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

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 13 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 (13 total; 5 finalists) Expand all entries

Entry #6292
Winner
Voting points1st2nd3rd
5110 x45 x21 x1
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry2.832.88 (8 ratings)2.78 (9 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 2 users entered 6 "like" tags
  • 5 users agreed with "likes" (19 total agrees)
+4
لست على طبيعتي
Good term selection
Elias Shakkour
+4
لا أحد البتة
Good term selection
Bayan Taleb
+3
نكرة
Good term selection
Bayan Taleb
+2
متسمرين
Good term selection
Bayan Taleb
+3
لا غبار عليها
Good term selection
Elias Shakkour
+3
بألوان ذات دلالة
Good term selection
Elias Shakkour
Entry #7586
Akram Darwish
Akram Darwish
United Arab Emirates
Finalist
Voting points1st2nd3rd
4810 x42 x24 x1
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry2.692.75 (8 ratings)2.63 (8 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 5 users entered 7 "like" tags
  • 5 users agreed with "likes" (10 total agrees)
متأهبين ويقظين لاقتناص أي إرهابي يعتزم تفجير نفسه في المطار
Flows well
Loubi
+3
بيد أن
Good term selection
Bayan Taleb
+3
أروع البلدان الأوروبية
Flows well
Elias Shakkour
+1
شبه متأكد
Good term selection
Najwa Al-Nabulsi
اغرورقت عيناي بالدمع،
Good term selection
Loubi
اغرورقت عيناي بالدمع، لم أكشر أو أجهش بالبكاء، بل سال الدمع رقراقاً على وجنتاي
Flows well
Mohamed Samy Ahmed
+3
1
لست على سجيتي هذا الصباح،
Flows well
تعبير جيد
Najwa Al-Nabulsi
Entry #6986
Finalist
Voting points1st2nd3rd
378 x42 x21 x1
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry2.583.29 (7 ratings)1.86 (7 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 3 users entered 5 "like" tags
  • 3 users agreed with "likes" (8 total agrees)
+1
انتظرت والذهول ينتابني
Flows well
Mohamed Samy Ahmed
+2
والذهول ينتابني
Good term selection
Bayan Taleb
إلى درجةٍ أصبحت أماثل السائقين
Flows well
Mohamed Samy Ahmed
+3
يُنم عن شجاعته
Flows well
Bayan Taleb
+2
لست على طبيعتي
Good term selection
Elias Shakkour
Entry #6575
Finalist
Voting points1st2nd3rd
335 x44 x25 x1
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry2.752.50 (8 ratings)3.00 (8 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 2 users entered 2 "like" tags
  • 2 users agreed with "likes" (2 total agrees)
+2
رُزقت بأطفالي
Good term selection
Dr. Hamzeh Thaljeh
جداول
Flows well
Abdulaziz Khalifa
Entry #7948
Finalist
Voting points1st2nd3rd
702 x23 x1
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry2.692.78 (9 ratings)2.60 (10 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 3 users entered 3 "like" tags
  • 2 users agreed with "likes" (4 total agrees)
  • 1 user disagreed with "likes" (1 total disagree)
+1
لا بد أن زملائي السابقين في مكتب التأمين لا يزالون منغرسين أمام مكاتبهم، كما دائمًا توقعت أن يكون الحال عندما كنت أنا أيضًا منغرسًا هناك
Flows well
Mohamed Samy Ahmed
+2
دون تجهم أو شهيق
Flows well
Najwa Al-Nabulsi
-1
+1
عادي
Flows well
Bayan Taleb