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

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 17 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 (17 total; 3 finalists) Expand all entries

Entry #24136 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specified
Olivera Ristanovic-Santrac
Olivera Ristanovic-Santrac
المملكة المتحدة
Winner
Voting points1st2nd3rd
569 x49 x22 x1
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry3.833.88 (17 ratings)3.78 (18 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 1 user entered 1 "like" tag
  • 1 user agreed with "likes" (1 total agree)
+1
звучни сигнали мобилних телефона,
Flows well
Marija Jankovic
Entry #22334 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specified
Finalist
Voting points1st2nd3rd
468 x44 x26 x1
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry3.683.82 (17 ratings)3.53 (17 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 2 users entered 4 "like" tags
Човечанство само себе замара буком, а жуди за њеном супротношћу — дивљином, пространством океана или неком другом оазом мира и концентрације.
Flows well
Tatiana Subarevic
обојица у покушају бекства.
Flows well
Ljiljana Grubač
У нас се увлачи страх
Flows well
Ljiljana Grubač
птичји пој
Flows well
Ljiljana Grubač
Entry #23855 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specified
Finalist
Voting points1st2nd3rd
313 x45 x29 x1
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry3.303.19 (16 ratings)3.40 (15 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 1 user entered 1 "like" tag
Zebnja se šunja
Flows well
Ljiljana Grubač


Non-finalist entries

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

Entry #24127 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specified
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry3.213.14 (14 ratings)3.27 (15 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 1 user entered 3 "like" tags
  • 3 users agreed with "likes" (3 total agrees)
  • 1 user disagreed with "likes" (1 total disagree)
+1
кулуче.
Flows well
Marija Jankovic
+2
ометања
Flows well
Marija Jankovic
-1
есто се пре покаже као иритирајућа него добродошла.
Flows well
Marija Jankovic
Entry #23533 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specified
Dušan Savić
Dušan Savić
صربيا
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry3.203.13 (15 ratings)3.27 (15 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • No "like" tags
Entry #23930 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specified
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry3.203.17 (18 ratings)3.22 (18 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • No "like" tags
Entry #23270 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specified
Mara Manzalovic
Mara Manzalovic
صربيا
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry3.173.07 (15 ratings)3.27 (15 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • No "like" tags
Entry #23312 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specified
mariakgs
mariakgs
صربيا
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry3.053.23 (13 ratings)2.86 (14 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 1 user entered 1 "like" tag
nespokoj
Flows well
majazmikos
Entry #23849 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specified
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry3.043.00 (15 ratings)3.07 (15 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 1 user entered 1 "like" tag
лампарају
Flows well
sounds goo​d
Tatiana Subarevic
Entry #23861 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specified
Mafi
Mafi
صربيا
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry2.802.80 (10 ratings)2.80 (10 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 2 users entered 3 "like" tags
  • 2 users disagreed with "likes" (2 total disagrees)
Danas - tog pevanja nema
Flows well
majazmikos
rastrojstva
Flows well
Marija Jankovic
Entry #23710 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specified
somborjazz
somborjazz
صربيا
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry2.782.80 (5 ratings)2.75 (4 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • No "like" tags
Entry #22760 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specified
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry2.702.70 (10 ratings)2.70 (10 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 1 user entered 1 "like" tag
zaglušujućim
Flows well
majazmikos
Entry #22543 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specified
Bojana Bojkovic
Bojana Bojkovic
البوسنة والهرسك
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry2.652.70 (10 ratings)2.60 (10 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • No "like" tags
Entry #22589 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specified
Jasna Gonda
Jasna Gonda
صربيا
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry2.632.50 (4 ratings)2.75 (4 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • No "like" tags
Entry #22439 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specified
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry2.382.50 (8 ratings)2.25 (8 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • No "like" tags
Entry #23314 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specified
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry1.882.00 (4 ratings)1.75 (4 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 1 user entered 1 "like" tag
nemuštim gomilama
Flows well
Marija Jankovic
Entry #23206 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specified
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry1.792.25 (4 ratings)1.33 (3 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • No "like" tags