Уплотнение

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

12:08 Jul 19, 2019
Russian to English translations [PRO]
History
Russian term or phrase: Уплотнение
В значении изъятия излишков жилой площади.
Когда пришли большевики со своим "уплотнением"....
Mark Vaintroub
Canada
Local time: 17:17
English translation:packing in (c) Mark B. Smith, compression, and other options
Explanation:
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.
Selected response from:

Rachel Douglas
United States
Local time: 17:17
Grading comment
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +2packing in (c) Mark B. Smith, compression, and other options
Rachel Douglas
5 +1cramming new families into old apartments
JW Narins
5congesting / condensing / "densification"
JW Narins
3Resettlement policy, Confiscation of Property policy (or policies)
Hugh Zimmerbaum
3 -2compactification [of inhabitants]
Vladyslav Golovaty


Discussion entries: 8





  

Answers


7 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5
congesting / condensing / "densification"


Explanation:
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.

JW Narins
United States
Local time: 17:17
Native speaker of: Native in RussianRussian, Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 8
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30 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): -2
compactification [of inhabitants]


Explanation:
literally
or tightening their living space

Vladyslav Golovaty
Ukraine
Local time: 23:17
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in RussianRussian
PRO pts in category: 8

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
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((
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43 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +2
packing in (c) Mark B. Smith, compression, and other options


Explanation:
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.


Rachel Douglas
United States
Local time: 17:17
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 91
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thanks a lot, Rachel!


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
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.
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +1
cramming new families into old apartments


Explanation:
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.

JW Narins
United States
Local time: 17:17
Native speaker of: Native in RussianRussian, Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 8

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Natalia Potashnik: cramming more people into the same apartments
1 hr
  -> Спасибо!

neutral  Vladyslav Golovaty: not necessarily new
1 hr
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
Resettlement policy, Confiscation of Property policy (or policies)


Explanation:
For the film you could try something like: "When the Bolsheviks came with their resettlement policy [or confiscation of property policy]."

Hugh Zimmerbaum
United States
Local time: 17:17
Native speaker of: English

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  The Misha: It was neither resettlement nor confiscation, strictly speaking. Susan explained it above.
5 hrs
  -> Good point! Thanks for the feedback.
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