After a close examination of the film Flirting Scholar as a case study, it can be summarised that overall, the translation from Cantonese into Mandarin is somewhat bounded by censorship restrictions and the Mandarin version cannot recreate the same linguistic or humorous effect as the original. Flirting Scholar
was released as a Category III film in Hong Kong, but it was dubbed to be a G-
32 See Bolton & Hutton (1995, p. 173)
rated film for the Taiwanese market. It is unfortunate that the wittiness and swearwords were omitted or replaced due to box office concerns.
In addition, the process of translating an R-rated film to a G-rated one has proven to be difficult. Flirting Scholar was released in Taiwan in 1993 as a G-rated film, therefore, viewing was permitted for audiences of all ages. However, traces of vulgarity can still be found in the Mandarin version, and phrases such as ‘混蛋’, ‘八婆’, ‘他媽的’, etc were used in the film. Nowadays, such phrases are not likely to appear in a G-rated film. Consequently, through the analysis of this film that in comparison to the Cantonese version, the Mandarin version has been significantly toned down to minimise the level of vulgarity. Shi Banyu has done an excellent job in translating and transcreating Stephen Chow’s mo lei tau and humour. Even though the Mandarin-speaking audiences miss out on the Cantonese vulgarity, they are able to enjoy the comedy just as much as the Cantonese-speaking audience.
Censorship issues aside, out of the five hardcore swearwords, only ‘撚’
was used three times throughout the film, the rest of the hardcore swearwords were presented to the audience in the form of euphemisms. It may be due to the fact that ‘撚’ is not as offensive as the other four hardcore swearwords, and the audience has a higher degree of tolerance towards the word ‘撚’.
In softcore swearing, the use of ‘仆街’ and ‘冚家’ are recorded seven times and five times respectively. The translator has used different strategies to translate them into Mandarin. The literal meaning of ‘仆街’ in Mandarin is ‘fall
In the dubbed version, ‘仆街’ has not been used literally. The Mandarin version has adapted the idea of the use of ‘冚家+verb’ and used phrases such as ‘趕盡殺 絕’ and ‘全家死光’ etc. to keep the dubbed version clean.
It should also be noted that all of the euphemisms listed in section 5.3 are commonly known to most of the Cantonese-specking audience, particularly young adults. As there are nine tones in the Cantonese language, by playing with the sounds and tones, they become cultural-specific terms only Cantonese speakers understand, making it difficult to translate to another language.
All of the examples listed above contain a certain degree of vulgarity that is easily noticeable by most of the Cantonese-speaking audience, but the Mandarin renditions have toned down or even omitted most of Stephen Chow’s wittiness and his clever use of wordplay. Apart from censorship concerns, it may also be the lack of equivalents in the Mandarin language. But the translator should also be applauded for his or her effort in attempting to interpret Chow’s script and recreate a witty Mandarin version while staying as a G-rated film. As the dubbing actor for Stephen Chow admits in an interview, “台語版真的超級搞
笑。像講詩詞的那些東西嘛，台語版的就押韻，國語不押韻 (the Taiwanese
version is super funny. For example, the poems rhyme in the Taiwanese version, but the Mandarin one does not)” (何穎怡, 2004, p. 92). But the Mandarin version has also achieved a high popularity amongst the Chinese-speaking audience even to this day, more than 20 years after the film was first released.
6 Conclusion
As subtitling is becoming more favourable in the field of audiovisual translation today, dubbing is not as popular as it was 20 years ago. Even countries that prefer dubbing are slowly using subtitles in their films because there are too many films being produced and released worldwide, therefore, it is becoming too costly and time-consuming to dub all of them. Moreover, the process of dubbing involves the translation of a script; it saves time and money to just use the translated script as subtitles. It is also difficult to ignore the fact that dubbing is costly because it takes a team of people to produce a good quality dubbed film. With that being said, dubbing still has an upper hand in the film industry because it fully enhances viewers’ enjoyment for filmgoers. The success of Flirting Scholar is a solid proof that dubbing still has its supporters – the dubbing actor is able to inject fresh energy into a character with the language and culture for moviegoers, which in turn enhances the experience for monolinguals in the audience.
Offensive language, whether it is vulgarism, sexual language or any other social taboos, is banned to a large extent even though most people use it on a day-to-day basis. Throughout this thesis, it is observed that swearwords and insults have a long history in the Cantonese language, and their variety has evolved from plain swearwords to creative non-vulgar euphemisms. If swearwords, its euphemisms and other forms of insults are also taken into consideration, the use of offensive language is far more frequent than one would expect. In Chapter Four, Cantonese and English swearwords show that offensive
language comes in many different forms, with some being more offensive than others. Such linguistic phenomenon also shows that the public’s attitude towards swearing has changed – they are more tolerant towards swearing, and may even use them without noticing it. However, the government and audiovisual sector still have a strong stance against this issue: censorship guidelines are in place for television programs, theatrical performances, films, etc.
