North West

The Spanish Section of the Department of Languages, Information and Communications at Manchester Metropolitan University is pleased to announce its annual Translation Competition for A-Level students. As a participant – past or present – in our events for schools (6th Form Days, Language Enrichment Events, etc), your school is offered the chance to take part.

The task is to produce an English version of a newly-published children’s short story. The competition aims to promote language-learning through story reading and to introduce students to the challenges of translating materials of this kind.

The short story to be translated - by Spanish children’s author Pedro Pablo Sacristán - has the catchy title of A gritos con los mosquitos and is attached at the end of these instructions.

Schools are asked to submit a maximum of 2 entries chosen internally from among their participating students and to send them to the following address: hlssschools@mmu.ac.uk

Please indicate clearly in the e-mail subject line that the contents are for the Spanish A-Level Translation Competition.

All Information can be found here:

https://www2.mmu.ac.uk/hlss/schools-liaison/spanish-a-level-translation-competition/

Deadline for Entries: 18 January 2019

Announcement of Winner: 15 February 2019

Entries will be judged by a panel from the Department of Languages, Information and Communications.

The winner will receive a trophy and a Music Gift Card to the value of £50. It is anticipated that the winning translation will appear, with any required modifications, on the website containing the original story: https://cuentosparadormir.com/infantiles/cuento/gritos-con-los-mosquitos

For further details and queries, please contact hlssschools@mmu.ac.uk

The French section of the Department of Languages, Information and Communications at Manchester Metropolitan University is pleased to announce its annual Translation Competition for A-Level students. 

The translation task is to produce an English version of part of a book titled Nico perdu à Londres by Hubert Ben Kemoun (Editions Nathan 2010).  Ben Kemoun is a childrens’ writer and playwright who is almost unknown in English speaking countries. 

The competition aims to promote language learning through French popular culture.  It will introduce A-Level students to the challenges of translating a range of grammatical structures, colloquial expressions and cultural references into authentic English.

Nico perdu à Londres is about a French schoolboy who gets lost on a trip to London.  It gives a light-hearted view of English life seen through French eyes.  The passage to be translated is centred around their trip to Buckingham Palace.

Schools are asked to submit 2 entries chosen internally from among their participating students and to send both entries to the following address: hlssschools@mmu.ac.uk

The text can be downloaded here:

https://www2.mmu.ac.uk/hlss/schools-liaison/french-competition/

Please indicate clearly in the e-mail subject that the contents are for the French A-Level Translation Competition.

Deadline for Entries: 21 January 2019

Entries will be judged by a panel chosen by the Department of Languages, Information and Communications

Announcement of Winner: 18 February 2019

The winner will receive a trophy and a music gift card to the value of £50. 

For further details and queries, please contact:  Matthew Screech:  m.screech@mmu.ac.uk

• When translating try and retain the tone of the original as much as possible.  Be creative in conveying the humorous ideas  and playful tone, as well as in conveying the cultural references.
• You can find out more about the author here https://www.babelio.com/auteur/Hubert-Ben-Kemoun/12163
   

Manchester Met's Sixth Form Languages Day which supported both pupils studying French and Spanish at A-Level, saw over 300 attendees yesterday. The event offered a wide range of sessions for both subjects allowing A-Level students to get expert knowledge from leading MMU staff ahead of their exams. With over 30 Sixth Forms/Colleges attending from various regions, the event was a massive success. Students filled up the Geoffrey Manton atrium during lunch and lecture theatres were at full capacity when the sessions were underway. The event was organised by Manchester Metropolitan University in conjuction with Routes into Languages North West. It is an annual event, however it is the first year that Spanish and French have both run their events on the same day allowing even more pupils to attend than before.

Describing the event, one teacher from Calderstones School said, "I think the students will have particularly benefited from the literature and film analysis sessions. They will have also greatly benefited from the use of TL [target language] in the sessions and they also got a great insight into what it will be like to study languages at degree level.

I love all the Routes into Languages events and think they are professionally run and organised."

Another teacher from King David Liverpool High School added, "Students particularly learnt a lot from the laiceté sessions. They were inspired by the sessions and came away considering French as a degree course.

It was a refreshingly good day for staff and students. Staff saw it as a CPD [continuing professional development] opportunity to see how others approached some of the A level topics. The set up was very welcoming and we enjoyed meeting your first year student and staff."

The Asian Media Awards ceremony took place at the Manchester Hilton Deansgate (Thursday October 25) attracting journalists, broadcasters and media professionals from across the country.

Routes into Languages Co-Director and Project Manager, Yasmin Hussain said, “The sponsorship continues to demonstrate our support for raising the profile of journalism to produce future talented journalists.

Both the faculty of Arts and Humanities and Routes into Languages NW are committed to raising educational attainment and achievement of pupils across the region.”

The evening also saw among others BBC Breakfast’s Naga Munchetty and East is East and Ackley Bridge creator Ayub Khan Din honoured.

The highly coveted 2018 MMU (Manchester Metropolitan University) and Routes into Languages Journalist of the Year category featured five broadcasters, writers, producers and reporters. Faisal was presented the award by Senior Lecturer in Multimedia Journalism and Programme leader MA Multimedia Journalism at the Manchester Metropolitan University,  Andrew Dickinson.

Faisal Islam is one of the country’s leading political journalists and broadcasters.  He has led the broadcasters’ around-the-clock coverage during the past four years of political upheaval. He chaired the first live head-to-head debate between Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn in the 2017 General Election. The past 12 months have seen Faisal break a relentless series of stories on the progress, or lack thereof, of Brexit talks. 

Using his knowledge and contacts in Number 10, Cabinet, the opposition party, Parliament, Whitehall, business, central banks, Brussels and across European capitals, Faisal has broken countless stories that have been used extensively by other media outlets – many on front pages of newspapers.  In March, Faisal obtained the single most significant Brexit document leak from within Cabinet during the past year.  His ‘Brexit Forensics’ series revealed the impact of some of the political choices of Brexit around the country.

Judges said, “Faisal has repeatedly proven himself to be an exemplary journalist. He has broken a string of exclusive stories this year, which have gone on to set the agenda, not just for other media outlets, but also in discussions within parliament.

He is clearly a talented, influential and accomplished journalist and this was reflected in the work submitted.”