ProZ.com translation contests »
17th Translation Contest: "The Sounds of Silence" » English to Finnish

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 9 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 (9 total; 3 finalists) Expand all entries

Entry #23762 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specified
Ari Rotonen
Ari Rotonen
Finlandia
Winner
Voting points1st2nd3rd
337 x41 x23 x1
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry3.793.86 (7 ratings)3.71 (7 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 2 users entered 7 "like" tags
  • 1 user agreed with "likes" (2 total agrees)
Nykyään on tapana sanoa
Flows well
Heikki Särkkä
+1
rannatonta ulappaa
Good term selection
Aino Lehtisalo (X)
keksimist
Flows well
"ilmarenka​at" requir​es either ​a verbal c​omplement ​like here ​or a noun ​complement​ referring​ to time.
Heikki Särkkä
Flows well
Heikki Särkkä
+1
kengitettyjen kavioiden kopseesta katukiveystä
Flows well
Beautiful ​alliterati​on
Aino Lehtisalo (X)
havumetsän uumenissa
Good term selection
Aino Lehtisalo (X)
Selkäpiitä karmii, kuuloaisti haluaa pelastua tältä tuntemattomalta tyhjyydeltä ja nappaa kiinni vaistomaisesti mistä vain voi, olipa se nuotion rätinä, linnun laulu tai lehtien havina.
Good term selection
Excellent ​and idioma​tic
Aino Lehtisalo (X)
Entry #24100 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specified
Kati Maillot
Kati Maillot
Finlandia
Finalist
Voting points1st2nd3rd
192 x44 x23 x1
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry3.894.00 (9 ratings)3.78 (9 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 2 users entered 3 "like" tags
  • 2 users agreed with "likes" (2 total agrees)
hakeutumalla
Flows well
Well,well,​ I would n​ot call th​is a wrong​ inference​ either.
Heikki Särkkä
+1
se koetaan pikemminkin ahdistavana kuin tervetulleena
Flows well
Flows well
Heikki Särkkä
+1
liekin sihinästä ja linnun laulusta lehtien suhinaan
Flows well
Nice choic​e of vocab​ulary, alm​ost poetic
Aino Lehtisalo (X)
Entry #24161 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specified
Jussi Rosti
Jussi Rosti
Finlandia
Finalist
Voting points1st2nd3rd
192 x44 x23 x1
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry3.803.60 (10 ratings)4.00 (10 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 2 users entered 5 "like" tags
eidän aikakauttamme – ainakin kehittyneissä maissa – leimaa se, että ihmiset janoavat hiljaisuutta, mutta eivät onnistu sitä löytämään.
Flows well
Aino Lehtisalo (X)
moukaroivat
Good term selection
Aino Lehtisalo (X)
täyttä kurkkua.
Flows well
Sounds goo​d.
Heikki Särkkä
Teatterit ja oopperat täyttyivät hurrausten ja buuausten sekamelskasta. Maatiloilla raskaan työn raatajat lauloivat.
Flows well
Aino Lehtisalo (X)
Kun hiljaisuus pääsee valloilleen esimerkiksi mäntymetsässä, karussa autiomaassa, äkkiä tyhjentyneessä huoneessa, se pikemminkin hermostuttaa kuin ilahduttaa meitä.
Flows well
Aino Lehtisalo (X)


Non-finalist entries

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

Entry #23629 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specified
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry3.613.55 (11 ratings)3.67 (9 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 2 users entered 5 "like" tags
  • 1 user agreed with "likes" (1 total agree)
hän kaipaa sen vastakohtaa, olipa se luonnossa, aavalla merellä tai jossakin rauhoittumiselle ja keskittymiselle omistetussa retriitissä.
Flows well
Aino Lehtisalo (X)
Teatteri- ja oopperatalot olivat yhtä hurraa- ja välihuutojen kaaosta.
Flows well
Aino Lehtisalo (X)
uurastaessaan
Good term selection
Henri Metsävuori
+1
mäntymetsän siimeksessä, aavikon avaruudessa, äkisti tyhjentyneessä huoneessa
Good term selection
Henri Metsävuori
Pelko valtaa alaa
Flows well
Aino Lehtisalo (X)
Entry #23554 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specified
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry3.473.44 (9 ratings)3.50 (8 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 3 users entered 4 "like" tags
häiritsevät meitä kaiken aikaa
Good term selection
Aino Lehtisalo (X)
liene
Flows well
Ari Rotonen
Ennen kumipyöräaikaa kaupunkien kadut täytti raudoitettujen kärrynpyörien kolina ja hevosenkenkien korviahuumaavat iskut katukiviä vasten.
Flows well
Aino Lehtisalo (X)
tuoreen kalan
Other
Could be a​ bit of an​ overgener​alisation,​ but on th​e other ha​nd the mac​kerel is n​ot the bes​t known fi​sh in Finl​and, so "t​uoreen kal​an" ('fres​h fish') w​orks quite​ well here​. A succes​sful domes​tication, ​I would sa​y.
Pertti Hietaranta
Entry #23819 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specified
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry3.443.38 (8 ratings)3.50 (6 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 1 user entered 1 "like" tag
Pelko hiipii sisimpään
Flows well
Aino Lehtisalo (X)
Entry #23704 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specified
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry2.952.78 (9 ratings)3.11 (9 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 2 users entered 2 "like" tags
  • 1 user agreed with "likes" (1 total agree)
kalskeesta
Good term selection
Aino Lehtisalo (X)
+1
lehtien havinaan
Flows well
Kati Maillot
Entry #23906 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specified
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry2.752.50 (4 ratings)3.00 (3 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 1 user entered 1 "like" tag
kammiostaan
Flows well
Heikki Särkkä
Entry #22441 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specified
Tipsuli
Tipsuli
Finlandia
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry2.172.33 (3 ratings)2.00 (2 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • No "like" tags