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Welcome to the second ProZ.com Translation Contest!
Thread poster: María Florencia Vita
Odette Grille (X)
Odette Grille (X)  Identity Verified
Canada
Local time: 18:57
English to French
+ ...
Reasons for voting Apr 4, 2007

I feel a little wary about paying votes with brownies.
Just to get brownies, one can send a blind vote. No one would, of course !
It takes a little dedication to read and read again each translation, and pause before reading over.
But are we not in love with doing just that !

May be giving brownies only to the ones who chose the winner would have a positive impact on the evaluation.

de


 
Marinus Vesseur
Marinus Vesseur  Identity Verified
Canada
Local time: 15:57
English to Dutch
+ ...
The English text is not ideal Apr 6, 2007

I like the contest, but a little more effort in announcing it and in choosing an appropriate text would have been nice.
The English text is from Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, which anyone who knows how to Google can quickly find out (the Spanish test appears to be from a book by Carlos Rizzon and the French excerpt from the works of Jean-Paul Sartre). This is a classic that will have been translated into many languages - even several times by several translators. The temptation to 'b
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I like the contest, but a little more effort in announcing it and in choosing an appropriate text would have been nice.
The English text is from Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, which anyone who knows how to Google can quickly find out (the Spanish test appears to be from a book by Carlos Rizzon and the French excerpt from the works of Jean-Paul Sartre). This is a classic that will have been translated into many languages - even several times by several translators. The temptation to 'borrow' bits and pieces from an existing translation may prove to be irresistable and who is to know?
I'm sure there are scores of non-published texts to choose from, or else make this part of the contest: step 1 - provide an interesting text, step 2 - the actual translation of it.

While I'm at it: at the start of the first round there were localised postings about this in the respective non-English forums. Now one has to search for it in the depths of the labyrinth that this website has become. The whole thing gives the impression of a half-hearted attempt to keep this idea alive.

Still, it's a nice idea which if pursued might gradually evolve into something great, I'm sure. So thanks for that.

[Bearbeitet am 2007-04-07 01:24]
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Yuri Smirnov
Yuri Smirnov  Identity Verified
Local time: 01:57
English to Belarusian
+ ...
? Apr 7, 2007

Marinus Vesseur wrote:

the Spanish test appears to be from a book by Carlos Rizzon


Not Fuentes?
Just doubting.


 
Yuri Smirnov
Yuri Smirnov  Identity Verified
Local time: 01:57
English to Belarusian
+ ...
Agree Apr 7, 2007

Marinus Vesseur wrote:

...it's a nice idea which if pursued might gradually evolve into something great, I'm sure. So thanks for that.


Absolutely!
And as for me (translating into Russian and Belarusian), the existing translations (at which I looked only AFTER I had done my own work), were just examples of how you never can translate the same thing in the same way (and, between us, I would've never been made to translate it the way it is 'officially' known in even by tortures).
So, I daresay, no objections against choosing the passages already in circulation. But I am only saying about 'my' tongues, so you may be completely right about yours.

[Edited at 2007-04-08 15:41]


 
Yuri Smirnov
Yuri Smirnov  Identity Verified
Local time: 01:57
English to Belarusian
+ ...
Must be Artemio Cruz's Death Apr 7, 2007

Marinus Vesseur wrote:

the Spanish test appears to be from a book by Carlos Rizzon


“ ..el tiempo y el movimiento que a cada instante acortan tu fortuna: entre la paralisis y el desenfreno esta la linea de la vida..
http://romanistika.ff.cuni.cz/premio/fuentes.htm


 
Robert Forstag
Robert Forstag  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 18:57
Spanish to English
+ ...
Spanish text is ludicruously punctuated Apr 8, 2007

I really wanted to participate in this contest, only to find that the Spanish text was incomprehensibly punctuated, with sequences of colons and semi-colons within a single sentence that not only violated basic grammatical rules, but made it impossible to determine what the writer's intent was regarding the beginning and ending of each discrete thought.

Since the intention here is to post a text suitable for translation rather than to create a linguistic scramble game in which conte
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I really wanted to participate in this contest, only to find that the Spanish text was incomprehensibly punctuated, with sequences of colons and semi-colons within a single sentence that not only violated basic grammatical rules, but made it impossible to determine what the writer's intent was regarding the beginning and ending of each discrete thought.

