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

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 29 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 (29 total; 5 finalists) Expand all entries

Entry #6326
Winner
Voting points1st2nd3rd
7717 x44 x21 x1
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry3.593.79 (14 ratings)3.38 (13 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 4 users entered 5 "like" tags
  • 12 users agreed with "likes" (15 total agrees)
  • 3 users disagreed with "likes" (4 total disagrees)
-2
+6
vigilano contro eventuali terroristi pronti a far saltare in aria Tie-Rack
Flows well
Silvia Nigretto
+1
[…]
Flows well
bello il p​rimo parag​rafo - sco​rrevole
Mara Ballarini
+2
stropicciato
Good term selection
Francesca Tondi
-2
+3
Sento che i miei pensieri si soffermano
Flows well
Silvia Nigretto
+3
Niente smorfie né singhiozzi, soltanto grosse lacrime che mi rotolano silenziose sulle guance
Flows well
Katarina Dusikova
Entry #7670
Finalist
Voting points1st2nd3rd
498 x45 x27 x1
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry2.923.00 (13 ratings)2.83 (12 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 1 user entered 2 "like" tags
  • 5 users agreed with "likes" (8 total agrees)
  • 1 user disagreed with "likes" (1 total disagree)
+5
Non credo proprio che mi fermeranno, ma se lo facessero non nasconderò la verità
Flows well
Laura Pastondi
-1
+3
1
Giacche, camicie, magliette, jeans, abiti: tutti sgualciti come se c'avessi dormito dentro. (…)
Flows well
Laura Pastondi
Entry #6479
luciby (X)
luciby (X)
Canada
Finalist
Voting points1st2nd3rd
378 x42 x21 x1
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry3.183.17 (12 ratings)3.18 (11 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 1 user entered 1 "like" tag
  • 2 users agreed with "likes" (2 total agrees)
  • 3 users disagreed with "likes" (3 total disagrees)
-3
+2
1
I nostri amici adulti di più recente acquisizione,
Flows well
Silvia Nigretto
Entry #7172
Milena Bosco (X)
Milena Bosco (X)
Italy
Finalist
Voting points1st2nd3rd
315 x44 x23 x1
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry2.963.08 (13 ratings)2.83 (12 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 1 user entered 1 "like" tag
  • 6 users agreed with "likes" (6 total agrees)
  • 1 user disagreed with "likes" (1 total disagree)
-1
+6
1
cartelli con su scritti nomi dei clienti
Other
that's the​ meaning
Silvia Nigretto
Entry #7690
Finalist
Voting points1st2nd3rd
204 x42 x20
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry2.842.85 (13 ratings)2.83 (12 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • No "like" tags