Austin Peay classics senior finishes second at national translation contest
(Posted April 5, 2019)
Austin Peay State University classics senior Alexander Kee last month finished second in a national Latin translation contest. It was his second straight second-place finish in the annual competition.
The Maurine Dallas Watkins Sight Translation Contests, hosted by the Eta Sigma Phi Honorary Society for Classical Studies, draw only the most advanced undergraduate classics students from across the country.
Kee took the test earlier this semester and found out about his finish on March 27.
鈥淚 was excited,鈥 he said. 鈥淵ou know, it鈥檚 three hours of good work. You get $75 for second place, and that鈥檚 more than I normally make in three hours of work.鈥
Most of the competition challenges competitors to translate Greek or Latin to English. Kee competed in the Advanced Prose Composition contest, which challenges competitors to translate English to Latin.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 different than what you鈥檙e going to get in most of your upper-level classes,鈥 Kee said. 鈥淲hat this requires is a different understanding of the language, it鈥檚 a different kind of skill.鈥
This year, Kee had to translate an excerpt of Queen Elizabeth I鈥檚 famous 1588 speech to her troops at Tilbury, where England repelled the Spanish Armada. England鈥檚 defeat of the armada boosted the queen鈥檚 prestige. to the British Library鈥檚 webpage about the speech.
Last year, Kee translated a Martin Luther King Jr. speech excerpt.
Kee will graduate next month with a bachelor鈥檚 in classics and a minor in linguistics. The Rossview High School graduate will attend the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, as a master鈥檚 candidate in teaching Latin. His current goal is to teach Latin in high school.
鈥淚f there鈥檚 something around here, I鈥檇 like to come back,鈥 he said.
TO LEARN MORE
- For more about the Maurine Dallas Watkins Translation Contests, visit .
- For more about the classics degrees offered at Austin Peay, go to www.apsu.edu/classics/.