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Порядок слов-2
Jul 19, 2019 12:08
4 yrs ago
Russian term

Уплотнение

Russian to English Other History
В значении изъятия излишков жилой площади.
Когда пришли большевики со своим "уплотнением"....
Proposed translations (English)
4 +2 packing in (c) Mark B. Smith, compression, and other options
5 +1 cramming new families into old apartments
5 congesting / condensing / "densification"
3 Resettlement policy, Confiscation of Property policy (or policies)
3 -2 compactification [of inhabitants]

Discussion

Jack slep Jul 20, 2019:
putting roomers into [housing/accommodations] Nov.Bol'sh. R-A Slov.
Rachel Douglas Jul 20, 2019:
With all due respect, I don't think the difference is in scale. Consolidation implies a relatively normal process of making more efficient use of existing resources, in this case living space, but still "по назначению", so to speak. In this context, something stranger is needed. Something bizarre and, err, revolutionary was adopted as a general policy, and given a Newspeak name.
IrinaN Jul 20, 2019:
Not really Except for the scale of the events, but the scale is not the main point here, IMHO. For me, "Packing in" would work better in a more "wordy" context on the subject, with some additional description of what's behind; also, it does not create the sense of permanency. Consolidation works as a clear term in a single sentence with no further elaboration.
Rachel Douglas Jul 20, 2019:
Yeah but... there's a pretty big difference between consolidating half-empty dorm rooms, and moving large numbers of people into the "unused" rooms in somebody's mansion.
IrinaN Jul 20, 2019:
Hmmm I was chewing on "consolidation" and, quite unexpectedly, found this:

https://housing.ucsc.edu/consolidation/index.html

I would be inclined to choose it.
Mark Vaintroub (asker) Jul 19, 2019:
Мне нравится "packing in". Что-такое крутилось в мозгах, но никакк не хотело формулироваться конкретными словами...
:-)
Rachel Douglas Jul 19, 2019:
In that case... I'd use the "packing in", but descriptively. And if you have to fit a short length for the purpose of subtitles, condense the first part.

"[Around] When the Bolsheviks were packing people into less living space, this street was renamed XXX"

If the new street name is somehow linked to the "уплотнение", besides coinciding in time, you could shorten it a tad more:

"Under the Bolshevik policy of packing people into less [living] space, this street was renamed XXX"
"Under the Bolshevik 'packing people in' policy, this street was renamed XXX"
Mark Vaintroub (asker) Jul 19, 2019:
Дело в том, что это слово будет употреблено в фильме, где не будет никаких пояснений. Дословно: "Когда пришли большевики с их "уплотнениями", эту улицу переименовали в ХХХ"

Proposed translations

+2
43 mins
Selected

packing in (c) Mark B. Smith, compression, and other options

Looking at published books in English citing this practice:
- Some leave it transliterated, with an explanation. Even those academic books that translate it mention what the Russian term was.
- "Packing in" gets the idea, but you wouldn't want to use it several times in a row (Mark B. Smith, Property of Communists: The Urban Housing Program from Stalin to Khrushchev)
- "compression" (Mikhail Rodionov, in The Heritage of Soviet Oriental Studies)
- Lunacharsky's propaganda film "Уплотнение" has been translated as "Resettlement," but that seems like a bad choice because there was also "переселение".
- "increases of residential density" is used in The Cambridge Companion to 20th-Century Russian Literature; again, this would work if it appears just one time.
- Some books use the terrible, in my opinion, option "condensation."

I didn't know that the same term was used for one of the schemes of speed-up on the plant floor.
Note from asker:
Thanks a lot, Rachel!
Peer comment(s):
agree The Misha : Absolutely.Whatever the purported "historical term" may be,it definitely needs to be explained.I don't even want to think of what "condensing" or "congesting" people could really mean.That sounds like a little too much even for the blood-thirsty Soviets.
5 hrs
Thanks, Misha.
agree Dylan Edwards
6 hrs
Thanks, Dylan.
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
7 mins

congesting / condensing / "densification"

It's a historical term, so won't have an exact English equivalent. If you want to invent one, try the last suggestion. The idea, of course, is that they moved multiple people/families into single apartment, often into single rooms in apartments.
Something went wrong...
-2
30 mins

compactification [of inhabitants]

literally
or tightening their living space
Peer comment(s):
disagree Susan Welsh : You're joking, right?
2 hrs
not quite: "increases of residential density" used in The Cambridge Companion to 20th-Century Russian Literature, is it 2 big differences as they put it in Odessa?
disagree The Misha : You make it sound like they were throwing people into compost pits. Then again, maybe they were:)
5 hrs
exactly, the whole union was a single farmyard (late Orwell, not me) being restored now((
Something went wrong...
+1
1 hr

cramming new families into old apartments

This should fit, no? And it's clear, that's the main thing. All we need is a phrasing that's short enough to put in and that makes sense.
If it fits, it should work.
Peer comment(s):
agree Natalia Potashnik : cramming more people into the same apartments
1 hr
Спасибо!
neutral Vladyslav Golovaty : not necessarily new
1 hr
Something went wrong...
1 hr

Resettlement policy, Confiscation of Property policy (or policies)

For the film you could try something like: "When the Bolsheviks came with their resettlement policy [or confiscation of property policy]."
Peer comment(s):
neutral The Misha : It was neither resettlement nor confiscation, strictly speaking. Susan explained it above.
5 hrs
Good point! Thanks for the feedback.
Something went wrong...
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