and to consider using their knowledge in their future career, whether as a translator or in any other professional field where multilingualism is an asset," said Vassiliou. “The contest also inspires schools to learn from each other and try out different methods of language teaching.”

Participants had to select one of 23 texts (for each of the EU's official languages) and translate it into another EU language of their choice. Although many chose English as a source language, the total number of language combinations used was 148 – the highest since the competition was launched in 2007.

The theme of this year's texts was volunteering (to mark the European Year of Volunteering 2011). A number of the teenagers who sat the contest in different countries were clearly inspired by this theme, with some going on afterwards to enroll as volunteers for the Red Cross and other NGOs.

Juvenes Translatores aims to promote language learning in Europe and raise the profile of translation as a profession. The contest has gained in popularity each year, with entrant numbers last year the highest ever at over 3,000.

See Also

• More about translation...
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• The complete news release for the European Commission's annual young translators' contest
  The 27 winners of the EU?s annual translation competition receive awards today in Brussels