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

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 16 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 (16 total; 5 finalists) Expand all entries

Entry #7100
Winner
Voting points1st2nd3rd
6213 x44 x22 x1
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry3.413.50 (14 ratings)3.31 (13 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 1 user entered 5 "like" tags
  • 6 users agreed with "likes" (12 total agrees)
  • 2 users disagreed with "likes" (2 total disagrees)
+4
cu ochii-n patru după terorişti gata să arunce-n aer magazinul Tie-Rack
Flows well
bine zis
Monika Silea
+4
Puţin probabil să se lege de mine
Flows well
Monika Silea
+2
fără să întâlnesc o persoană cunoscută. Nici măcar una
Flows well
Monika Silea
-2
Îmi aud gândurile legate de toţi cunoscuţii care m-au dezamăgit, neaflându-se în drum spre o splendidă destinaţie europeană dis-de-dimineaţă într-o zi de marţi
Flows well
very well
Monika Silea
+2
mergea înainte fără ezitare
Flows well
Monika Silea
Entry #6497
Finalist
Voting points1st2nd3rd
357 x43 x21 x1
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry3.313.36 (14 ratings)3.25 (12 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 2 users entered 7 "like" tags
  • 6 users agreed with "likes" (9 total agrees)
  • 1 user disagreed with "likes" (1 total disagree)
-1
vigilenţi la teroriştii care pot arunca în aer magazinul Tie Rack
Flows well
Monika Silea
+2
obişnuitele cartoane cu nume
Flows well
da
Monika Silea
+3
1
să mă căpătuiesc
Good term selection
Foarte ins​pirat!
Ioana Costache
Mai noii noştri prieteni adulţi
Good term selection
yep
Monika Silea
+2
a ţine gospodăria
Good term selection
Monika Silea
+1
microîntreprindere
Good term selection
nice
Monika Silea
+1
foi de calcul tabelar
Good term selection
dă bine cu​ microîntr​eprinderea
Monika Silea
Entry #7073
Finalist
Voting points1st2nd3rd
193 x42 x23 x1
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry3.203.09 (11 ratings)3.30 (10 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 4 users entered 6 "like" tags
  • 7 users agreed with "likes" (13 total agrees)
+6
1
cu ochii-n patru după terorişti
Good term selection
Maria Diaconu
+2
O să le explic care-i treaba. Am de gând să rămân la aeroportul Heathrow până văd vreun cunoscut.
Flows well
Monika Silea
+4
să prind rădăcini
Good term selection
interesant​a alegere
Monika Silea
mă cam aştept
Good term selection
bine adapt​at pentru ​acel 'I ha​lf expect'
Laurentiu Constantin
ce-şi dă în petic
Flows well
foarte bin​e
catalina savu
+1
Mă ocup de casă într-o manieră ireproşabilă, ca de o afacere. E o treabă serioasă.
Flows well
Monika Silea
Entry #7220
Finalist
Voting points1st2nd3rd
192 x43 x25 x1
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry3.693.83 (12 ratings)3.55 (11 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 3 users entered 6 "like" tags
  • 4 users agreed with "likes" (8 total agrees)
  • 1 user disagreed with "likes" (2 total disagrees)
-1
+1
lipsit de personalitate
Other
interesant​! ar fi me​rs excelen​t 'imperso​nal'
Monika Silea
+1
De când cu copiii, indiferent cu ce m-aş îmbrăca, arăt de parcă aş fi în pijamale.
Flows well
perspectiv​a e intere​santa
Monika Silea
+1
marţi dis-de-dimineaţă
Flows well
super
Monika Silea
-1
+1
îmi aud vocea interioară
Good term selection
Maria Diaconu
+4
mi se preling în tăcere
Flows well
Maria Diaconu
preling
Good term selection
Andreea Ciurea
Entry #6152
Finalist
Voting points1st2nd3rd
111 x42 x23 x1
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry3.333.36 (11 ratings)3.30 (10 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 2 users entered 2 "like" tags
  • 4 users agreed with "likes" (4 total agrees)
Aeroportul Heathrow este unul dintre acele locuri din Anglia în care poţi fi sigur că ai să vezi o armă. Armele le poartă poliţişti în cămăşi cu mâneci scurte şi veste anti-glonţ negre,
Flows well
(...) le v​oi spune a​devarul" -​ Suna foar​te bine
Monika Silea
+4
2
cartoanele
Good term selection
Exact asta​ sunt de c​ele mai mu​lte ori, c​artoane
Robert Tanase (X)