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Secondary schools in all EU countries can now start enrolling for Juvenes Translatores, the European Commission's annual translation contest. From 12.00 CET on 2 September, schools can register online for their students to compete with peers around the EU. This year, the topic of the texts that young students are asked to translate is ‘Let's get on track – towards a greener future.'

Johannes Hahn, Commissioner for Budget and Administration, yesterday said:

“The aim of the contest is to inspire young people to get interested in a career as translators and, in general, to promote language learning. The topic is in line with one of the EU's most important political priorities – the European Green Deal – which is of particular interest to young people. In addition to tackling this interesting subject, the aim of the competition is to bring together young people from different countries with a love for languages, to encourage them and help them overcome barriers between people and cultures. The ability to communicate with and understand one another, regardless of differences, is essential for the EU to flourish.”

Participants can translate between any two of the EU's 24 official languages (552 possible language combinations). In last year's contest, students used 150 different combinations.

Registration for schools – the first part of the two-stage process – is open until 12.00 CET on 20 October 2021. Teachers can register in any of the EU's 24 official languages.

The Commission will then invite 705 schools to the next stage. The number of schools taking part in each country will be equal to the number of seats the country has in the European Parliament, with schools selected randomly by computer.

The chosen schools will then nominate up to five students to participate in the contest. They can be of any nationality but all participants must have been born in 2004.

The contest will be run online on 25 November 2021 in all participating schools.

The winners – one per country – will be announced by early February 2022.

If conditions allow, they will be invited to receive their prizes in spring 2022 at a ceremony in Brussels. They will have the chance to meet professional translators from the European Commission and find out more about the profession and about working with languages.

Click here for the full press release