Example 4
Original 仆你個臭街，當呢度係善堂啊？ Literal
Translation &
Adaptation
Dubbed 王八蛋，你把這裡當善堂啊？
Subtitle Damn you, don’t you think I owe you that?
Example 5
Original 等我暗算你個仆街奪命書生先。
Adaptation
Dubbed 等我來暗算你這個短命的奪命書生。
Subtitle Let me trap you instead.
Example 6
Original 仆你個街啦！ Equivalence &
Adaptation
Dubbed 媽的，來啊！
Subtitle OK, I will show-hand too.
Example 7
Original 你個仆街仔，你拋我啊？ Adaptation &
Literal Translation
Dubbed 你這小王八蛋，你想威脅我？
Subtitle Damn you, are you threatening me?
The literal translation of ‘仆街’ is to ‘trip over’ or ‘fall over’. In the Cantonese language, ‘仆街’ falls between softcore swearing and a curse phrase. In examples 4 to 7, ‘仆街’ is used as a direct insult to curse at someone. However, in Mandarin, ‘仆街’ is understood as ‘跌倒’ or ‘跌倒街頭’ (‘trip over’), and does not contain the vulgar connotation as the Cantonese does21. The translator has
21 In the book 小狗懶擦鞋, 彭志銘(2015) has provided a detailed explanation on the different understanding of ‘仆街’ between the Cantonese and Mandarin speakers (p.
decided not to use the borrowing approach because an insult is needed to replicate the same emotion and meaning as the original to match the visual clues.
Although some Mandarin speakers may know that ‘仆街’ can be interpreted as a curse phrase, the translator adopted a safer choice and replaced ‘仆街’ with phrases that are more common to the Mandarin speakers, such as ‘王八蛋’, ‘短命 的’, and ‘媽的’.
Example 8
Original 你插細佬？仆你個街！
Omission
Dubbed 你插弟弟？我插哥哥！
Subtitle How dare you! Go to hell.
Example 9
Original 仆街啦！
Omission
Dubbed 還給你！
Subtitle Take it back.
Examples 8 and 9 also used the curse phrase ‘仆街’, but both of them are translated differently than examples 4 to 7. Examples 8 and 9 have omitted ‘仆街’
altogether, instead of replacing ‘ 仆 街 ’ with Mandarin curse phrases, the translator has decided to translate the visual clues according to their spoken form. The translations do not fully represent the emotional force behind the
original Cantonese, and only take on the visual clues appearing on screen which are already available to the audience, thus the impact of the dubbed version is not as powerful. It is worth mentioning that the translation of example 8 added an additional layer of sexual connotation on top of the original because the word
‘插’ is often associated with sex. The translation is also linked to homosexuality between the Wah brothers (‘你插弟弟？我插哥哥！’). It is observed that the omission of ‘仆你個街’ has brought about a new connotation to the translation.
Example 10
Original 仆街喇！
Replacement
Dubbed 不得了啦！
Subtitle Damn!
Based on the context of this particular scene, the ‘仆街’ represents the meaning of ‘糟糕了’, which is similar to ‘不得了啦’. By using ‘仆街喇’ in the Cantonese version, the audience can immediately identify what is about to happen is not going to be good because of the connotation associated with ‘仆街’, just as the English subtitle indicates, “Damn!”. But it is not clear when ‘不得了啦’ is used in the Mandarin version. The use of ‘不得了啦’ may leave the audience with an impression that what is about to happen can be either good or bad.
