ProZ.com translation contests »
1st Annual ProZ.com Translation Contest: "Awakening" » English to German

Competition in this pair is now closed.

Source text in English

Heathrow Airport is one of the few places in England you can be sure of seeing a gun. These guns are carried by policemen in short-sleeved shirts and black flak-jackets, alert for terrorists about to blow up Tie-Rack. They are unlikely to confront me directly, but if they do I shall tell them the truth. I shall state my business. I’m planning to stop at Heathrow Airport until I see someone I know. (...)

Astonishingly, I wait for thirty-nine minutes and don’t see one person I know. Not one, and no-one knows me. I’m as anonymous as the drivers with their universal name-cards (some surnames I know), except the drivers are better dressed. Since the kids, whatever I wear looks like pyjamas. Coats, shirts, T-shirts, jeans, suits; like slept-in pyjamas. (...)

I hear myself thinking about all the people I know who have let me down by not leaving early on a Tuesday morning for glamorous European destinations. My former colleagues from the insurance office must still be stuck at their desks, like I always said they would be, when I was stuck there too, wasting my time and unable to settle while Ally moved steadily onward, getting her PhD and her first research fellowship at Reading University, her first promotion.

Our more recent grown-up friends, who have serious jobs and who therefore I half expect to be seeing any moment now, tell me that home-making is a perfectly decent occupation for a man, courageous even, yes, manly to stay at home with the kids. These friends of ours are primarily Ally’s friends. I don’t seem to know anyone anymore, and away from the children and the overhead planes, hearing myself think, I hear the thoughts of a whinger. This is not what I had been hoping to hear.

I start crying, not grimacing or sobbing, just big silent tears rolling down my cheeks. I don’t want anyone I know to see me crying, because I’m not the kind of person who cracks up at Heathrow airport some nothing Tuesday morning. I manage our house impeccably, like a business. It’s a serious job. I have spreadsheets to monitor the hoover-bag situation and colour-coded print-outs about the ethical consequences of nappies. I am not myself this morning. I don’t know who I am.

The winning entry has been announced in this pair.

There were 43 entries submitted in this pair during the submission phase, 5 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 (43 total; 5 finalists) Expand all entries

Entry #7615
Winner
Voting points1st2nd3rd
10921 x49 x27 x1
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry3.383.50 (12 ratings)3.25 (12 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 4 users entered 6 "like" tags
  • 15 users agreed with "likes" (34 total agrees)
+6
denen man unter Garantie eine Waffe zu Gesicht bekommt.
Good term selection
wirkt unan​gestrengt
Johanna Timm, PhD
+3
aber falls doch, werde ich ihnen halt die Wahrheit sagen
Flows well
"halt" mak​es all the​ differenc​e
Michael Larrass (X)
+4
allgegenwärtigen
Good term selection
passt einf​ach besser​ als die m​eisten and​eren Mögli​chkeiten
Annika Persson
+12
Seit ich Kinder habe, kann ich anziehen, was ich will. Ich sehe immer aus wie im Schlafanzug
Flows well
Annette Scheler
+3
alles sieht aus, als hätte ich darin geschlafen.
Flows well
Great. Not​ a trace o​f translat​edness
Michael Larrass (X)
+6
meine Zeit totschlug und nicht vorwärts kam
Flows well
Annette Scheler
Entry #7520
Finalist
Voting points1st2nd3rd
10220 x48 x26 x1
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry3.463.67 (12 ratings)3.25 (12 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 5 users entered 8 "like" tags
  • 13 users agreed with "likes" (39 total agrees)
  • 1 user disagreed with "likes" (1 total disagree)
+2
den Krawattenladen Tie Rack
Good term selection
Gerhard Hofmann
+4
Ich gedenke
Good term selection
gibt die i​nnere Ents​chlossenhe​it gut wie​der
Johanna Timm, PhD
+6
vertraut
Good term selection
I like thi​s one best
Vivien Werner-P
+9
und mich auf nichts Verbindliches im Leben einlassen konnte, während Ally entschlossenen Schrittes ihren Weg ging,
Flows well
the whole ​sentence f​lows very ​well
Vivien Werner-P
-1
+8
1
meinem inneren Monolog lauschend,
Flows well
Nice
Vivien Werner-P
+3
Heulanfall
Good term selection
gibt die i​nnere Dist​anz d. Erz​ählers tre​ffend wied​er.
Johanna Timm, PhD
+3
Staubsaugerbeutelproblematik
Good term selection
Gut gelöst
Andrea Kowalenko
+4
Evaluierung der moralischen Auswirkungen von Windeln
Flows well
gefällt mi​r
Christian Schneider
Entry #6527
Finalist
Voting points1st2nd3rd
8915 x413 x23 x1
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry3.363.45 (11 ratings)3.27 (11 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 7 users entered 7 "like" tags
  • 15 users agreed with "likes" (38 total agrees)
  • 2 users disagreed with "likes" (2 total disagrees)
-1
+5
im Visier haben
Flows well
Vivien Werner-P
+10
Ich bin ein unbekanntes Gesicht in der Menge
Flows well
Trifft das​ Gefühl se​hr gut, fi​nde ich.
Annika Persson
+4
nach Schlafanzug aus
Good term selection
Anett Lindner
+6
nach Schlafanzug aus
Flows well
Michael Schickenberg (X)
unfähig, zur Ruhe zu kommen,
Good term selection
Gaby Lorenzen
-1
+6
einen echten Mann erfordere
Flows well
Katrin Eichler
+7
wann die Anschaffung neuer Staubsaugerbeutel fällig wird
Flows well
Sabine Trautewein
Entry #6622
particularalien
particularalien
United Kingdom
Finalist
Voting points1st2nd3rd
538 x47 x27 x1
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry3.413.11 (9 ratings)3.70 (10 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 3 users entered 3 "like" tags
  • 5 users agreed with "likes" (6 total agrees)
+4
die kugelsichere Westen über kurzärmeligen Hemden tragen
Flows well
Susanne Creak
+2
überall gleich aussehenden Namensschildern
Flows well
Vivien Werner-P
Ich höre mir selbst zu beim Nachdenken über all jene Bekannten,
Flows well
Gaby Lorenzen
Entry #6521
Sandra Mehnert (X)
Sandra Mehnert (X)
Germany
Finalist
Voting points1st2nd3rd
509 x44 x26 x1
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry3.533.55 (11 ratings)3.50 (12 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 3 users entered 4 "like" tags
  • 8 users agreed with "likes" (12 total agrees)
  • 1 user disagreed with "likes" (1 total disagree)
+2
schicken
Good term selection
Susanne Creak
+1
Unsere noch neueren erwachsenen Freunde
Flows well
Good, conc​ise equiva​lent
Ullie Emigh
-1
+5
1
fernab von den Kindern und den Flugzeugen da oben
Flows well
Vivien Werner-P
+4
mittels Tabellenkalkulation
Good term selection
Susanne Creak