ProZ.com translation contests »
11th ProZ.com translation contest: "Contemporary society" » English to Russian » Entry by Olesya Zaytseva


Source text in English

Translation by Olesya Zaytseva (#12955) — Winner

We're accustomed to glamour in London SE26: Kelly Brook and Jason Statham used to live above the dentist. But when Anouska Hempel's heels hit the cracked cement of the parking space outside my flat, it's hard not to think of those Picture Post photographs of royalty visiting bombed-out families during the second world war. Her mission in my modest tract of suburbia is, however, about more than offering sympathy. Hempel—the woman who invented the boutique hotel before it bore any such proprietary name—has come to give me information for which, judging by the spreads in interiors magazines and anxious postings on online DIY forums, half the property-owners in the Western world seem desperate: how to give an ordinary home the look and the vibe of a five-star, £750-a-night hotel suite. To Hem­pelise, in this case, a modest conversion flat formed from the middle slice of a three-storey Victorian semi.

"You could do it," she says, casting an eye around my kitchen. "Anyone could do it. Absolutely no reason why not. But there has to be continuity between the rooms. A single idea must be followed through." She looks out wistfully over the fire escape. "And you'd have to buy the house next door, of course." That's a joke. I think.

...

It's worth pausing, though, to consider the oddness of this impulse. The hotel room is an amnesiac space. We would be troubled if it bore any sign of a previous occupant, particularly as many of us go to hotels in order to do things we would not do at home. We expect a hotel room to be cleaned as thoroughly as if a corpse had just been hauled from the bed. (In some cases, this will actually have happened.) The domestic interior embodies the opposite idea: it is a repository of memories. The story of its inhabitants ought to be there in the photos on the mantelpiece, the pictures on the wall, the books on the shelves. If hotel rooms were people, they would be smiling lobotomy patients or plausible psychopaths.


Discuss this entry


Discussion about 11th ProZ.com translation contest: "Contemporary society" in English to Russian - Entry #12955
Larissa Boutrimova
Larissa Boutrimova  Identity Verified
Canada
Local time: 06:38
Member (2006)
English to Russian
+ ...
. Feb 21, 2013

Поздравляю с победой!

 
Olesya Zaytseva
Olesya Zaytseva  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 10:38
English to Russian
+ ...
Спасибо! Feb 21, 2013

Для меня как переводчика технического это весьма неожиданно ))

 
Alexandra Schneeuhr
Alexandra Schneeuhr  Identity Verified
Cyprus
Local time: 12:38
English to Russian
+ ...
Чувство языка первично при любой специализации )) Feb 21, 2013

Олеся, примите мои искренние поздравления!

 
Olesya Zaytseva
Olesya Zaytseva  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 10:38
English to Russian
+ ...
Спасибо, Александра! Feb 22, 2013

Полностью согласна - чувство языка первично. Вот только перлы, с которыми приходится работать, отчаянно стараются его притупить ))

 

Sign in to add a comment

To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator:

Moderator(s) of this forum
Lucia Leszinsky[Call to this topic]

You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request »
This discussion can also be accessed via the ProZ.com forum pages.