Example 11
Original 冚家剷泥齊種樹 Omission &
Equivalence
Dubbed 你家墳頭來種樹
Subtitle Let’s plant the trees together
Presented as the first line of a poem, similar to example 3, ‘冚家剷泥齊種樹’ can be interpreted as follows: (1) ‘冚家’ (‘the whole family’)/’剷泥’ (‘dig up earth’)/’
齊種樹’ (‘plant trees together’); or (2) ‘冚家剷’ (‘the whole family dies’ or
‘fucker’)/ 泥 (same sound as ‘嚟’, which means ‘來’, ‘to come’)/’齊種樹’ (‘plant trees together’). Depending on how the audience interprets ‘冚家剷泥齊種樹’, the meaning can be completely different. The Mandarin version has omitted the vulgarity of the original, and used a different approach to recreate the same effect. As stated in (2), the meaning of ‘the whole family dies’ remains in ‘你家墳 頭’ (‘your family’s grave’), because the whole family has to be dead first before they are buried. Although the vulgar element has been omitted, the translator has adapted an equivalence approach to recreate the same emotion and present it to the non-Cantonese speaking audience.
Example 12
Original 你都念在我呢幾年賣畫賣到你冚家富貴啊！ Adaptation &
Equivalence
Dubbed 你也想想這幾年我幫你賣畫撈了不少錢啊！
Subtitle I always sell the pictures for you, which make you become rich!
Although ‘冚家’ is a colloquial and rude way to describe ‘全家’ (‘the whole family’), it does not necessarily have to be vulgar. The ‘冚家富貴’ in example 12 simply describes ‘the whole family becomes rich’, without the vulgar connotation attached to it22. The dubbed version adapts a literal approach and mimics the idea of ‘the whole family becomes rich’. Therefore, the use of ‘撈了不少錢’ (‘earn a lot of money’) is to rationalise the Cantonese phrase for the Mandarin-speaking audience.
Example 13
Original 好，我睇你哋攞咩出嚟，然後先將你哋冚家富貴！ Literal
Translation
Dubbed 好，我就看你們拿什麼出來，然後再將你們趕盡殺絕！
Subtitle Fine, I want to know what you are going to show me.
You’ll be in deep shit later.
Example 14
Original 橫掂都係，就嚟個冚家富貴啦！ Literal
Translation
Dubbed 總而言之，就要他全家死光！
Subtitle Anyway, kill Wah’s family.
Examples 13 and 14 also include the phrase ‘冚家富貴’, but they do not mean
‘becoming rich’ like example 12. The dubbed version of both examples fully represents the meaning of ‘the whole family dies’ and are translated as ‘趕盡殺絕’
22 Example 12 is included for comparison purpose against examples 13 and 14, even though it is only mildly offensive.
and ‘全家死光’. The idea of cursing them with ‘the whole family dies’ is extremely rude. Although the original version of examples 12 to 14 all use ‘冚家富貴’, the connotations behind them are completely different. As a ‘context-biased’ and
‘context-based’ phrase in Cantonese, the connotation remains negative under most circumstances. Whether the phrase ‘冚家富貴’ is vulgar or not, it can only be decided base on the situation or the context. This also shows that ‘冚家富貴’ is less direct than the Mandarin translations (‘趕盡殺絕’ and ‘全家死光’).
Example 15
Original 我叫太師稟告皇上，一於抄你全家冚家鏟！ Literal
Translation
Dubbed 我叫太師稟告皇上，把你全家滿門抄斬！
Subtitle I will ask His Excellency to sue you in front of the Emperor.
You will be sentenced to death, for sure!
Example 15 is the only time where ‘冚家鏟23’ is used in the film. Similar to examples 13 and 14, ‘冚家鏟’ also means ‘the whole family dies’. In this context, the use of ‘滿門抄斬’ (‘execute the whole family’ or ‘sentence the whole family to death’) is the most appropriate translation. As stated in the subtitles, the head of the Wah family, who holds a senior position in the palace, has the power to ask the emperor to punish and kill Tong Bak Fu and his family. By using the phrase
23 「冚家鏟」是句罵人的話。「冚」是廣東人的自創字，意指「全部」也。「冚家」，
‘滿門抄斬’, it indicates the power the Wah family has. The use of ‘冚家鏟’ also shows how angry Madame Wah is.