[Spoiler alert: Some elements of the story may be given away by this post.]
Many Chinese serials are available on the Rakuten Viki website as well as on Youku. Which site is better? Well, I've found that they each have their advantages and disadvantages.
The topic of this post is Chinese idioms that I have been learning by watching TV serials.
These samples are from the utterly adorable serial called 你 是 我 的 城市 营垒 nǐ shì wǒ de chéngshì yínglěi (literally "You Are My City Fortress"), with the English title of "You Are My Hero".
1. Episode 2: The heroine Mi Ka wants to help her friend Xiaoman get treatment abroad for her cancer, but the cost is becoming a serious constraint. She despairs, and her other friend Ruan Qingxia cheers her up with a well-known Chinese saying.
"When we get to the mountain, there'll be a way through" is Viki's translation.
Youku's translation is a rhyme ("In the end, things will mend"), but it also helpfully provides the original Chinese saying in Hanzi:
车 到 山 前 必 有 路 chē dào shān qián bì yǒu lù ("When the car arrives in front of the mountain, there must be a road")
2. Episode 21: The hero's friend Lu Fang gives him the idea of taking his girlfriend to a hill resort for her birthday, but when he then requests the hero to invite along a girl he (Lu Fang) likes so he can court her, he is refused. He then calls out the hero for his ingratitude.
"Don't hit the monk after you finish reciting scriptures" is Viki's translation, along with a helpful explanation of the idiom.
Youku has a looser English translation of what the character actually said ("You are kicking down the ladder (after using it)"), since the Chinese subtitles show that the character is referring to a monk (尚 shàng) and scriptures (经 jīng). [I have my doubts about the accuracy of Viki's English translation too, since 你 念 完 经 不要 和尚 啊 你 nǐ niàn wán jīng bùyào héshàng a nǐ seems to translate to "Don't be a monk after you have chanted".]
3. Episode 24: The girl shown (Xu Yanshan) submits a prizewinning thesis at her department, but also sabotages the thesis of her colleague Mi Ka, and is caught out doing so. Her superior then chastises her for needlessly impacting her own career with this unethical act when she was going to win the competition anyway.
Viki's translation offers another Chinese idiom "To add feet when drawing a snake" ("To do something superfluous that ruins something good").
As before, Youku has a looser translation of what was actually said, but its Chinese subtitles show that Viki's English translation was accurate. 只可惜 你 做了 画 蛇 添 足 的 事情 zhǐ kěxí nǐ zuòle huà shé tiān zú de shìqíng, literally "Unfortunately you did the business of drawing a snake to add feet")
[The phrase 只可惜 zhǐ kěxí ("Unfortunately") literally means "only needs pity". The phrase 画蛇添足 huà shé tiān zú "draw snake add feet" is also a synonym for "superfluous", I understand.]
4. Episode 26: When the two male leads are at a restaurant, talking about a friend, the friend suddenly arrives.
"Speak of 曹操 Cáo Cāo (pronounced Tsáo Tsāo) and Cáo Cāo arrives", says the second lead. Viki's translation duly explains the classical allusion. [Note to self: read "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" sometime.]
Again, Youku provides a looser translation, "Speak of the devil", but the Chinese subtitles again show the accuracy of Viki's English translation. 说曹操 曹操到 shuō cáocāo cáocāo dào, literally "Say Cáo Cāo, Cáo Cāo arrives".
5. Episode 21: During a bit of banter, the female lead calls the male lead "shameless".
Viki just provides a smooth English translation - "You're shameless".
Youku's translation is more literal ("Shameless"), and also provides the Chinese characters for the word "shameless".
不 要 脸 bù yào liǎn literally means "not want face", i.e., someone who doesn't mind losing face is by definition shameless.
6. Episode 35: After some relationship advice from the male and female leads, the second male lead appears to have absorbed the lesson well.
Viki provides the idiomatic expression "The student has surpassed the master", but also explains the literal meaning "Blue is made out of indigo but is more vivid than indigo".
Youku's translation stops with the idiomatic translation ("He does better than his master"), but also provides the original saying in Chinese.
青 出 于 蓝，胜 于 蓝 qīng chū yú lán, shèng yú lán literally means "Indigo gives rise to blue, superior blue".
7. Episode 27: This isn't strictly an idiom. It's a pun that I managed to pick up on, thanks to the Chinese subtitles provided by Youku.
Viki translates this as "I'm your cute younger brother."
Youku says, "I'm your lovely brother", but the Chinese subtitles explain this a lot better.
我 是 你 可要 的 弟弟 wǒ shì nǐ kěyào de dìdì loosely translates to "I'm your beloved/desirable/wanted younger brother" because 可要 kěyào (literally "can want" or "can be wanted") means wanted or desirable.
But this is also a pun, because the elder sister's name in the serial is Ke Yao! [I guess the Chinese name "Ke Yao" for a girl is like the common Indian name "Priya", which also means beloved.]
Moral of the story: Watch serials on Rakuten Viki for more faithful English translations that educate you on Chinese idioms and literary allusions; watch them on Youku for the Chinese subtitles that are faithful to the script. Together, the two sites can provide better insights into the language than either can alone.
No comments:
Post a Comment