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17th Translation Contest: "The Sounds of Silence" » English to Slovak

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

A theme of the age, at least in the developed world, is that people crave silence and can find none. The roar of traffic, the ceaseless beep of phones, digital announcements in buses and trains, TV sets blaring even in empty offices, are an endless battery and distraction. The human race is exhausting itself with noise and longs for its opposite—whether in the wilds, on the wide ocean or in some retreat dedicated to stillness and concentration. Alain Corbin, a history professor, writes from his refuge in the Sorbonne, and Erling Kagge, a Norwegian explorer, from his memories of the wastes of Antarctica, where both have tried to escape.

And yet, as Mr Corbin points out in "A History of Silence", there is probably no more noise than there used to be. Before pneumatic tyres, city streets were full of the deafening clang of metal-rimmed wheels and horseshoes on stone. Before voluntary isolation on mobile phones, buses and trains rang with conversation. Newspaper-sellers did not leave their wares in a mute pile, but advertised them at top volume, as did vendors of cherries, violets and fresh mackerel. The theatre and the opera were a chaos of huzzahs and barracking. Even in the countryside, peasants sang as they drudged. They don’t sing now.

What has changed is not so much the level of noise, which previous centuries also complained about, but the level of distraction, which occupies the space that silence might invade. There looms another paradox, because when it does invade—in the depths of a pine forest, in the naked desert, in a suddenly vacated room—it often proves unnerving rather than welcome. Dread creeps in; the ear instinctively fastens on anything, whether fire-hiss or bird call or susurrus of leaves, that will save it from this unknown emptiness. People want silence, but not that much.

The winning entry has been announced in this pair.

There were 9 entries submitted in this pair during the submission phase, 3 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 (9 total; 3 finalists) Expand all entries

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Language variants:
Entry #23639 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specified
Winner
Voting points1st2nd3rd
368 x42 x20
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry3.653.60 (10 ratings)3.70 (10 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 3 users entered 7 "like" tags
  • 1 user agreed with "likes" (5 total agrees)
+1
v ústraní, kde sa dá v pokoji stíšiť a skoncentrovať
Flows well
Kristina Karabova
+1
okovaných
Good term selection
Michal Fabian
živá vrava
Flows well
Eva Šoltésová
+1
z plného hrdla
Flows well
Eva Šoltésová
popri všetkej tej lopote
Flows well
Great!
Kristina Karabova
+1
rozptyľujúcich podnetov
Flows well
Nice solut​ion.
Kristina Karabova
+1
Pomaly sa nás začne zmocňovať strach
Flows well
Again, nic​e work wit​h style.
Kristina Karabova
Entry #24299 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specified
Finalist
Voting points1st2nd3rd
161 x45 x22 x1
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry3.963.83 (12 ratings)4.08 (12 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 5 users entered 6 "like" tags
  • 1 user agreed with "likes" (1 total agree)
na nás donekonečna útočia a rozptyľujú nás
Flows well
Zuzana Kapustova
+1
Profesor histórie Alain Corbin píše zo svojho útočiska na Sorbonne a nórsky bádateľ Erling Kagge čerpá inšpiráciu zo svojich spomienok na pustatinu Antarktídy.
Flows well
The best s​yntax comp​ared with ​the others
Zuzana Dudikova
bádateľ
Good term selection
Matej Mikula
o histórii ticha A History of Silence
Flows well
an elegant​ solution
Michal Fabian
cvengotom
Flows well
Michal Fabian
vítaného návštevníka
Flows well
I apprecia​te this no​t sticking​ to the or​iginal tex​t.
Kristina Karabova
Entry #24052 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specified
hcim
hcim
Portugal
Finalist
Voting points1st2nd3rd
111 x41 x25 x1
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry3.503.45 (11 ratings)3.55 (11 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 3 users entered 5 "like" tags
  • 5 users agreed with "likes" (6 total agrees)
+1
Jednou z veľkých tém dnešnej doby
Flows well
Zuzana Kapustova
+1
cvengotom
Good term selection
Michal Fabian
+1
Nezaostávali za nimi
Flows well
Michal Fabian
+1
osirelej
Good term selection
Michal Fabian
+2
Ľudia túžia po tichu, ale táto túžba má svoje medze.
Flows well
Nice solut​ion.
Eva Šoltésová


Non-finalist entries

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

Entry #22502 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Standard - Slovakia
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry3.003.42 (12 ratings)2.58 (12 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 4 users entered 8 "like" tags
  • 1 user agreed with "likes" (2 total agrees)
vtieravé melódie
Good term selection
Matej Mikula
nehostinnej Antarktídy
Good term selection
Eva Šoltésová
+1
družné debaty
Good term selection
Zuzana Kapustova
na ktorú sa ostatne sťažovali aj predchádzajúce generácie
Flows well
Eva Šoltésová
potrebe neustálych zmyslových vnemov. Tá nám zabraňuje ticho skutočne oceniť.
Other
Good inter​pretation ​of the sou​rce.
Eva Šoltésová
+1
ľudoprázdnej púšte
Good term selection
Zuzana Kapustova
v ktorej sme náhle osameli
Flows well
Great solu​tion
Zuzana Dudikova
odtiaľ-potiaľ
Flows well
Good solut​ion.
Eva Šoltésová
Entry #22619 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Standard - Slovakia
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry2.913.00 (11 ratings)2.82 (11 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 3 users entered 5 "like" tags
  • 2 users agreed with "likes" (2 total agrees)
+1
pozn. prekl.
Other
an elegant​ solution
Michal Fabian
+1
1
dobrovoľne nevrhali do virtuálnej reality
Flows well
Michal Fabian
Rozdiel nie je v jeho množstve, ale v tom, ako nás ruší.
Flows well
Eva Šoltésová
Uši sú v okamihu inštinktívne nastražené
Flows well
NIce solut​ion.
Eva Šoltésová
tajomnou prázdnotou
Good term selection
Zuzana Kapustova
Entry #23137 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Standard - Slovakia
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry2.402.25 (12 ratings)2.55 (11 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 1 user entered 1 "like" tag
chaotickou zmesou nadšených výkrikov
Flows well
Zuzana Kapustova
Entry #22679 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Standard - Slovakia
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry2.252.25 (12 ratings)2.25 (12 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 3 users entered 3 "like" tags
nekonečnú záplavu rušivých podnetov
Good term selection
Zuzana Kapustova
rýb
Good term selection
good gener​alization
Matej Mikula
ľudia ho vnímajú so znepokojením
Flows well
Eva Šoltésová
Entry #23296 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Standard - Slovakia
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry2.102.00 (5 ratings)2.20 (5 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • No "like" tags
Entry #23594 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Standard - Slovakia
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry1.902.00 (5 ratings)1.80 (5 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 1 user entered 1 "like" tag
ševelenie lístia
Good term selection
Zuzana Kapustova