English... Engrish... Engkrish! The Abuse of the Language!
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Last evening, in the Jive Pad here, the posts turned hilarious when we started discussing about the crappy English translations for the Korean TV Dramas that I've been watching.
http://www.sgforums.com/?action=thread_display&thread_id=238573&page=16
So, that's how we started using '(the) good elephant' (hao3 xiang4) in our posts!
When I went home and watched the Korean drama, I almost turned blue laughing at the really terrible subtitles! It was so funny I replayed it again and again, for laughs! Then, a thought occured to me, why not share the good joke here with all of you?
So, here it is, a small snippet of the entertainment value that can be derived from the English subtitles in Korean dramas! This is a verbatim copy of the subtitle in a scene when boy meets girl and tries to tell her that he went there specially to look for her :
(B=Boy; G=Girl)
B : Is what matter? What matter worry?
G : Have no have no worry the matter!
B : Please say that see, see I can help you.
G : True nothing important matter. Thanks for your to you certainly.
B : Not still too unimportant. True nothing important matter?
G : Is. But have today when arrive at here? See the friend again if?
B : Is not. Today is the true.
G : I?
B : Does today also want to work here?
G : Is not because of the no the patient.
B : The rice gross want to eat?
G : Is. There is friend taking so eat on time. Work assuredness need strength very much.
B : Have a meal can't the careful body!
G : I am a doctor.
B : Yes, do I am foolish kill before expert. Organism meeting we I to please.
So... tell me again that there's no entertainment value in Korean dramas?! -
OK, thought you guys might need a proper translation of the above to understand what's really going on! So here's the actual conversation in Mandarin!
(B=Boy; G=Girl)
B : Is what matter? What matter worry?
(Shen Me Shi Mah? Dan Xing Shen Me Shi Mah?)
G : Have no have no worry the matter!
(Mei She Me Shi)
B : Please say that see, see I can help you.
(Qing Jiang Chu Lai, Kan Kan Wo Ke Yi Bang Ni.)
G : True nothing important matter. Thanks for your to you certainly.
(Zhen De Mei She Me. Xie Xie Ni Guan Xing.)
B : Not still too unimportant. True nothing important matter?
(Mei She Mo Shi Bu Zong Yao De Mah? Zhen De Mei She Mo?)
G : Is. But have today when arrive at here? See the friend again if?
(Shi. Bu Guo... Jing Tian Ni Zhe Me Hui Lai Zhe Li? Kan Peng You Mah?)
B : Is not. Today is the true.
(Bu Shi. Jing Tian Shi Zhen De Lai Kan Ni De!)
G : I?
(Kan Wo?)
B : Does today also want to work here?
(Shi Ah! Ni Jing Tian Ye Yao Zuo Gong Mah?)
G : Is not because of the no the patient.
(Shi Ying Wei You Bing Ren, Suo Yi Yao Zuo Gong De.)
B : The rice gross want to eat?
(Fan Chi Le Mah?)
G : Is. There is friend taking so eat on time. Work assuredness need strength very much.
(Shi. You Peng You Bang Wo Dai Fan Lai, Suo Yi Chi Le. Zuo Ze Fen Gong Zuo Shu Yao Li De.)
B : Have a meal can't the careful body!
(Ni Yi Ding Yao Chi Fan, Bu Ran Shang Hai Shen Zi!)
G : I am a doctor.
(Zhi Dao Le! Wo Shi Yi Shen!)
B : Yes, do I am foolish kill before expert. Organism meeting we I to please.
(Shi Ah! Wo Zhen Sha, Gen Yi Shen Suo Ze Xie. Wo Men Yi Hou Zai Jian Mian Ke Yi Mah?)
AAAaaahh Harharharhahahaha Mystery solved? -
For more hilarious attempts on really bad English translations, read these posts :
Adventures in a PRC Restaurant
jetta had a thread on Japanese Engrish too... but I can't seem to find it!
