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

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 8 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 (8 total; 3 finalists) Expand all entries

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Language variants:
Entry #23500 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Standard-Japan
Winner
Voting points1st2nd3rd
7314 x47 x23 x1
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry3.553.60 (10 ratings)3.50 (8 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 3 users entered 4 "like" tags
  • 5 users agreed with "likes" (6 total agrees)
  • 6 users disagreed with "likes" (7 total disagrees)
-2
+2
気を散らす音の集中砲火を絶えず浴びている
Flows well
Takashi Fukunaga
対極の存在
Good term selection
Kanna Nakazawa
-2
+2
携帯電話の孤独に逃避を求める
Flows well
Takashi Fukunaga
-3
+2
1
静寂が入り込んでくるような場所で沈黙から心をそらしてくれる事柄の量なのだ
Good term selection
ayami
Entry #23596 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Standard-Japan
Finalist
Voting points1st2nd3rd
445 x49 x26 x1
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry3.413.56 (9 ratings)3.25 (8 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 3 users entered 5 "like" tags
  • 6 users agreed with "likes" (6 total agrees)
ほとほと疲れ果て
Good term selection
Kanna Nakazawa
+5
石畳の道を行き交う
Flows well
Takashi Fukunaga
+1
携帯画面に夢中になる
Good term selection
mocoron
農作業に勤しむ
Good term selection
Kanna Nakazawa
狼狽
Good term selection
Kanna Nakazawa
Entry #22466 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Standard-Japan
Finalist
Voting points1st2nd3rd
355 x43 x29 x1
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry3.003.00 (6 ratings)3.00 (6 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • No "like" tags


Non-finalist entries

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

Entry #24104 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specified
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry2.882.75 (8 ratings)3.00 (7 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 2 users entered 2 "like" tags
  • 1 user agreed with "likes" (1 total agree)
過去以上に騒音が増えているわけではないだろうと
Good term selection
Tonny Nakano
+1
石畳を行き交う
Flows well
Takashi Fukunaga
Entry #22967 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Standard-Japan
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry2.262.13 (8 ratings)2.38 (8 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • No "like" tags
Entry #24085 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Standard-Japan
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry2.092.17 (6 ratings)2.00 (5 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • No "like" tags
Entry #23105 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Standard-Japan
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry1.942.00 (7 ratings)1.88 (8 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • No "like" tags
Entry #24065 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specified
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry1.501.67 (3 ratings)1.33 (3 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • No "like" tags