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

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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.

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Icisontelo ca nkulo, ilingi line mufyalo ifyatumpuluka, cakutila abantu balafwaisha ukwikala muncende umwabula icongo nangula ukwamutelelwe lelo tabakusanga. Ifilulumo fyaba motoka, ukulila kwaba musange ukushiputuka, ifyakubilisha muli ba sacha namu mashitima, ifitunshitunshi fyabunkolanya ifitambika namu ma ofeshi umushili abantu, fyaba lyonse fyakupunfyanya. Abantunse baleyonaula abene pamulandu ne congo elyo nomba balekabila icaibelako - cibe nimumpanga, pali babemba abapabuka nangu ni kuncende ukwabelama ukwatekanya bwino. Injishikwebwa imo mufya milumbe ya calo, ba Alain Cobin, balemba ukufuma ku ncende yakutubilishako mu calo ca Sorbone, elyo naba Erling Kagge, bakafwailisha baku calo ca Norway, ukufuma ku fibukisho fyabo kufyaonaike ku ncende ya Antarctica, uko bonse babili baeseshe ukubutukila.

Nangu cibe ifyo, pamo ngefyo ba Cobin balondolola muli: "Umulumbe wa Mutelelwe", takwaishilapo icongo nacimbi ukucila pa calico kale. Ilyo takulaisa imipeto yakupompa, imisebo yamu misumba yaiswilemo icongo ca mipeto ya fingolongolo elyo nefibondo fyabakabalwe ifyalenyantaula pa mabwe. ilyo kushilaisa bamusange abakufisamako pakulanda, icongo cakulanshanya caiswile muli ba sacha namu mashitima. Bakashitisha ba mapepala ya malyashi tabaleyasha nayatulumana mumatuka yabo, lelo balebiliksha pamulu wa mashiwi yabo pamo fye ngefyalecita bakashitisha ba fisabo, amaluba elyo ne sabi ilibishi. Incende shamangalo nesha filimba shaiswilemo icongo cakusansamukisha ne cakucilinganya. Nangu fye nimu ncende shamumishi, bashimafamu baleimba ilyo balebombesha. Ino nshita tabemba iyo.

Ifyapilibuka tebwingi bwa congo, ico nabakunkulo shakunuma bailishenyepo, lelo bwingi bwakupumfyanishiwa, uko ukwasenda incende iyo umutelelwe ulingile ukwikalapo. Kuliko ubwafya bumo ubo tushingalondolola bwino, pantu ilyo umutelelwe wati ubeko - mukati-nankati ka mutengo wa milemu, mu ciswebebe umushaba kantu, mu muputule umo abantu bafuma mukupumikisha - inshita ishingi mumfwika umwakutinya ukucila ukupokelela. Umwenso ulengila; ukutwi kubafye ukwakutikila kuli konse akaumfwika, cibe kubilima kwa mulilo, ukulila kwa cuni nangu kupakaswa kwa mabula, uko ukwingapususha iyi ncende ukufuma kuli uku kubulwa kwa cintu. Abantu balafwaya umutelelwe, lelo tekufwaisha kwa sana.
Entry #22961 — Discuss 0 — Variant: Not specified
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