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

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 12 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 (12 total; 3 finalists) Expand all entries

Entry #24250 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specified
Winner
Voting points1st2nd3rd
519 x45 x25 x1
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry3.553.46 (13 ratings)3.64 (11 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 3 users entered 7 "like" tags
  • 3 users agreed with "likes" (4 total agrees)
  • 2 users disagreed with "likes" (11 total disagrees)
-2
+2
3
ایک نہ ختم ہونے والی یلغار اور اختلال توجہ ہیں
Flows well
Good work!​ Keep it u​p!
Ahmed Manzoor
-2
+1
3
جہاں دونوں شور سے خلاصی کے لیے مفرور رہنے کی کوشش کر چکے ہیں۔
Flows well
Overall Ex​cellent tr​anslation
Ahmed Manzoor
-2
2
اور اس کے باوجود، جیسا کہ مسٹر کوربِن نے "خاموشی کی تاریخ" میں اس جانب توجہ دلائی ہے،
Flows well
Muhammad Yousaf
-1
1
اخبار فروش اپنا سامان چُپ چاپ نہیں دھرے بیٹھتے تھے
Flows well
Looks orig​inal text ​and not a ​translatio​n
ziaullah alvi
-1
تھیٹر اور نگار خانے شور شرابے اور تحسین آمیز کلمات کا جھمگٹا ہوتے تھے۔
Good term selection
Overall hi​gh quality​ translati​on
ziaullah alvi
-1
+1
1
لق و دق صحرا،
Good term selection
Nice selec​tion
Muhammad Yousaf
-2
1
کان بے اختیار کسی بھی آہٹ پر تن جاتے ہیں
Flows well
Muhammad Yousaf
Entry #23429 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specified
Finalist
Voting points1st2nd3rd
458 x44 x25 x1
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry3.163.15 (13 ratings)3.17 (12 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 3 users entered 3 "like" tags
  • 3 users agreed with "likes" (4 total agrees)
  • 2 users disagreed with "likes" (3 total disagrees)
+2
1
ٹریفک کی چیخم دھاڑ، فونز کی لگاتار ٹوں ٹوں، بسوں اور ریل گاڑیوں میں ہونے والے ڈیجیٹل اعلانات
Flows well
best possi​ble
Samiya Malik
-1
+1
2
لق و دق صحر
Good term selection
Muhammad Yousaf
-2
+1
3
وف ہماری رگوں میں سرایت کرنے لگا ہے۔ کان جبلی طور پر کسی بھی چیز پر مرکوز ہو جاتے ہیں
Flows well
Entire tex​t seems to​ be origin​ally writt​en in Urdu​ language ​and does n​ot look li​ke a trans​lation. Ke​ep it up
Ahmed Manzoor
Entry #23489 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specified
Finalist
Voting points1st2nd3rd
416 x46 x25 x1
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry3.463.63 (8 ratings)3.29 (7 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 1 user entered 1 "like" tag
  • 1 user disagreed with "likes" (1 total disagree)
-1
انجانے سُونے پن
Good term selection
Muhammad Yousaf


Non-finalist entries

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

Entry #22976 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specified
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry3.073.00 (7 ratings)3.14 (7 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • No "like" tags
Entry #23927 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specified
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry2.782.89 (9 ratings)2.67 (9 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • No "like" tags
Entry #22735 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specified
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry2.753.00 (11 ratings)2.50 (10 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • No "like" tags
Entry #23543 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specified
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry2.702.50 (10 ratings)2.90 (10 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • No "like" tags
Entry #22985 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specified
Samiya  Malik
Samiya Malik
Australia
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry2.692.75 (8 ratings)2.63 (8 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • No "like" tags
Entry #23116 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specified
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry2.332.40 (10 ratings)2.25 (8 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • No "like" tags
Entry #22957 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specified
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry2.322.38 (8 ratings)2.25 (8 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • No "like" tags
Entry #22963 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specified
afzaal
afzaal
United States
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry1.751.75 (4 ratings)1.75 (4 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • No "like" tags
Entry #23698 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specified
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry1.601.60 (5 ratings)1.60 (5 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • No "like" tags