A YOUNG linguist has received international recognition from the European Commission for her translation skills.
Rebekah Ruddick, a student at The King's Academy, Coulby Newham, received a special mention in the Juvenes Translatores (Young Translators) competition for her work translating a page of French into English.
The 17-year-old, who is studying for A levels in French, Spanish and English literature, has now set herself an even tougher challenge - learning Estonian in her free time.
Rebekah, of Acklam, said: "We were given an A4 letter in French and had an hour to translate it. We were allowed a dictionary but otherwise had to write the most accurate translation.
"Translating word for word from one language to another never works - you have to get the meaning and translate it in the way it was intended when written. That's why I love translation because it allows you to be creative as well as testing your accuracy."
Rebekah started learning French in year 6 at St Bernadette's RC Primary School, in Nunthorpe, and started Spanish in year 8 at The King's Academy, where she is one of the first students to study the language to A level.
"I love translating, it's one of my favourite parts of language and I do it for fun really. It's never easy, but it's a good challenge, and although I didn't win the competition for the UK I really enjoyed taking part," she added.
After her exams Rebekah is planning to take a gap year travelling in Spain, Estonia - the home country of her partner Lauri Pesur - and the Philippines, where her sister Ruth Newlove is a missionary.
"Learning Estonian is really hard because it's nothing like the other languages I speak. There are 14 cases and six more letters of the alphabet. I'm teaching myself online and picking up speech from my fiancé," she explained.
Eventually multi-talented Rebekah, who plays the oboe to grade eight and had the leading role of Lina Lamont in the academy's production of Singin' in the Rain, hopes to go into a career that involves translation or interpreting.
Juvenes Translatores is an annual competition for 17-year-olds across Europe run by the European Commission, with one winning student from each country invited to an awards ceremony in Brussels in April. The UK winner was from City of London School.
