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Representation in Ireland
  • News article
  • 29 November 2022
  • Representation in Ireland
  • 2 min read

Aistritheoirí Óga competition now open

Calling all young translators – the 2023 all-island ‘Aistritheoirí Óga’ (Young Translators) competition is now open.

Aistritheoirí Óga - Visual promoting the 2023 competition

Launching the sixth edition of the all-island ‘Aistritheoirí Óga’ (Young Translators) competition, Jack Chambers TD, Minister of State for the Gaeltacht and Sport said ‘The derogation relating to the status of the Irish language in the EU institutions has come to an end and during the same period, the Official Languages Act (Amendment) 2021 has been enacted here in Ireland.  There is no doubt that exceptional career opportunities will continue to emerge in the coming years for those who have the relevant language skills.  My Department has been enthusiastic in its support for the Aistritheoirí Óga competition we organise in conjunction with the European Commission and we are delighted by the competition’s success.’

Speaking about the competition, Seán Hade, Head of the Irish Language Department at the European Commission spoke of ‘the opportunity it creates for participating students to get a sense of what it is like to work as a translator in the EU institutions.’  He encouraged secondary school students with a high level of Irish to ‘make use of the languages they have learned’ and ‘to experience, first-hand, some  of the linguistic challenges Irish-language translators in the EU institutions have to solve on a daily basis.’

The competition

The ‘Aistritheoirí Óga' (Young Translators) translation competition is organised jointly by the European Commission and the Irish Government. It is open to students across the island of Ireland who were at least 15 years of age on the 1 September 2022 and who have the ability to translate from English into Irish, or from a range of other European languages into Irish.

The competition has three goals: to promote a high standard of Irish, to encourage multilingualism among secondary school students and to encourage their interest in careers with Irish. 

There are five categories in the competition: the best translation into Irish in each province and the best overall translation across the island of Ireland.

All schools wishing to participate should register by 20 January 2023 by sending an email to DGT-GA-AISTRITHEOIRI-OGAatec [dot] europa [dot] eu (DGT-GA-AISTRITHEOIRI-OGA[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu)

The competition will take place on Tuesday, 7 March 2023.

At the awards ceremony in April 2023, the Minister of State for the Gaeltacht and Sport will present the winners with their prizes – a perpetual trophy for the overall winner and a Samsung tablet for each of the other category winners.

Further information about the competition, the registration process and the rules of the competition can be found here.  Examples of previous competition texts can be found here.

 

Background to the competition

The first edition of this competition was launched in October 2017.

The competition is part of a wider effort to raise awareness of the status of the Irish language as an official language of the European Union (EU) and the resulting career opportunities.

Further information

Career opportunities with Irish in the EU institutions

Details

Publication date
29 November 2022
Author
Representation in Ireland