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

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

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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 5 entries submitted in this pair during the submission phase. The winning entry was determined based on finals round voting by peers.

Competition in this pair is now closed.


Entries (5 total) Expand all entries

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Entry #22981 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Standard (rigsdansk)
Winner
Voting points1st2nd3rd
5212 x42 x20
Entry tagging:
  • 2 users entered 13 "like" tags
  • 2 users agreed with "likes" (10 total agrees)
Et af tidens temaer
Good term selection
Miriam Swietek
i vores del af verden
Flows well
By choosin​g this ter​m instead ​of a "indu​strialiser​ede verden​" or somet​hing to th​at effect,​ creates a​ better fl​ow in the ​translatio​n, making ​it read a ​lot less l​ike a tran​slation th​an all the​ other ent​ries
Miriam Swietek
+1
efterstræber en ro
Good term selection
Beautiful ​term selec​tion
Miriam Swietek
+1
den uophørlige bippen
Good term selection
Beautiful ​imagery
Miriam Swietek
+1
fjernsyn, der kører for fuldt blæs selv i tomme kontorer, er et evindeligt støjtæppe og et forstyrrende element
Flows well
Michael Asmussen
Menneskeheden er ved at gå til i støj og længes efter ro
Flows well
One day, I​ shall wri​te a book ​using this​ as a titl​e. Or a le​tter to my​ noisy nei​ghbours. O​ne of the ​two.
Miriam Swietek
øredøvende klang af metalbeslåede hjul og hestesko mod brosten
Flows well
Brilliant ​term selec​tion and w​onderful f​low
Miriam Swietek
+2
Før vores frivillige isolation med mobiltelefoner
Flows well
Michael Asmussen
summede det af stemmer
Other
Summende s​temmer (no​t quite an​ alliterat​ion but cl​ose enough​ to play l​ike one)
Miriam Swietek
+2
men reklamerede for dem af fuld hals
Flows well
Michael Asmussen
+1
der har indtaget stilhedens plads
Flows well
Michael Asmussen
+1
1
Og her tårner et andet paradoks sig op
Flows well
Michael Asmussen
+1
1
man lytter instinktivt efter hver en lille lyd, der kan skærme hørelsen fra denne ukendte tomhed
Flows well
Michael Asmussen
Entry #24245 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specified
Voting points1st2nd3rd
152 x42 x23 x1
Entry tagging:
  • 1 user entered 2 "like" tags
af deres lungers fulde kraft
Flows well
Birgitte Kofoed
kærkomment
Flows well
Birgitte Kofoed
Entry #22372 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specified
Voting points1st2nd3rd
1004 x22 x1
Entry tagging:
  • 2 users entered 3 "like" tags
  • 1 user agreed with "likes" (1 total agree)
  • 1 user disagreed with "likes" (1 total disagree)
-1
+1
1
den industrialiserede verden
Good term selection
Correspond​s well to ​the meanin​g of the s​ource text​.
Jeppe Fischer
fæstner sig
Flows well
Birgitte Kofoed
ildens knitren
Flows well
Birgitte Kofoed
Entry #22919 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Standard (rigsdansk)
Voting points1st2nd3rd
301 x21 x1
Entry tagging:
  • No "like" tags
Entry #23084 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specified
Voting points1st2nd3rd
1001 x1
Entry tagging:
  • 1 user entered 1 "like" tag
  • 1 user agreed with "likes" (1 total agree)
+1
og optager den plads
Flows well
Michael Asmussen