The winner of “Juvenes Translatores” in Spain for this 18th edition of the competition is Leonor Gómez Álvarez.

The European Commission announces the  twenty-seven winners from the  18th edition of its translation competition for high school students ( Juvenes Translatores ) .

3,070 participants enthusiastically took on the task of translating a text between two of the 24 official EU languages.

Although English takes centre stage, the 144 language combinations chosen by students from 713 schools also included language pairs such as Polish-Portuguese, Slovenian-Danish and Portuguese-Finnish.

Translators from the European Commission have selected  one  winner  from each EU country. In addition , 341 students have received a  special mention for the  exceptional quality of its translations .

The winner in Spain of this 18th edition of the contest is Leonor Gómez Álvarez , from the IES Miguel de Cervantes in Murcia, with a translation from English to Spanish.

Piotr  Serafin , Commissioner for Budget, Anti-Fraud and Public Administration, congratulated the winners and thanked all the participants and their teachers for their enthusiasm. He also wanted to convey a message about the importance of language learning: “Learning and practising foreign languages ​​is essential to understanding other cultures. Learning a new language helps us to open our minds and broaden our horizons. Now more than ever, the world needs this understanding and this feeling of tolerance . ”

The awards ceremony will take place on 10 April in Brussels.

During the visit, the 27 young translators will meet with the European Commission’s translators to see how they work, and will enjoy a unique opportunity to discover each other’s languages ​​and cultures. Last year’s Swedish winner, Ivar Lasses, said:  ” Juvenes Translatores has made me believe in the ‘European project’.”

Context

Since 2007, the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Translation has organised the Juvenes Translatores competition every year , funded by the  Erasmus+ programme ., with the aim of promoting translation and multilingualism. This competition has become a life-changing experience for many of its participants and winners. Some of them have decided to study translation at university, and some have even completed internships at the European Commission’s translation service or work as translators in this service.

The aim of the Juvenes Translatores competition is to promote language learning in schools and to give young people a taste of translation work. The competition, open to 17-year-old secondary school students, is held simultaneously in all pre-selected EU schools.

Multilingualism, and therefore translation, has been an integral feature of the EU since the creation of the European Communities. It was enshrined in the first  Regulation, which established the linguistic regime of the then European Economic Community, adopted in 1958. Since then, the number of official languages ​​of the EU has increased from four to twenty-four, as more countries have joined the EU.

More information European Commission.