The language of Europe is translation
Is translation the answer for Europe’s desire to bring its people closer together? The Commission has taken up the challenge of making young Europeans aware of translation studies. At a time when the translating sector has to meet needs that are ever larger, this initiative does not seem to be a pointless challenge!
Translation in the name of bringing people closer together
Started in 2007, the Juventus Translator contest has the objective of making young people in secondary education aware of translation studies. The fourth running of the contest (2010) will rely on the determination of a Europe that wants to bring people closer together. Also, this coming together that we are counting on can be achieved only through understanding others with their differences and their specific characteristics: their language. As one cannot speak of one European language in a Union with 27 Member States and 23 official languages, communication, and therefore translation, make it possible to bring people closer together.
Before learning and tackling things, first it is necessary to understand
The watchword of the Juventus Translator contest is translating to help young people of the same age understand a text written in a different language. In practice, each participant is free to choose the source language and the target language of his or her translation from among the 23 official languages of the EU: German, English, Bulgarian, Danish, Spanish, Estonian, Finnish, French, Greek, Hungarian, Irish, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovakian, Slovenian, Swedish and Czech.
Each translation is marked by a translator from the Commission. Then a jury chaired by the Director General of the Directorate General Translation (DGT) will choose the best translation in each Member State based on the following criteria: o accuracy of the text,
- ability to write correctly (choice of expressions and of grammar),
- fluency of the writing,
- creativity of the solutions.
The 27 best translators, one per Member State, will be invited to Brussels to attend the ceremony for the awarding of the prizes, where they will represent their school and receive a certificate of linguistic excellence.
On route to the translating profession
Being able to understand a language different than one’s own is a sine qua non condition for all professional and personal fulfilment in a Europe whose borders are constantly expanding. This finding seems to have been assimilated perfectly by the young students who responded favourably and enthusiastically to the third competition (2009): “… A rise of 30% in the participation rate in comparison with last year shows that young people are more and more attracted to learning languages,” stressed Ms Vassilou, Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth, the day before the prizes were awarded to the winners of the 2009 competition.
The Commission’s gamble is paying off! This experience will stimulate the participants to pursue language studies in the hope that one day these young people will practise this profession in the name of their desire to learn, to understand and to bring people closer together!
* Sentence spoken during the lecture that Umberto Eco gave at the Assises de la Traduction littéraire in Arles, Sunday 14 November 1993.