Anyways, enjoy! -
it's all these automatic translator programs sprouting up all over the place .... -
Yeah tell me about it
You have hilarious bits in Mandarin too
My mum tried running a translation machine for English into Mandarin for one of her office flyers and thank goodness she asked me to vet it
I was like WAHAHAHHAHAHAHA -
u mean these kinda subtitles actually runs across the screens??!!!
i seldom watch korean drama lah, even if i do.. i read chinese subtitles de
i cheena -
wow, if i m not a chinese, i will be having problems understanding, even as a person who understands chinese, i cannot understand fully =/Originally posted by Rhonda:Last evening, in the Jive Pad here, the posts turned hilarious when we started discussing about the crappy English translations for the Korean TV Dramas that I've been watching.
http://www.sgforums.com/?action=thread_display&thread_id=238573&page=16
So, that's how we started using '(the) good elephant' (hao3 xiang4) in our posts!
When I went home and watched the Korean drama, I almost turned blue laughing at the really terrible subtitles! It was so funny I replayed it again and again, for laughs! Then, a thought occured to me, why not share the good joke here with all of you?
So, here it is, a small snippet of the entertainment value that can be derived from the English subtitles in Korean dramas! This is a verbatim copy of the subtitle in a scene when boy meets girl and tries to tell her that he went there specially to look for her :
(B=Boy; G=Girl)
B : Is what matter? What matter worry?
G : Have no have no worry the matter!
B : Please say that see, see I can help you.
G : True nothing important matter. Thanks for your to you certainly.
B : Not still too unimportant. True nothing important matter?
G : Is. But have today when arrive at here? See the friend again if?
B : Is not. Today is the true.
G : I?
B : Does today also want to work here?
G : Is not because of the no the patient.
B : The rice gross want to eat?
G : Is. There is friend taking so eat on time. Work assuredness need strength very much.
B : Have a meal can't the careful body!
G : I am a doctor.
B : Yes, do I am foolish kill before expert. Organism meeting we I to please.
So... tell me again that there's no entertainment value in Korean dramas?! -
Another one I gave.... subtitles from a pirated copy of Star Wars Episode III:
http://winterson.com/2005/06/episode-iii-backstroke-of-west.html
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WTF!!!! This is not english, this is worst than singlish, this is not proper english,
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Originally posted by fudgester:Another one I gave.... subtitles from a pirated copy of Star Wars Episode III:
http://winterson.com/2005/06/episode-iii-backstroke-of-west.html -
More gems...
The chancellor being read his rights upon arrest:
Anakin wants his, erm, cuckoldry to be saved:
C3PO commenting on a romantic scene:
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Yup! These are the verbatim subtitles!Originally posted by tare:u mean these kinda subtitles actually runs across the screens??!!!
i seldom watch korean drama lah, even if i do.. i read chinese subtitles de i cheena
I cannot read the chinese subtitles fast enough, and I can't read every other character.
So when I watch the Korean dramas and they happen to have crappy English subtitles, I'll just switch to the Mandarin dubbing, otherwise, as you can tell from the above example, I wouldn't be able to understand a thing!
Sometimes, for entertainment and pure fun, I'll listen to the Korean audio and read the English subtitles, go "What the... !!" then listen to the Mandarin dubbing and "Orh... THAT was what it was all about!"
It can be quite fun! -
and i thought rhonda only watched korean shows for the hunky guys.. didn't know she pays attention to the subtitles too.
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Hunky? Er... most Korean actors aren't THAT hunky anyways. Most just got the gentlemanly look.Originally posted by stellazio:and i thought rhonda only watched korean shows for the hunky guys.. didn't know she pays attention to the subtitles too.
If I wanted hunky, I don't need to go far... just take a short walk down my street and sure will bump into at least one hunky dude one! -
Those subtitling from pirated Indonesian/Malaysian DVDs can be atrocious too.Sometimes you even get subtitiles that is meant for another movie by mistake and you would go Huh??? whattafarkk!!
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Originally posted by fudgester:More gems...
The chancellor being read his rights upon arrest:
Anakin wants his, erm, cuckoldry to be saved:
C3PO commenting on a romantic scene: 
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Wad toking them sia.....!?!
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HAHAHA! damm funnaye....
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im laughing like hell when i saw obi-wan's words
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well, actually older hongkie movies weren't that much better ...