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Registration opens for 2011 school translator contest

Secondary schools can enrol pupils for the annual EU Young Translator Contest known as ‘Juvenes Translatores’ (Latin for 'young translators’) from yesterday at http://ec.europa.eu/translatores/. The registration runs until 20 October and the online application form is available in all official EU languages. The contest, now in its fifth year, will be held on 24 November at the same time in all selected schools. It is open to pupils born in 1994 and more than 750 schools can take part.

"The contest promotes language learning in schools and translation as a career," said Androulla Vassiliou, the European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth. "Knowledge of languages can open your mind to different cultures and boost your job prospects," she added.

The pupils translate a one-page text based on their choice of any of the 506 language combinations possible among the EU’s 23 official languages. This year the theme of the texts to translate will be volunteering, to mark the European Year of Volunteering.

Schools can enter up to five pupils. They can be of any nationality provided that they are enrolled at a school in an EU Member State. Last year 2 800 pupils sat the contest. European Commission translators will mark the texts and select one winner per country. In March 2012 all winners will be invited to Brussels to receive their prize.

Background

The number of schools taking part from each country is based on how many MEPs each will have in 2014. If a country exceeds its quota (see below), the Commission uses a random selection method. The quotas per country are:

Austria

19

Belgium

22

Bulgaria

18

Cyprus

6

Czech Republic

22

Denmark

13

Estonia

6

Finland

13

France

74

Germany

96

Greece

22

Hungary

22

Ireland

12

Italy

73

Latvia

9

Lithuania

12

Luxembourg

6

Malta

6

Netherlands

26

Poland

51

Portugal

22

Romania

33

Slovenia

8

Slovakia

13

Spain

54

Sweden

20

United Kingdom

73

 

 

Total

751

More information:

Contest website: http://ec.europa.eu/translatores/

Facebook: JuvenesTranslatores

Twitter: @translatores

DG Translation: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/translation/

Contacts :

Dennis Abbott (+32 2 295 92 58)

Dina Avraam (+32 2 295 96 67)

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