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1st Annual ProZ.com Translation Contest: "Awakening" » English to Spanish

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 58 entries submitted in this pair during the submission phase, 7 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 (58 total; 7 finalists) Expand all entries

Entry #8039
Winner
Voting points1st2nd3rd
5811 x46 x22 x1
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry3.413.29 (17 ratings)3.53 (17 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 3 users entered 4 "like" tags
  • 8 users agreed with "likes" (18 total agrees)
+4
hasta ver a
Flows well
Buen uso d​el infinit​ivo.
Mónica Algazi
+5
como un pijama arrugado de la noche anterior.
Good term selection
Beatriz Ramírez de Haro
+4
Nuestras amistades adultas más recientes
Flows well
Simple y n​atural.
Mónica Algazi
+5
la mañana de un martes cualquiera
Flows well
Ivana_19
Entry #7441
Rosa Alonso
Rosa Alonso
United States
Finalist
Voting points1st2nd3rd
5510 x46 x23 x1
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry3.823.67 (21 ratings)3.96 (23 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 6 users entered 15 "like" tags
  • 18 users agreed with "likes" (74 total agrees)
  • 3 users disagreed with "likes" (5 total disagrees)
+8
1
arma de fuego
Good term selection
renemarzuk
+6
1
para lidiar con cualquier terrorista
Flows well
It´s a dar​eful shift​ing of the​ meaning b​ut it soun​ds beautif​ul.
Elena Carbonell
-3
+3
Espero increíblemente durante treinta y nueve minutos y no veo a nadie conocido, ni a una sola persona; nadie me conoce.
Flows well
danmck
+5
1
Desde que nacieron los chicos todo lo que uso parece un pijama.
Flows well
danmck
+3
Puedo oírme pensar en todos los conocidos que me han defraudado
Flows well
danmck
+6
rumbo a atractivos destinos europeos
Flows well
Ramon Soto
-1
+2
2
umbo a atractivos destinos europeos.
Flows well
danmck
+5
1
estancados
Good term selection
renemarzuk
+6
una ocupación perfectamente decente e incluso audaz para un hombre
Flows well
renemarzuk
+6
Tal parece que ya no conozco a nadie
Flows well
Simple y n​atural.
Mónica Algazi
+3
alejado de los chicos y del paso de los aviones,
Flows well
danmck
-1
+3
1
todo lo que oigo son los pensamientos de un quejica
Flows well
renemarzuk
+8
Comienzo a llorar sin muecas ni sollozos, con grandes lágrimas que se deslizan silenciosas por mis mejillas
Flows well
Elizabeth Ardans
+6
ordenados por colores
Flows well
Evita "cod​ificados".
Ramon Soto
+4
consecuencias éticas del uso de los pañales
Good term selection
renemarzuk
Entry #7804
Finalist
Voting points1st2nd3rd
488 x47 x22 x1
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry3.313.31 (16 ratings)3.31 (16 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 5 users entered 7 "like" tags
  • 6 users agreed with "likes" (15 total agrees)
  • 5 users disagreed with "likes" (7 total disagrees)
-1
+3
Es poco probable que se dirijan a mí
Flows well
Luis Javier Otoya
+3
sí me suenan
Good term selection
Luis Javier Otoya
-1
+2
que haya llevado puesto toda la noche.
Flows well
Suena bien​.
Mónica Algazi
+1
rumbo a algún destino europeo con encanto
Flows well
Una linda ​forma de d​ecirlo sin​ usar "gla​mour".
Mónica Algazi
-5
+2
seguir encadenados a sus mesas
Good term selection
Beatriz Ramírez de Haro
+1
Empiezo a llorar, sin hacer una sola mueca o emitir ningún sollozo, solamente enormes lágrimas silenciosas que se deslizan por mis mejillas
Flows well
Carmen Valentin-Rodriguez
+3
que pierde los estribos
Good term selection
renemarzuk
Entry #6863
Finalist
Voting points1st2nd3rd
478 x44 x27 x1
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry3.283.00 (18 ratings)3.56 (18 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 4 users entered 4 "like" tags
  • 10 users agreed with "likes" (20 total agrees)
  • 1 user disagreed with "likes" (1 total disagree)
+7
expectantes
Good term selection
Interesant​e. RAE: Qu​e espera o​bservando,​ o está a ​la mira de​ algo
Elizabeth Ardans
-1
+4
2
Es poco probable que me planten cara, pero si lo hacen les diré la verdad. Les explicaré por qué estoy aquí, que he decidido quedarme
Flows well
Ramon Soto
+4
El pijama de la noche anterior. (...)
Good term selection
Beatriz Ramírez de Haro
+5
El pijama de la noche anterior. (...)
Flows well
Refleja fi​elmente la​ idea con ​creativida​d.
Mónica Algazi
Entry #6725
Finalist
Voting points1st2nd3rd
398 x43 x21 x1
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry3.373.56 (18 ratings)3.17 (18 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 3 users entered 6 "like" tags
  • 6 users agreed with "likes" (13 total agrees)
  • 4 users disagreed with "likes" (4 total disagrees)
-1
+3
No creo que vayan a abordarme directamente
Flows well
Muy bien e​xpresado.
Mónica Algazi
+2
y nada
Flows well
Suena muy ​natural en​ español.
Mónica Algazi
-3
+5
1
Soy tan anónimo como esos choferes que levantan carteles con los nombres de los pasajeros a los que están esperando
Flows well
Rosa Alonso
+1
que levantan carteles con los nombres de los pasajeros a los que están esperando
Other
Un poco la​rgo, pero ​expresa la​ idea adec​uada.
Ramon Soto
mientras Ally, en cambio, avanzaba sin tropiezos, obtenía su doctorado, su primera beca de investigación en la Universidad de Reading, su primer ascenso...
Other
Uno de los​ pocos que​ parece re​conocer la​ enumeraci​ón de tres​ elemento
Ramon Soto
+2
que surcan el cielo sobre mi cabeza
Flows well
Tiene poes​ía.
Mónica Algazi
Entry #6160
Finalist
Voting points1st2nd3rd
314 x45 x25 x1
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry3.123.00 (17 ratings)3.24 (17 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 1 user entered 1 "like" tag
  • 3 users agreed with "likes" (3 total agrees)
  • 1 user disagreed with "likes" (1 total disagree)
-1
+3
que por tener trabajos serios podrían aparecer por aquí en cualquier momento
Flows well
renemarzuk
Entry #6101
Finalist
Voting points1st2nd3rd
223 x42 x26 x1
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry3.082.79 (19 ratings)3.37 (19 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 4 users entered 6 "like" tags
  • 9 users agreed with "likes" (15 total agrees)
  • 6 users disagreed with "likes" (6 total disagrees)
-1
+3
1
Para mi sorpresa
Flows well
renemarzuk
-5
1
tarjetas estándar de identificación
Flows well
Rosa Alonso
+2
estancados
Good term selection
renemarzuk
+5
y que sí, que también es cosa de hombres quedarse en casa con los niños
Flows well
renemarzuk
+2
y que sí, que también es
Good term selection
Estructura​ correcta ​para indic​ar lo que ​le asegura​n los amig​os.
Ramon Soto
+3
es cosa de hombres
Flows well
Suena cont​undente y ​natural.
Mónica Algazi