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

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 6 entries submitted in this pair during the submission phase. The winning entry was determined based on finals round voting by peers.

Competition in this pair is now closed.


Entries (6 total) Expand all entries

Entry #8225
Michal Panner (X)
Michal Panner (X)
United States
Winner
Voting points1st2nd3rd
357 x43 x21 x1
Entry tagging:
  • 1 user entered 4 "like" tags
  • 1 user agreed with "likes" (1 total agree)
  • 1 user disagreed with "likes" (1 total disagree)
+1
למרבה הפלא, אני מחכה 39 דקות ולא רואה מישהו שאני מכיר. אף לא איש. ואיש לא מכיר אותי. אני אלמוני כמו הנהגים בעלי תגיות השם האוניברסאליות (אני מכיר כמה שמות משפחה), רק שהם לבושים טוב יותר
Flows well
Ron Armon
להתאקלם
Good term selection
Ron Armon
כי אני לא אחד שיתמוטט בהיתרו ביום שלישי בבוקר
Flows well
I like the​ fact you ​didn't str​uggle with​ the "noth​ing"
Ron Armon
-1
1
אני לא אני הבוקר
Other
I think yo​u're right​ not using​ עצמי
Ron Armon
Entry #8222
Voting points1st2nd3rd
275 x42 x23 x1
Entry tagging:
  • No "like" tags
Entry #8252
Ron Armon
Ron Armon
Israel
Voting points1st2nd3rd
184 x41 x20
Entry tagging:
  • No "like" tags
Entry #7397
Voting points1st2nd3rd
152 x43 x21 x1
Entry tagging:
  • 1 user entered 2 "like" tags
  • 1 user agreed with "likes" (1 total agree)
+1
מאז שיש לי ילדים כל מה שאני לובש נראה כמו פיג'מה. מעילים, חולצות, חולצות טי, ג'ינס, חליפות, כולם נראים כאילו ישנתי בהם
Flows well
Ron Armon
והרחק מהילדים ומהמטוסים שמעל אני יכול לשמוע את מחשבותיי, מחשבותיו של בכיין. זה לא מה שקיוויתי לשמוע
Flows well
Ron Armon