This thesis has used Lawrence Venuti’s foreignisation and domestication theory, along with Teresa Tomaszkiewicz’s AVT strategy to analyse the film
Flirting Scholar. The result shows that offensive language and humour are highly
culture-specific. In order to produce an equivalent in the target language, not only does the translator have to know both languages well, but also need to be creative and have a certain amount of knowledge in those cultures. It can be seen that due to censorship restrictions, almost all of the examples from the case study have been toned down, or the vulgarity has even been omitted altogether.
The non-existence of an equivalent in the target language has also limited the translator’s options during the translation and dubbing process. However, due to the limited examples available in Flirting Scholar, it is difficult to draw a clear conclusion as to whether Cantonese offensive language is always toned down or omitted due to the lack of equivalents in the Mandarin language.
Upon the completion of this thesis, I believe translation and linguistic scholars should pay more attention on the issue of offensive language translation in films under an intralingual setting, e.g. the differences in the usage of the same language by different nations, such as the English used in the US, UK and Australia; the French used in France, Belgium, and Quebec in Canada. Books and
journal articles focusing on interlingual translation are widely available, whereas studies on intralingual translation are not as accessible. This may be due to the fact that research based on the same language share too many similarities and the results may be too insignificant for academic research at this point in time.
This thesis was also faced with such issue during the analysis process a. All in all, as a language is constantly evolving, one day this topic may be worthy of academic attention.
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Appendix A – Table of Swearword in Flirting Scholar
Hardcore Swearing
Example Strategy
1
古今中外有邊樣樂器，我邊樣唔撚得出神入化？ Equivalence &
Adaptation 古今中外各種樂器，我樣樣都玩得出神入化！
2
吹口琴、撚玉簫 Equivalence &
Adaptation 吹口琴、玩玉簫
3
魚肥果熟嫲撚飯 Omission &Explication
魚肥果熟入我肚
Softcore Swearing
Example Strategy
4
仆你個街啦！ Equivalence &
Adaptation
10
仆街喇！
Replacement 不得了啦！
11
冚家剷泥齊種樹 Omission &Equivalence 你家墳頭來種樹
12
你都念在我呢幾年賣畫賣到你冚家富貴啊！ Adaptation &Equivalence
Example Strategy
16
Insults and Curse Words
Example
Strategy
30
Example Strategy
39
死做爛做似隻雞
Equivalence 死做活做像條狗
40
Example Strategy
43
48
你條契弟係邊個？
Adaptation 你這白痴是誰啊？
49
我打鑊你個契弟！
Omission
來啊來啊，我打死你！
Appendix B - Film Censorship Guidelines for Censors
I. Introduction
Section 30 of the Film Censorship Ordinance states that 'The Secretary may, for information, from time to time cause to be prepared and published in the Gazette, for the guidance of censors, guidelines not inconsistent with this Ordinance, indicating the manner in which it is proposed that censors exercise their functions under this Ordinance.'
2. These guidelines are of a general nature: they should be read in conjunction with the Film Censorship Ordinance, and each film must be examined and classified on its own merits. In addition, the aim of the censors should be to reflect contemporary public attitudes towards censorship standards. In this connection, the results of public opinion surveys on film censorship standards carried out from time to time and the advice given by the panel of advisers on a specific film will be of assistance.
II. Legal Principles
3. For the purpose of deciding whether a film should be approved for exhibition and the appropriate classification that should be given, the censor is required under section 10(2) of the Ordinance to consider the following matters:---
(a) whether the film portrays, depicts or treats cruelty, torture, violence, crime, horror, disability, sexuality or indecent or offensive language or behaviour; and (b) whether the film denigrates or insults any particular class of the public by reference to the colour, race, religious beliefs or ethnic or national origins or the sex
(c) in relation to the intended exhibition of the film, the circumstances of such exhibition.
5. In considering films against any of the criteria set out in section 10(2) of the Ordinance, the censor must take into account the matters set out in section 10(3).
III. The Three-Tier System
6. Films made today tend to depict life as it is. Violence, sex, foul language and controversial themes are to be found in many modern productions. While adults in Hong
films into a three-tier system gives adults the opportunity to see a wider range of films dealing with the realities of the adult world, but at the same time restricts children and youth from viewing what could be harmful to them in one way or another.
7. The classification system serves two different functions. On the one hand it lays down a set of legally enforceable rules to restrict admission and access to adult films by minors. On the other hand, it offers to parents some advance information about the suitability of the film so that parents can decide what movies they want their children to see or not to see and thereby exercise appropriate parental guidance.
8. Classification of films for children and young persons involves exercising judgement on the capacity of the different age groups in coping with the depictions and treatment of film material which may not be suitable for them. The perceived maturity and sophistication of children and young persons are also important factors. The category advice should be seen in this light.
9. When a censor, aided by his advisers, approves a film for public exhibition, he is required to classify it as:---
(a) approved for exhibition to persons of any age: Category I.
(b) approved for exhibition to persons of any age subject to the condition that any advertising material which relates to the film shall contain the following notice, or a notice to the like effect, in block letters and Chinese characters prominently and legibly displayed---NOT SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN: Category IIA or NOT SUITABLE
10. The person who submits a film (distributor) is required to state the classification
10. The person who submits a film (distributor) is required to state the classification