It does not sound very good, but that's what it is.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2002-05-15 13:21:57 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

... apartment building. In this case apartment building is meant.

Just suggestions...

There really is no equivalent in the U.S. for this position. As someone noted a "resident manager" of an apartment house is an employee of the building management company.

A "head resident" is a senior student living in a dormitory of a college who advises and keeps an eye on the freshman. This is the nearest I can think of to a старший по дому

Such community leaders exist in Spain too (personal experience)and are called like that.

In Hungary, for example, a community leader is the person who lives in the same community or a condominium (it can be a whole block of buildings, or just one huge cottage shared by 2-4 families) and is responsible for collecting community payments (for common electricity ffor example), organizing cleaning of the yard, repair works etc.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2002-05-15 14:19:29 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Еще можно его назвать \"condominium leader\".

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2002-05-15 19:42:18 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

To Irene Chernenko:

I am talking about European countries and the way such a leader is called there. I believe you that in San Francisco it is different, but the notion of a \"community\" is rather broad, isn\'t it?

As the others say, there is probably no exact equivalent in the West, but the residents of an apartment block or housing estate often form a Residents' Committee, the Chairman or Secretary of which would be responsible for negotiations with the management and relations with them in general; this person's actual title could be whatever the particular group of residents likes to call it, but I think the above covers the general meaning.

BUT I take issue with Olga Simon and her explanation of how it is in Spain and Hungary. Perhaps in these countries the equivalent of the "старший по дому" is called a community leader - in Spanish and Hungarian. But we translators know that we cannot simply provide a word-for-word, literal translation from language to language, and expect it to mean the same thing each time. E.g. "argument" (disagreement) and "аргумент" (reasoning). And there is such a thing as the usage of words and phrases and how they are understood by those to whom your text is targeted.

Olga, your views are instructive and interesting. BUT to a native English speaker in the UK, Australia and the US, a community leader is a leader in the community, as I have pointed out - usually a spokesperson for a cause or group, someone respected (and by some reviled), someone who may be invited to give an opinion on an issue. It is NOT someone who checks whether the landings in your apartment block are clean and the intercom works.

And BTW, I am not from San Francisco. But I AM a native English speaker, and we must remember that our translations from Russian into English are for the benefit of those who speak English and live in an English-speaking culture.

Sorry if this sounds unnecessarily pedantic. But I really do think we should be aware of how what we write sounds to our target audience (i.e. is it normally accepted usage?) and how they understand what we write.

Dear Irene,

Thank you for your message and please do not get so upset about this issue!

I was not agressively pushing my answer to anybody, very far from it!
I simply suggested what I knew and learned something new in the process. The whole point of KudoZ is to suggest answers which are discussed by the peers and then graded by the Asker. People learn new things during this process, so do I.
I am sure you will love ProZ as well.



--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2002-05-16 08:15:21 (GMT) Post-grading
--------------------------------------------------

Best: Olga.