SEDBERGH PUPILS RISE TO THE CHALLENGE IN RIGOROUS EU TRANSLATION COMPETITION

Pupils at Sedbergh School took part in the EU-wide Juvenes Translatores Competition last week. The school is one of only 78 in the UK to be selected, and 751 schools in the EU.

The test lasted two hours, and there was a tinge of excitement in the room knowing that three thousand other pupils around Europe were completing the same tasks simultaneously.

The texts to translate, all of which were approximately 300 words in length, focused on the theme of ‘European identity’. All five candidates were working until the very last minute, and were exhausted at the end after this rigorous mental challenge.

Josh McAneny was apparently particularly proud of his translation of the French title,
(“Trop ceci, pas assez cela… et vous, l’Europe, vous en pensez quoi?” – “Too much of this, not enough of that… and you Europe, how about that?”) managing to translate the rhyming French into admirably rhyming English.

Head of MFL Andrew Loughe said: “The completed translations have been scanned, uploaded and sent to the European Commission in Brussels and we must now wait for the results to be published early February.

The lucky winner – just one candidate from the each participating country – will be invited on an all-expenses paid trip to Brussels in April for the awards ceremony. Fingers crossed!”

For more information on the competition visit: http://ec.europa.eu/translatores/why/index_en.htm and follow @Sedbergh_MFL Twitter account for updates.