Student wins national translation competition

Luke Botcherby, a student at Rainford Sixth Form, has triumphed at Manchester Metropolitan University’s (MMU) national Spanish translation competition.

As part of its outreach to secondary schools, MMU’s department of languages, information and communications organise an annual Spanish translation competition aimed at A-level students.

This year, students received a copy of an original children’s story ‘La manía de la rana rockera’, written by Pedro Pablo Sacristán.

In order to be successful in the competition, the candidates had to translate the whole story from Spanish into English, demonstrating a solid grasp of the Spanish language.

The finished translation had to be grammatically accurate, and yet retain the original style and meaning.

Luke said: “I was thrilled to find out that I had won MMU’s translation competition. I decided to enter it as I have always found translation an interesting concept and wanted to discover if it was as exhilarating as it seemed.

“The fact that my work could potentially be published was also a highly motivating factor.

“Translating the story did present some challenges, including manipulating the vocabulary to suit the target audience of young children.

“Winning this competition has certainly whet my appetite for studying translation at university in the future, and I hope that I have inspired other students in my school to take part next year.”

Rainford’s modern foreign languages department were equally as delighted with Luke’s achievement. They noted that his success is a real credit to his conscientious attitude, highlighting his motivation to go above and beyond in his language studies.