EU young translators’ contest unveils this year’s 27 winners

The European Commission announces the 27 young winners of its 17th EU young translation contest (Juvenes Translatores) for secondary schools. The topic of this year was ‘daring to make a difference’.

Over 3 000 enthusiastic participants put their language skills to the test, choosing to translate a text between any two of the EU’s 24 official languages. While English has a prominent role, of the 552 language combinations available, students from 701 schools used 155 combinations, including Romanian into Swedish and Czech into Danish.

Students participating in the contest enjoyed the opportunity to discover the fascinating world of translation. As a student from a school in Austria put it: ‘Juvenes Translatores was not only a competition for me, but an opportunity to get to know translation. An experience, a realisation which allowed me to recognise how different languages can be, but that at the core they connect us all.’

The European Commission’s translators selected one winner for each EU country, as well as 247 students who received special mentions for their outstanding translations.

The winner of Juvenes Translatores 2023-2024 in Spain is Elena Gómez Rodríguez, from Colegio Internacional SEK-Ciudalcampo, San Sebastián de los Reyes.

The award ceremony will take place in Brussels, on 21 March 2024.

Juvenes Translatores contest

Background

Funded by the Erasmus+ programme, the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Translation has organised the Juvenes Translatores contest every year since 2007, to promote translation and multilingualism. Over the years, the contest has been a life-changing experience for many of its entrants and winners. Some have decided to study translation at university, and some have joined the European Commission’s translation department as a trainee or a full-time translator.

 The goal of the Juvenes Translatores contest is to promote language learning in schools and give young people a taste of what it is like to be a translator. The competition is open to 17-year-old secondary school students and takes place at the same time in all selected schools across the EU.

Multilingualism, and therefore translation, has been an integral feature of the EU since the European Communities were first created. It was enshrined in the very first Regulation, adopted in 1958. Since then, the number of official EU languages has grown from 4 to 24, as more countries joined the EU.

More information: European Commission