ProZ.com translation contests »
11th ProZ.com translation contest: "Contemporary society" » English to Chinese

Competition in this pair is now closed, and the winning entry has been announced.

Discussion and feedback about the competition in this language pair may now be provided by visiting the "Discussion & feedback" page for this pair. Entries may also be individually discussed by clicking the "Discuss" link next to any listed entry.

Source text in English

We're accustomed to glamour in London SE26: Kelly Brook and Jason Statham used to live above the dentist. But when Anouska Hempel's heels hit the cracked cement of the parking space outside my flat, it's hard not to think of those Picture Post photographs of royalty visiting bombed-out families during the second world war. Her mission in my modest tract of suburbia is, however, about more than offering sympathy. Hempel—the woman who invented the boutique hotel before it bore any such proprietary name—has come to give me information for which, judging by the spreads in interiors magazines and anxious postings on online DIY forums, half the property-owners in the Western world seem desperate: how to give an ordinary home the look and the vibe of a five-star, £750-a-night hotel suite. To Hem­pelise, in this case, a modest conversion flat formed from the middle slice of a three-storey Victorian semi.

"You could do it," she says, casting an eye around my kitchen. "Anyone could do it. Absolutely no reason why not. But there has to be continuity between the rooms. A single idea must be followed through." She looks out wistfully over the fire escape. "And you'd have to buy the house next door, of course." That's a joke. I think.

...

It's worth pausing, though, to consider the oddness of this impulse. The hotel room is an amnesiac space. We would be troubled if it bore any sign of a previous occupant, particularly as many of us go to hotels in order to do things we would not do at home. We expect a hotel room to be cleaned as thoroughly as if a corpse had just been hauled from the bed. (In some cases, this will actually have happened.) The domestic interior embodies the opposite idea: it is a repository of memories. The story of its inhabitants ought to be there in the photos on the mantelpiece, the pictures on the wall, the books on the shelves. If hotel rooms were people, they would be smiling lobotomy patients or plausible psychopaths.

The winning entry has been announced in this pair.

There were 11 entries submitted in this pair during the submission phase, 2 of which were selected by peers to advance to the finals round. The winning entry was determined based on finals round voting by peers.

Competition in this pair is now closed.


Entries (11 total; 2 finalists) Expand all entries

Entry #14003 — Discuss 0
Winner
Voting points1st2nd3rd
358 x41 x21 x1
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry2.712.67 (3 ratings)2.75 (4 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 2 users entered 6 "like" tags
  • 1 user agreed with "likes" (1 total agree)
  • 3 users disagreed with "likes" (3 total disagrees)
室內設計雜誌掀起的風潮
Good term selection
tvera
+1
求之若渴
Good term selection
Ambrose Li
改觀為韓貝爾風格
Flows well
Ambrose Li
-2
2
不留半點痕跡般的徹底
Flows well
Ambrose Li
私宅
Good term selection
tvera
-1
腦葉白質切除手術後,痴痴傻笑的
Good term selection
tvera
Entry #13685 — Discuss 0
Finalist
Voting points1st2nd3rd
213 x44 x21 x1
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry2.753.00 (2 ratings)2.50 (4 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 3 users entered 4 "like" tags
  • 1 user agreed with "likes" (1 total agree)
+1
习以为常
Good term selection
Ze Liu
简朴无华
Flows well
Ze Liu
亨佩尔式改造
Flows well
Ambrose Li
一眼
Flows well
有情景感
James_xia


Non-finalist entries

The following entries were not selected by peers to advance to finals-round voting.

Entry #13664 — Discuss 0
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry4.254.50 (2 ratings)4.00 (3 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 4 users entered 4 "like" tags
  • 1 user agreed with "likes" (1 total agree)
+1
踏上我公寓外停车场的水泥地时
Flows well
great in t​he connect​ion
Link: http://ann​ie'scommen​tin contes​t
AnnieHouston
轰炸
Flows well
Good
James_xia
你可以做到。任何人都可以。绝对可以。但是房间之间必须有连续性。必须始终贯彻一个理念
Flows well
This is th​e translat​ion that b​rings out ​the tone a​nd flavour​ of the so​urce piece​. It would​ be nice t​o remove t​he pronoun​ "你" right​ at the be​ginning as​ that felt​ like it w​as transla​ted.
Lau Wei Tsinn
貌似正常的
Good term selection
tvera
Entry #13594 — Discuss 0
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry2.642.67 (3 ratings)2.60 (5 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 2 users entered 3 "like" tags
  • 1 user agreed with "likes" (1 total agree)
  • 1 user disagreed with "likes" (2 total disagrees)
辦到
Flows well
good solut​ion
Mathilda Banfield
-1
1
荒唐之處
Good term selection
amnesia: d​ifficult t​o translat​e, this ap​proach is ​quite nice
Mathilda Banfield
-1
+1
1
房間被徹底消毒過一樣
Flows well
Ambrose Li
Entry #13672 — Discuss 0
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry2.602.60 (5 ratings)2.60 (5 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • No "like" tags
Entry #13732 — Discuss 0
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry2.592.50 (2 ratings)2.67 (3 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 3 users entered 3 "like" tags
  • 1 user agreed with "likes" (1 total agree)
方寸之地
Flows well
Dina Chen
留痕迹的
Good term selection
Mathilda Banfield
+1
一样不留痕迹
Flows well
Ambrose Li
Entry #13048 — Discuss 0
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry2.422.50 (2 ratings)2.33 (3 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 1 user entered 1 "like" tag
在酒店里,这是完全可能发生的的事
Flows well
Ambrose Li
Entry #14038 — Discuss 0
Kaneliu
Kaneliu
China
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry2.422.50 (2 ratings)2.33 (3 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • No "like" tags
Entry #12718 — Discuss 0
pkchan
pkchan
United States
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry2.172.00 (2 ratings)2.33 (3 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 2 users entered 3 "like" tags
  • 2 users agreed with "likes" (2 total agrees)
迷人的贵气
Good term selection
Ambrose Li
+2
驱寒送暖
Good term selection
Cassie Chu
不留半点蛛丝马迹
Flows well
Ambrose Li
Entry #14032 — Discuss 0
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry2.172.00 (2 ratings)2.33 (3 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • No "like" tags
Entry #13921 — Discuss 0
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry2.002.00 (1 rating)2.00 (2 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 1 user entered 1 "like" tag
设计成健忘
Good term selection
Mathilda Banfield