Subtitling question

[solo]

I read a really interesting sub-thread in a convo I can't find again now, but as somebody who's very interested in language, it made me think.

So far in the subtitling, I've privileged English over Chinese because I want stuff to be accessible to people like me, who don't know any Chinese. But even as I get more used to it I become more aware of the nuances and with that, the difficulty of choosing the right words/things to do.

So. Until now, I've always translated 'lao' as 'old' and 'xiao' as 'little'.

But I'm really and truly easy on this - no solution is ever perfect, and I can do a search-replace easily.

Only one question really because the rest will follow.

Poll #21652

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 32

View Respondents

Lao Chu or Old Chu?

View Answers

Lao Chu
22 (68.8%)

Old Chu
7 (21.9%)

other and I will make your life even more complicated with my comment but it's totally worth it
3 (9.4%)

*note I'm not going to turn Zhao Yunlan's 'Hei Lao Ge' into 'Lao Bro Black', that is a step too far into madness for me, and I want people to get the flavour of this thing and also, I'm ultimately doing the subs for me and I like the 'Old Bro Black'.**

**and also, also, it's softsubs so anyone who hates it can change it easily if they care enough.

Comments

[extrapenguin]

Same on both counts. ("Bro" sounds like a very American frat boy. None of the characters are that nor the Chinese equivalent of it AFAICT.) I've seen "Brother Black", and for heilaoge, something with "buddy" or "pal" would probably be closer in effect in at least my idiolect of English.

(If you absolutely insist on using Old, at least spell it as Ol' so it's more akin to the casual-ish term it is in Chinese?)

[solo]

Ol' I could do but does that solve the Bro? If you had to translate it, for Anglophone n00bs, what would you pick?

[extrapenguin]

For heilaoge, uh, "Ol' Brother Black" would work. The rest of the -ge:s, I might just ignore? Lin Jing-ge can just be Lin Jing. The plot-significant ones like Chu-ge, I'd honestly leave in as a fansubber, but for Anglophone n00bs who have never heard of another language in their life and are allergic to untranslated honorifics, I'd go for "Brother Chu" over "Bro Chu". (And in places where that's not plot-significant, again, mayhaps just "Chu"?)

(There's also a place in episode 40 where I really think a conversation should contain zero instances of "Bro" but have at least one of the didi:s translated as "little brother" [instead of just "brother"] for characterization reasons.)

[solo]

I totally agree on ep 40. 38 to 40 are special places which will get special treatment because nothing is casual any more.

[solo]

I'm doing Brother Chu, not Bro Chu, I'm saving the Bro for irreverent Zhao Yunlan. :) Where I feel it works, perhaps because I'm not American... but will ponder!

[extrapenguin]

I'm not American, either, but "Bro" just sounds so American it breaks my suspension of disbelief. *g*

[solo]

Okay, maybe the fact that I don't watch TV is tripping me up here. :)