Is there such an expression as "удача века"?

Question

In the very beginning of this TED talk, somebody translated the expression

Glorious opportunity!

as

Удача века!

but I couldn't find this expression anywhere else. Is it common? or at least does it convey the intended meaning well? any alternatives?

Answer 1

It's difficult to translate into idiomatic Russian while staying true to the original, so the translator needs to get creative.

The most vapid rendering i can offhand come up with is

Великолепная возможность / Великолепный шанс

Attributive use of the word век - века is a customary device to express in Russian uniqueness, rarity, singularity, significance of an event, e.g. ограбление века, процесс века

One in my opinion good fully idiomatic rendering which after a while popped up in my head would be

Звёздный час

Answer 2

Yes, literary this expression is right and people will understand you but as a native speaker I can say that we rarely use precisely "Удача века" as expression - maybe it would be the same as if someone near you will say "luck of the century" - you will understand but it would be unusual for your ears.

As for actual alternatives - прекрасная / великолепная возможность and we can say невероятная удача (incredible luck) but I didn't understand why they translated opportunity (возможность) into удача (luck).

Answer 3

It's strange that they (or maybe it was a translation by a robot) use Удача = luck, success, lucky chance, and Век = century, era, period of time.

Glorious opportunity! - Прекрасная возможность, отличная возможность, хорошая возможность, отличный шанс... - many ways to translate.