Since the intention here is to post a text suitable for translation rather than to create a linguistic scramble game in which contestants are required to separate the component parts of a word salad, I am rather surprised that more care was not taken in the selection of text. Who chose the text and what was he or she thinking?

As for me, I would not attempt a rendering of the posted text under any circumstances: not for the prospect of gold doubloons or a free cruise, let alone to earn the right to have my name posted in a corner of the home page for a couple of days.
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Patricia Labastié López
Patricia Labastié López
Spain
Local time: 23:57
English to Spanish
+ ...
To be or not to be... (a paying member) Apr 9, 2007

Agree with Joost and Claudia: It's a real pity we non-paying members are excluded from participating in this kind of contest. It seems that if we were allowed to, there would be much more entries and votes than under current rules...
I also tried translating the text of the first contest at home and felt like sharing it with others but there was no way I could. =(
Please do take all these comments into account when organizing a third contest- maybe next time you could break or some
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Agree with Joost and Claudia: It's a real pity we non-paying members are excluded from participating in this kind of contest. It seems that if we were allowed to, there would be much more entries and votes than under current rules...
I also tried translating the text of the first contest at home and felt like sharing it with others but there was no way I could. =(
Please do take all these comments into account when organizing a third contest- maybe next time you could break or somewhat bend the rules to allow greater participation from both paying and non-paying members? I'd say it's worth the try, huh?
Kind regards,
Patricia (another non-paying user in grief)


Joost Elshoff wrote:

Can't this competition also be opened for non-paying users? It sounds more like a scheme to get more paying members than a true competition.

Why limit it to paying members? Any particular reason for excluding all those honest, non-paying freelancers who just can't afford a full membership?
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MMUlr
MMUlr  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 23:57
English to German
+ ...
Totally agree, Marius. Apr 10, 2007

Marinus Vesseur wrote:

... The English text is from Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, which anyone who knows how to Google can quickly find out ...


I have done it, and I have quickly found out about the English source text. Now, neither being a Literaturübersetzer at all, nor having read any books of Emily Brontë (yes, I have to acknowledge my ignorance!), I consider to maybe make an attempt, and then compare the result with an established German translation of the book.

Will I publish my German translation at ProZ?
I have not decided yet ...


 
Yuri Smirnov
Yuri Smirnov  Identity Verified
Local time: 01:57
English to Belarusian
+ ...
Do! Apr 10, 2007

MMUlr wrote:


Will I publish my German translation at ProZ?
I have not decided yet ...


Do publish it! The competition without your taking part will lose a lot! I'm not kidding. You only learn to swim when swimming, you only get practical experience when you're out there in the real competition.
So, do please. I advise it.


 
Marinus Vesseur
Marinus Vesseur  Identity Verified
Canada
Local time: 15:57
English to Dutch
+ ...
Please do. We promise not to laugh, sneer or throw tomatoes. Apr 11, 2007

MMUlr wrote:
Will I publish my German translation at ProZ?
I have not decided yet ...

I agree I am too chicken, but also quite busy, so I won't participate. Literature isn't my line of work, anyway, but if you've already done, go on, put it online.


 
Paula Mangia Garcia Terra
Paula Mangia Garcia Terra  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 19:57
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Maybe some day... Apr 12, 2007

Participation in the contest is limited to paying site members (students, freelance full and partial community members). For the qualification and voting phases it will be also required to have the language pair among the “working” or “interest” language pairs. Site moderators have no privileges in the contest, and therefore can participate like all other members.



I'm sad!!
It's just for paying site members...
Maybe some day!!


 
MMUlr
MMUlr  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 23:57
English to German
+ ...
OK, OK, only if you do not laugh, nor throw tomatoes! Apr 12, 2007

Marinus Vesseur wrote:

I agree I am too chicken, but also quite busy, so I won't participate. Literature isn't my line of work, anyway, but if you've already done, go on, put it online.


Ufff.... finished! Thanks to the encouragement of Yuri and you, Marinus.

[Edited at 2007-04-12 15:34]


 
Yuri Smirnov
Yuri Smirnov  Identity Verified
Local time: 01:57
English to Belarusian
+ ...
Always at your disposal Apr 12, 2007

MMUlr wrote:

Ufff.... finished! Thanks to the encouragement of Yuri and you, Marius.


So, if you ever have a bad minute and badly need encouragement, just turn east (myself), or west (Canada) — and pop goes the weasel — you're covered with a wave, a tsunami of encouragement


 
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