'MEC Press' December 2019 Publication 1. Newsletter December 2019 Vo 7 | Page 6

European Translation Competition 2019
Well done to the five students who represented our school in the recent European Commission Young
Translators for Europe competition. The Juvenes Translatores contest was launched in 2007 and
aims to raise awareness of the importance of language and translation skills and the need to reassess
translation — as a means of ‘mediating’ between languages — in the context of language learning.
The contest offers students the opportunity to demonstrate their agility and creativity in translation.
In the long run, learning languages will bring us closer and help us understand each other’s cultures.
It will also make it easier for our students to study and work around Europe. Studies show the ever-
growing need for translation and translators in Europe. It’s useful for language students to be
prepared for this!
MEC was one of eleven schools selected in Ireland to participate in the competition. Our students
opted to translate from Romanian, German, Polish & Irish. The competition took place at the same
time in schools all across Europe on 21st November. For the first time this year, the contest was done
online. Results of the competition will be announced in February 2020. One winner from each EU
country will be invited to an award ceremony in Brussels in spring 2020.
@H.English
National Translation
Competition Awards
@J.Hyland
Two students from Maynooth Education
Campus, Niamh Krahn (5th year) and Vicky
He (3rd year), won national translators’
awards
for
secondary
schools.
Niamh translated a literary text from
German to English and Vicky translated a
text from Chinese to English.
The competition is organised annually by the
Irish
Translators
and
Interpreters'
Association (ITIA), who give awards for
different languages nationally. The texts are
normally chosen as there is no existing
English translation, and they need to be
translated to a very high standard to sound
authentic.
The ITIA’s aim is to promote language skills
and to encourage students to consider
careers as professional interpreters and
translators. The awards ceremony took place
on the 18th October 2019 in The Irish
Writers' Centre, Dublin, where Niamh and
Vicky each received a prize and a certificate.
Congratulations Niamh and Vicky!