A new edition of the school translator contest has been opened by the European Commission. The contest is addressed to secondary schools that can enrol pupils for the annual EU Young Translator Contest known as ‘Juvenes Translatores’ (Latin for 'young translators’) from now on until 20 October.

The 'Juvenes Translatores' contest accomplishes now in its fifth year and it will be held on 24 November at the same time in all selected schools. It is open to pupils born in 1994 and more than 750 schools can take part. Androulla Vassiliou, the European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth stated that the contest promotes language learning in schools and translation as a career and she added that knowledge of languages can open their minds to different cultures and boost their job prospects.

Schools can enter up to five pupils throughout the webpage available for the registration. The submissions of applications can be done until 20 October 2011. Secondary schools can be of any nationality provided that they are enrolled at a school in an EU Member State. Last year 2,800 pupils sat the contest. European Commission translators will mark the texts and select one winner per country.

This year the theme of the texts to translate will be volunteering, to mark the European Year of Volunteering. The pupils translate a one-page text based on their choice of any of the 506 language combinations possible among the EU’s 23 official languages. In March 2012 all winners will be invited to Brussels to receive their prize.