London student wins best young translators prize

26 February 2009

An A level student from North London has been named Britain’s best young translator by the European Commission (EC). Sabrina Vashisht from Chorleywood, Herts, was awarded the UK prize in the Europe-wide Juvenes Translatores competition last week.

Sabrina, who is studying A levels in French, Spanish, Russian, and Maths at North London Collegiate School, will travel to Brussels in April to receive a prize for the best UK translation from the European Commissioner for Multilingualism, Mr Leonard Orban.

The commission received over 2000 entries from schools across Europe, in 147 different language combinations. Students taking part were given two hours to translate a text on the topic of multilingualism from one of the 23 official languages of the European Union into a language of their choice. The entries were marked by a panel of professional translators from the EC’s Directorate-General for Translation (DGT).

Commissioner Orban said ‘The contest provides a true challenge in testing the language skills learned at school. At the same time, students get a foretaste of what it is like to work as a translator.’

The names of the 27 winners, as well as the winning translations, are available to view on the European Commission website.