Announcing the results of TWB’s first Arabic translation contest!

Thank you to everyone who participated in our very first Arabic translation contest! We are thrilled to have received a total of 124 submissions (51 literary and 73 humanitarian) from 92 translators! I am pleased to announce the winners, based on the reviews of our community members:

  • Nabil Salibi for the Literary category :open_book:
    As we all know, translating literature is a very challenging task, yet it is one that can be very rewarding to those who master it. @Nabil’s translation was not perfect. For example, English commas were used instead of the Arabic ones, and there are several other typos. However, the translation received a high score based on almost all of the five criteria, as it captures and conveys the intent of the author creatively and fluently in the spirit of the target language with the least number of critical mistakes. You can read Nabil’s translation here:
    "لقد اعتدَوا على أفكاري, فقد كانوا لصوص يتظاهرون بمعرفة الحياة الأمر الذي ضايقني لأني كنت متأكدًا أنه من المحال أن يعلموا ما أعلم. فسلوكهم, وهو سلوك أي شخص عادي يقوم بعمله باطمئنان وسلام كالطاووس المتباهي بجماله ريشه أمام خطر محدق لا يعي له, يضايقني. لم يكن لدي أي رغبة في توعيتهم ولكني استصعبت لجم رغبتي بالضحك في وجوههم المعبرة عن أهمية حمقاء. أستطيع القول بأني لم أكن على ما يرام. فقد كنت اتسكع في الشوارع, لقضاء بعض الحاجات, عابسًا بمرارة بوجوه سمحة لأناس محترمين, وأعترف أنه لا مبرر لسلوكي هذا, ولكن من النادر, هذه الأيام, أن يكون مزاجي طبيعيًا. ومحاولة عمتي العزيزة بأن "تقويَ عزيمتي" لا تأتي بجدوى إذ لم تكن عزيمتي بحاجة إلى تمريض وإنما مخيلتي هي التي بحاجة إلى تسكين"جوزيف كونراد- قلب الظلام.

  • Shaimaa Elhosan for the Humanitarian category :heart_decoration:
    This translation received the highest score of the contest :clap:
    For the humanitarian category, the contest had its own share of competition as there were a lot more submissions than the literary category, and all of them were of such a high quality! The text for the contest was taken from one of TWB’s latest post about the Cyclone Idai that hit Mozambique, which you can read here. Shaimaa’s translation performed well across all five criteria based on peer review. Her highly idiomatic and almost flawless translation reflects both the intent and style of the author and article. You can read Shaimaa’s translation here:
    يُعد جواز السفر، والأحذية المطاطية، وألواح البروتين، وكتاب العبارات البرتغالية على رأس قائمة الأمتعة التي أحزمها حينما أستعد للانتقال إلى مدينة بيرا بموزمبيق. وأول فكرة شغلتني هي التأكد من أنه باستطاعتي أن أفهم الأشخاص المتضررين من إعصار إيداي وأن يفهموني. غير أنني أعلم أن اللغة البرتغالية، وهي اللغة الرسمية للبلاد، لن تقودني إلى تحقيق نتائج تُذكر؛ إذ يتحدث السكان لغات متنوعة في موزمبيق، وانخفضت مستويات الإلمام بالقراءة والكتابة. وتقتصر معرفة اللغة البرتغالية على المناطق الحضرية الساحلية، ولا يُلم بالقراءة والكتابة إلا ثلث النساء فحسب. وأيضًا، أعلم أنه لا يتسنى للمنظمات الإنسانية أن تتحمل نفقات الوصول إلى المتضررين والتأثير فيهم والمساءلة على جهودها المحدودة جرّاء العوائق اللغوية. وتشير التقديرات إلى أن 1.85 مليون شخص في حاجة إلى مساعدة عاجلة، وقد شُرِّد 160 ألف شخص على الأقل. وتفيد التقارير أن النساء يمثلن ما لا يقل عن نصف السكان في مواقع الإقامة المؤقتة، في حين يُرجَّح أن يكون كبار السن والأشخاص ذوو الإعاقة الأقل قدرة على الحركة قد تخلفوا عن الركب أو تقطعت بهم السبل. وفي هذه الظروف، يعد التواصل الفعّال باللغات المحلية التي يتحدث بها الناس هو السبيل لفهم ما يحتاج الناس إليه ويريدونه.

In recognition of their winning translations, they will receive a TWB certificate, be featured in the TWB blog and our social media pages, become TWB Verified translators, and be invited to work on exciting projects such as Gamayun, the language equality initiative.

Congratulations to these outstanding translators! :star2:

We also would like to recognize the submissions of six other translators, who received particularly high scores from their fellow community members. We will award the following translators a TWB Honorable Mention certificate: :medal_sports:

  • Mohamed Aberzak for the Literary category
  • @Sondos Hany for the Literary category
  • Jaafar Jumaah for the Literary category
  • @Marwa2 Mahmoud for the Literary category
  • @Aliaa1 Nada for the Humanitarian category
  • Donia Sadoun for the Humanitarian category

In addition, the randomly selected winner of our prize draw for 50 USD is Zain Shalabi. Congratulations, Zain!

Finally, thank you to everyone who participated and helped make this pilot contest a success! It is because of all of you that initiatives like this—and TWB as a whole—are able to thrive, and we are very grateful! :sparkles:

If you participated in the contest, let us know in the comments what you thought! We hope to continue with initiatives like this in the future, and would love to hear from the community what went well or what could be improved. :tulip:

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Dear @oliviathayer, and all TWB community members; it was such an excited experience to take a part in the 1st, contest for our community and I would love to send my greetings to all of you and say Congratulations for the winners @Nabil and Shaimaa Alhossan for their awards, and another Congratulation for my fellow translators who receive TWB Honorable Mention as well for their great job.
Hope we all grow and rise as community and individuals as well.
Thank you all.

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Congrats all participants and the winners. Its beyond a contest. Its a motivation and a joy to be a part that inclusive Community. :clap::clap::clap:

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Congratulations to the winners, to everyone who will award a TWB Honorable Mention Certificate and to the randomly selected winner!

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Congratulations to all the winners! I deeply appreciate giving me the chance to review your outstanding translations, indeed caught my attention! :tada::heart: @Nabil and Shimaa your translations were highly magnificent! You really deserve the big win! :tada:

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Congratulations to the all winners of TWB’s first Arabic translation contest (literary and humanitarian categories). I am very happy to hear this news. It’s so appreciated.:clap::clap::clap::clap:
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I appreciate your valuable initiative. Could you show me my results? :slight_smile:

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Hi @Lamine

These are the results of the previous translation contest, you can find the results of our recent contest here, we’ll also send emails to all the participants to inform them about their scores :innocent:

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Thank you @Aya.Alrifai for letting me know. :slight_smile:

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