Monday, 7 October 2013

Bilingualism in TV Drama

Hi everyone, I am Enrique. 

I bet everyone watches TV. Today, I want to discuss bilingualism in TV Drama and I will focus on the name of the dramas. Most of the Hong Kong dramas are based on the background of Hong Kong. Thus, Hong Kong people can easily understand the content of the drama by its name. TVB also translates the names in English to cater for non-Chinese. For long, I have been wondering if the English names can really show the context of the dramas.

I studies all the TVB dramas from 2011 to 2013, on both the Chinese names and English names, to see whether the names fits the content of the dramas and I find that some are good, whereas some fails to show the content of the dramas.

Below are good examples:

造王者(King Maker)
King Maker is based on the story happens in the Song Dynasty.
It is about the conflicts between two chancellors, Yu Jing and Tung Chiu, who are responsible in advising two princes. These princes compete to be the emperor. Finally, one of them wins and the supporting chancellor successfully 'makes the king'. Thus, I think the name 'King Maker' can fully show the content of drama, which is a good translation of name.











老表，你好嘢! (Inbound Troubles)
Inbound Troubles talks about conflicts between mainland Chinese and Hong Kong people. I think this is a good translation because the word 'inbound ' shows the relationship between mainland China and Hong Kong and the word 'troubles' somehow have the meaning of 'conflicts'. For non-Chinese, they can understand the content of the drama from the name.





怒火街頭(Ghetto Justice)
This is another good example. 
Ghetto Justice is about how the minority group fights for justice. The word 'Ghetto' is first referred to the area of Jewish confinement and now it refers to the living area of minority groups, which fits the setting and content of the drama






However, I also note some poor examples.

點解阿sir係阿sir (Yes, Sir. Sorry, Sir!)
I don't think non-Chinese can understand the content of this drama, judging from its English name. 
We have two 'sirs' in the Chinese version. The first one refers to 'teachers', while the latter one refers to 'police officers'. Indeed, the story about a police officer, who pretends to be a teacher, investigates a case of drug selling in a secondary school. The English name fails to explain the differences between the two words 'sir'. Besides, it fails to tell the story line of the drama to audiences.


雷霆掃毒 (Highs and Lows)
This is the poorest example. I think even Hong Kong people can't tell what the story is about from its English name. Actually, The drama 'Highs and Lows' is about police inspectors who fight against drugs dealing. The English name doesn't show any relationships with the content of this drama.








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6 comments:

  1. ViRtuaL POP CulTs7 October 2013 at 07:06

    I think it was a really good post with detail analyze and example. Most people will challenge for the translation of some slogans or menu, but we may overlook the bilingualism of drama tittles, I am really admiring that you can notice these details! I think produce a drama is a big deal, if producer or publisher can be more aware both on naming in Chinese and English that will make their product more prefect!
    April

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  2. Unknown7 October 2013 at 07:16

    Interesting post! Very detailed and well illustrated, as mentioned in the comment above. I can completely relate to it. In my country too, when the names of T.V. series or Bollywood movies are in Hindi and they're translated to English, there is always that feeling that it is somehow not a perfect translation. I guess the translators around the world need to a better job at translating titles so that the right message is conveyed to the audience.

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  3. ViRtuaL POP CulTs8 October 2013 at 14:28

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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    1. ViRtuaL POP CulTs8 October 2013 at 14:35

      Dear Enrique,
      I found your post very interesting. It is obvious that the TVB can't translated the names of their Chinese soap operas into English too well, which makes me wondered that if they can do better the other way around....
      The following are some of the English TV series which had their name translated in to Chinese by the TVB before being broadcasted:
      1.《60分鐘》(英語： 60 Minutes)
      2. 《天下為家 》（ 英语 ： Human Planet ）
      3. 《F檔案》(英語： Fringe)
      4. 《花邊教主》（英語：Gossip Girl）
      5. 《靚太唔易做》(英語：Desperate housewife)
      6. 《天橋驕子 》（ 英語：Project Runway ）
      7. 《全美超級模特兒大賽》（英語：America's Next Top Model )
      8. 《人在野》(英語：Man Versus Wild)
      I think besides the first three, the English names of the other western shows were translated into Chinese clearly and reasonably. It seems that it is easier for people to translate a foreign language into their native language than the other way around.
      What do you think?
      Best whishes,
      Cath 0(x)0

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  4. Unknown9 October 2013 at 06:21

    That is an interesting topic of analysis. I cannot remember much about the content from some of these dramas but if I were the translator I would fix the two poor ones like this:
    點解阿sir係阿sir -> Trace Back to School (as a reference to Stephen Chow's movie, Fight Back to School)
    雷霆掃毒 -> Drug Fighters (simple, but explicit)

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  5. ViRtuaL POP CulTs10 October 2013 at 01:56

    I love TVB drama a lot! Thanks for exploring this matter of field! I have also dicovered something new in the song title. Come and visit!

    Catherine from virtualpopcults

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