如何翻译脏话（cursings/profanities）

Phil Hand wrote:

首先应该说：你如果不会写这类东西，最好别去翻译，因为这种很容易闹笑话。

一定要翻译的话，我觉得多看香港片好，可以学港片黑手党混混的用语。参杂方言，可以让普通话更加有股土味。

wherestip wrote:

可是不可付之书面又有什么讨论的实际意义呢？

至于英文骂人具体什么意思，多看看 R-rated (and NC-17) movies, 久而久之就懂了。

http://movies.about.com/od/dvds/fl/How-Does-a-Movie-Get-Its-Rating.htm

David Lin wrote:

由于香港的电影有分级制度，所以一些本地制作电影里面的对白都能够反映现实生活及社会不同阶层的文化和语言特式，并获评审通过让一般成年观众（18岁以上）观看。　

Phil 的建议很靠谱，尤其所有英语影片－无论是荷里活或欧洲、英国的制作，一来到香港都会配上中文字幕，供本地观众娱乐欣赏。所以長久以來在英中翻译對白方面都有经验，对你可能会有帮助。

如果是有关黑手党的用语，建议參看有中文字幕由名导演昆汀·塔伦蒂诺 Quentin Jerome Tarantino 所拍攝的犯罪剧情电影。70 年代的得奖电影 “教父” The Godfather (1972) 也有不少这方面的用语。

下面的链结是香港特区政府的有关香港电影分级制度的网站，供参考。

http://www.ofnaa.gov.hk/chi/code/

http://www.ofnaa.gov.hk/document/chi/code/filmcensorship.pdf

“(e) 語言
32. 檢查員應注意電影編劇為了準確反映現實生活中的動作和情緒 ， 會在劇本中加插粗言穢語。本港市民雖然可以容忍很多猥褻言語，但通常會避免某些使用方式， 以免引起兒童模仿。內容與性有關的詞句或助語詞，或通常特別用於與香港某些犯罪集團有關的術語，不應在第 I 級影片中出現。

“33. 帶有輕微性含意或粗鄙言語的助語詞，可在第 IIA 級影片出現， 但出現次數不能太多及須配合劇情。

”34. 檢查員在決定一部影片應屬第 IIB 級或第 III 級時，應考慮影片內這類言語令人厭惡的程度。

“38. 關乎黑社會的描繪，檢查員須考慮下列各點:
(a) 描述黑社會儀式、禮儀、手勢及器具包括隱含詩句及記號的鏡頭，衹可在第 III 級影片中出現 ;
”(b) 未被一般人所接受或未融入日常用語的黑社會術語，衹可在第 III 級影片中出現 ;
“(c) 宣揚或認同黑社會、黑社會活動或價值觀，衹可在第 III 級影片中出現 ; 及
”(d) 禁止褒揚黑社會勢力及黑社會會員。”

wherestip wrote:

It's still a matter of judgment or discretion of an individual translator, meaning, how do you yourself feel about putting profanities down on paper?

People use curse words for different reasons, but most of the time curse words are there mainly to add emphasis or add emotion. With a good grasp of the original English and an extensive enough vocabulary in the target language - in this particular case, Chinese - IMO it's not all that hard to find an equivalent to an expletive that is not extremely offensive to the target audience.

wherestip wrote:

Edgar,

Actually, all they're asking for is for you to edit your post so that it is in line with site rules.

Typically, the way to get around the issue in English is to bleep out the expletive, e.g., "What the h* do you mean?", or alternatively, just change the word h* to "heck". Frankly, to impart the meaning, tone, attitude, etc. of a piece of dialog, profane or not, IMO is actually one of the easier aspects of a translator's job.

edgarzhuochen wrote:

This is what I ran into earlier this day:"Do as I said, or you'll wind up with your p**ker jammed down your own throat." “吃不了兜着走" was my best shot, still, not even close.

wherestip wrote:



Edgar,

IMO, you're on the right track. Where does it say that you have to translate vulgarity word-for-word? It's the snappy tone and rude attitude that counts.

In this example, "吃不了兜着走" is pretty good - sufficiently irreverent but not utterly offensive. I say you basically did the job of cleaning up the language without losing the thrust of being colorful, brash, and impolite. IMO, a translator has to have some kind of ethical standard too. Censorship aside, what is okay to be put down in print versus what has crossed the line is entirely up to the individual's judgment. There is such a thing as self-censorship even when it comes to translation.


[Edited at 2016-03-01 19:23 GMT]

edgarzhuochen wrote:

逐渐进入状态了

把所有-ker都译成混蛋混账王八蛋，把所有语气强烈的咒骂全部写成国内惯用的表达。
举个例子，反派对主角叫嚣，“You mess with the bull, you get his dick right up your f**cking ass!”我的版本是，“你这样出来搞，迟早是要还的！”信的比例很低，但看过无间道的玩家会会心一笑。
另外在TM里面发现了一些奇怪的翻译，比如meanest gators=最吝啬的短吻鳄，You have to get over it=你必须解决它。前文如此质量，我也没必要纠结了，得过且过吧。

再次感谢回帖的各位前辈了！