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

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 11 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 (11 total; 3 finalists) Expand all entries

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Language variants:
Entry #23794 — Discuss 0 — Variant: South Korea
Woojoo Seo
Woojoo Seo
South Korea
Winner
Voting points1st2nd3rd
6712 x47 x25 x1
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry3.213.27 (15 ratings)3.14 (14 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 1 user entered 1 "like" tag
변한 것은 소음의 양이 아니라 침묵이 스며들어야 할 자리를 꿰차고 들어온 산만한 것들의 양이다. 여기에 또 하나의 역설이 희미하게 나타난다.
Flows well
natural
Hee jung Cho
Entry #23363 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specified
Finalist
Voting points1st2nd3rd
332 x47 x211 x1
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry3.083.00 (13 ratings)3.15 (13 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • No "like" tags
Entry #24280 — Discuss 0 — Variant: South Korea
Lee Junho
Lee Junho
South Korea
Finalist
Voting points1st2nd3rd
5810 x47 x24 x1
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry3.503.39 (18 ratings)3.61 (18 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 3 users entered 6 "like" tags
  • 2 users agreed with "likes" (6 total agrees)
  • 1 user disagreed with "likes" (3 total disagrees)
왁자지껄했다
Good term selection
good expre​ssion
Hee jung Cho
목청껏 소리를 쳤고
Good term selection
natural
Hee jung Cho
-1
+2
2
무거운 몸을 달랬다
Good term selection
good expre​ssion
Hee jung Cho
-1
+1
1
변한 것은 소음의 수준이라기보다는 주변의 산만함의 수준이다.
Flows well
rhyme
Hee jung Cho
-1
+1
1
두려움이 슬금슬금 기어오르고, 귀는 본능적으로 아무 소리라도 찾아내 집중하려고 한다
Good term selection
arise7
+2
사람들은 고요를 원하지만, 그리 많이 원하는 것은 아니다.
Other
This entry​ seems to ​be the mos​t adequate​ and decen​t translat​ion so far​.
Weonill Kim (X)


Non-finalist entries

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

Entry #23504 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specified
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry2.972.80 (15 ratings)3.13 (15 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 1 user entered 2 "like" tags
  • 1 user disagreed with "likes" (1 total disagree)
-1
1
역사학 교수인 알랭 코르벵은 소르본 대학교에 있는 은신처에서 집필 활동을 하고 노르웨이의 탐험가인 얼링 카게는 남극의 불모지에 대한 기억을 되살린다.
Good term selection
역시 잘 처리한 부​분으로 눈에 띕니다​.
dmkchang
불평했었으니까.
Flows well
기계적인 처리를 피​하고 자연스럽게 처​리한 부분으로 눈에​ 띕니다.
dmkchang
Entry #24073 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specified
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry2.833.07 (14 ratings)2.58 (12 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • No "like" tags
Entry #23461 — Discuss 0 — Variant: South Korea
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry2.772.62 (13 ratings)2.92 (13 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • 1 user entered 1 "like" tag
정적을 갈망하나 얻을 수 없다는 것이다
Flows well
Yun Sue Hwang
Entry #22588 — Discuss 0 — Variant: South Korea
Coffeedrinker
Coffeedrinker
United States
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry2.672.80 (15 ratings)2.53 (15 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • No "like" tags
Entry #22324 — Discuss 0 — Variant: South Korea
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry2.482.62 (13 ratings)2.33 (12 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • No "like" tags
Entry #22658 — Discuss 0 — Variant: South Korea
Hye Han (X)
Hye Han (X)
South Korea
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry1.842.00 (7 ratings)1.67 (6 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • No "like" tags
Entry #22612 — Discuss 0 — Variant: South Korea
Paul and Paulin
Paul and Paulin
South Korea
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry1.581.33 (6 ratings)1.83 (6 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • No "like" tags
Entry #23323 — Discuss 0 — Variant: South Korea
Dj Lee
Dj Lee
South Korea
Rating typeOverallQualityAccuracy
Entry1.281.22 (9 ratings)1.33 (9 ratings)
Entry tagging:
  • No "like" tags