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Juvenes Translation Challenge

On Thursday 24 November five Jack Hunt students took part in the Juvenes Challenge, a translation competition for schools now in its 10th year.  The organisers believe that learning languages brings us closer and helps us understand other cultures


Miss McGuiggan pictured above with the entrants
for the Juvenes Challenge

On Thursday 24 November five Jack Hunt students took part in the Juvenes Challenge, a translation competition for schools now in its 10th year.  The organisers believe that learning languages brings us closer and helps us understand other cultures, the competition is a symbol of how important and powerful translation is in improving relations between countries and people.  The number of schools taking part in this Challenge is determined by the number of members in the European houses of parliament (MEPs) for each country.

The Challenge started at 10am in the UK, 9am for our friends over in continental Europe. The Challenge was described by Tom Miller (Head Boy) as: “very challenging but definitely rewarding”. Tom took part in the Juvenes Challenge despite not having done Spanish for two years. He was called in to support Year 12 students Ellen, Liam, Doreen and Mollie; who had recently won another languages competition by writting a letter in Spanish explaining why Enrique Iglesias and Mollie should get married.

The Juvenes Challenge was a perfect opportunity for these language students to apply skills from the classroom in a real life competition against dozens of schools across the country, ranging from secondary schools like ours, to grammar and private schools. Students are given 40 minutes in full exam conditions but are allowed a Spanish dictionary.

After the event the exam papers are sent off to Brussels in Belgium to be judged.  We now have to wait patiently for the results which will come back in March 2017.