Dear Chinese speakers!

[mecurtin]

So I am helping solo with her project of "make good English subtitles for Guardian", which is a hilarious case of the blind leading the blind through the wilds of online translation, because neither of us knows Chinese, we just know bad English when we see it.

If one or more of you gracious and clever Chinese-speakers would be willing to be an on-call advisor, that would be GREAT. For extra hilarity, I am on US East Coast time, solo is on UK time, so we're used to schedules that only sometimes overlap.



The line is at the end of the scene between Zhao Yunlan and both his fathers, Zhao Xinci and Zhang Shi. ZXC has just insulted ZYL and his team, and then threatens that he's the boss and can break up the SID if he wants.

Zhao Yunlan says: 悉听尊便。

"" (Watch on YouTube)

The existing sub says "As you wish", but there's also that 尊 element. I think it should be "As honored sir wishes", to give that flavor of "Fuck. You." that ZYL is certainly thinking. Also because in English, "As you wish" is a reminder of The Princess Bride, and that is ... so wrong I have to scrub my brain now.

How does it feel in Chinese?

Comments

[zeest]

I think “As you wish” is adequate but for a stronger fuck you flavour, maybe “Your wish is my command”? I personally prefer if it’s translated to a common phrase in english, considering that the chinese phrase is also common enough to get its own baidu baike entry. Which is what I consulted prior to commenting lol because my chinese is barely elementary school level, and I can’t say for sure how it feels in chinese.

[mecurtin]

"Yes, sir" can certainly be said with multiple levels of sarcasm and fuck you flavor, too, I just realized. And has the advantage of being brief. As is "Sir, yes sir" which is pretty sarcastic when you're not in the military.

Good to know that it's a common Chinese phrase, that's useful.

[solo]

Hmm, 'Sir, yes, sir' might be an option. Need to check the tone again. Still hoping some actually fluent speakers of Chinese might chime in.

Hm, what about 'whatever you say'?

[solo]

'Your wish is my command' sounds nice but implies - to me - that he's going to take some action, which doesn't fit the convo.

Thank you for pointing out the baidu baike thing, I didn't know that resource yet.

[(Anonymous)]

The literal translation of 悉听尊便 is "all listen (to) Your convenience".

The Baidu Baike page on 悉听尊便 (https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E6%82%89%E5%90%AC%E5%B0%8A%E4%BE%BF) lists two meanings: 1) it's up to you, and 2) whatever you say goes.

Here, to me, it sounds like "do as you please" with a hidden "bring it on".

[mecurtin]

Thank you very much!