Schools invited to take part in EU translation competition

Students from three Maltese schools are being invited to take part in an EU-wide translation competition aimed at giving 17-year olds the opportunity to experience, at first hand, what it's like to be an EU translator.

Considered to be a new occupation in the Maltese employment sector, translation is now gaining a lot of attention from Maltese students aiming to secure a well-paid job with an EU institution.

As part of the festivities marking the 50th anniversary of the EU, the Commission said the challenge is open to 2,760 pupils from up to 345 schools from across the 27 member states.

Students nominated by their schools will have to translate a short text in an event to take place simultaneously on November 14 throughout the EU.

Giving details of the competition, the Commission said that the pupils themselves can decide from which language and into which language they want to translate, as long as they choose from among the EU's 23 official languages. Their translations will then be evaluated by EU professional translators.

The authors of the 27 best translations - one from each member state - will win a two-day trip to Brussels for themselves and an accompanying adult.

The Commission invited any school that wishes to take part to fill in an electronic registration form on a specific website launched recently. When registering, the school must nominate up to eight pupils to represent it.

A number of schools will be drawn at random from among those that have registered equivalent to the number of votes each member states has in the Council of the EU. In Malta's case this amounts to three.

More information can be found at: http://ec.europa.eu/translatores.

The closing date for registration is June 15.