In March 2019, New Books in German held a translation competition in partnership with the Oxford German Network. The Oxford German Network is an initiative by the German department of the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages, University of Oxford, dedicated to productive cross-cultural cooperation involving schools, cultural organisations, businesses, and policy-makers. http://www.ogn.ox.ac.uk/
The competition was part of the Oxford German Olympiad, an annual series of events to encourage young people’s engagement in German language and literature, and was open to undergraduates studying German at a British or Irish university. Entrants were required to translate into English the first chapter of Vincenzo Todisco’s Das Eidechsenkind, as well as to produce a short commentary describing any particular challenges encountered during the translation process.
The competition winner, Beth Molyneux, a first year undergraduate in Modern Languages at Oxford, submitted a perfectly-pitched translation which stood out among many outstanding entries. Beth will receive a cash prize of £100 to be awarded at a prize-giving ceremony at the Weston Library, University of Oxford, in June 2019.
Click here to read her sample translation.
