ST TV DVD ShinY Fix Vision. YYeTs
Sam: I'm talking about the King of the bloody Seven Kingdoms.
At the end of the first episode, Sam finally reveals to John his heritage. John has always been called a Snow, which is the term given to bastards., but in reality, he is the son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark, and therefore the rightful heir to the throne. He tells John that he is not only the rightful king of the North, but the rightful king of the entire realm.
He says, “I’m talking about the King of the bloody Seven Kingdoms,” which of course comes as quite a shock to John. None of the prosubs and fansubs decided to omit the word “bloody.”
Both prosubs, YYeTs, and FIX translated the sentence identically as, 「我說的是該死的七 國之王」. ShinY also used the word 「該死的」; however, used it as an independent curse rather than a modifier. They rendered the ST as, 「該死的， 我說的是七境之王」. Even in this instance, the word 「該死」seems affected. Visonary Sub translated it as, 「我說的是 他媽的七國之君」. Again, the translation of the word “bloody” isn’t really necessary. Both camps felt the need to translate the word “bloody” but fell for the fidelity trap. This is an instance where omitting the word is the best policy.
為你戰 鬥過
In the second episode, on the night before the battle with the army of the dead, Arya wanders onto the top of the city walls and finds Sandor alone, drinking a flagon of ale. Soon after they are joined by Beric Dondarrion, the leader of the Brotherhood Without Banners and a servant of the Lord of Light. Having both Arya and Beric disrupt his solitude gets on his nerves, and he experiences the torture that attending a wedding would produce. Vexed, he says, “May as well be at a bloody wedding.” The word bloody is just an adjective that
expresses his dislike for weddings in general. Both prosubs, ShinY, and YYeTs translated the sentence similarly as「乾脆辦婚禮算了」.This is a great translation and expresses the idea of the ST accurately. FIX and Visionary Sub, however, very likely mistook “a bloody wedding” for “The Red Wedding,” where many Starks were ambushed and murdered or just entirely missed the point. They translated the sentence relatively as, 「也許是在血色婚禮上 吧」 and 「可能在那個該死的婚禮上也為你戰鬥過」. The former translation means
“maybe we are at a gory wedding.” The Chinese word 「血色」 means “red” and would be a direct translation of “The Red Wedding.” The latter translation means, “maybe it was at that bloody weeding that I fought for you.” The only time that Sandor “fought for” Arya was when Brienne tried to bring Arya back to Winterfell in season four. It resulted in a vigorous scuffle between Sandor and Brienne, where Brienne emerged victorious and Sandor nearly died. This fansub group must have confused the sentence for that event.
Ex. 3
ST TV DVD ShinY Fix Vision. YYeTs
Sandor: Thoros isn't here anymore, so I hope you're not about to give a sermon. Because if you are, the Lord of Light's gonna wonder why he brought you back
I'm not spending my final hours with you two
In the same scene as above, just moments after sitting down, Beric seems to have the intention of giving a sermon about the glory of the Lord of Light, but before he has the chance to really start preaching, Sandor interrupts him by saying:
Thoros isn't here anymore, so I hope you're not about to give a sermon. Because if you are, the Lord of Light's gonna’ wonder why he brought you back nineteen times just to watch you die when I chuck you over this fucking wall.
Both prosubs and most fansubs adopted the same translation strategy. The TV subs translated the latter part of the sentence as,「光之王會納悶幹嘛讓你復活十九次，只為了 看我把你拋下牆摔死」. ShinY translated the sentence similarly as 「你會被我扔出牆外摔 死，而光之王會後悔， 為什麼要讓你復活十九次」, which also omits the word
“fucking,” but the sequence of word is undesirably out of order from the ST. Visionary Sub translated the sentence as, 「光之神就會感到後悔， 他讓你復活 19 次，難不成就是為 了，看你被我扔出這牆外摔死」. Again, this fansub group had the clarity to opt for omission. YYeTs also decided on omission with the sentence, 「光之王就會不明白了，難 道他地十九次復活你，就是為了看著你被我扔到牆外摔死」. FIX is the only group that felt obligated to retain the curse word and translated the sentence as, 「光之王就會納悶，
為什麼他讓你復活了19 次， 還要看著你被我扔下，這座該死的城牆摔死」. This
translation translated the word “fucking” as 「該死」but the word seems strange as a modifier. More often than not, it stands on its own as a curse of dismay. This is an instance where omitting the word “fucking” from the translation is the better translation. Therefore, most subtitlers have the proper judgment but the only group that fell into the fidelity trap was a fansub group.
Ex. 4
ST TV DVD ShinY Fix Vision. YYeTs
Arya: Take your own bloody pants off.
Arya reveals her affection for Gendry, the bastard son of Robert Baratheon. Arya begins undressing to Gendry’s surprise. Shocked by her sudden disrobing, he stares at her without moving. Arya, being a warrior and a feminist says, “I’m not the Red Woman. Take your own bloody pants off.” Both prosub sources and two of the fansub sources, decided to omit the word “bloody.” YYeTs and Fix, however, both translated the meaning of “bloody”
as 「該死」. This is an instance of “over translation” as the word “bloody” is merely used to emphasize the tone of Arya’s command, but the viewers can clearly see and hear Arya’s tone without the word 「該死」which seems rather awkward as a modifier. This example shows how prosubs are often more tactful when dealing with sensitive matters than fansubs, which over translate due to an obligation to translate with “utter fidelity.”
Ex. 5
ST TV DVD ShinY Fix Vision. YYeTs
Sandor: Heard you were broken in.
Heard you were broken in rough.
聽說你被
During the feast after the battle with the Army of the Dead, Sansa approaches Sandor, who is sitting alone. Sandor begins talking about how he heard how Sansa was abused by Ramsay and at one point raped. He says, “Heard you were broken in. Heard you were broken in rough.” Sandor’s comment implies the rape but doesn’t say it directly. Most of the fansubs made the ST more transparent with the words “broken in” rendered as 「強姦」or 「強 暴」. FIX, Visionary Sub, and YYeTS translated it respectively as,「聽說你被強暴了，被 粗暴地強姦了,「聽說你被強姦了，聽說他很粗暴」, and「聽說你被強姦，聽說你被狠 狠地強姦」. In this situation the fansubs took a bit too much liberty with their translations and would have benefited from being more faithful to the ST. ShinY went a completely different route and made the translation more opaque with the sentence,「聽說你被傷害了/
聽說你被狠狠地傷害了」. Back translating the sentence leaves us with, “I heard you were hurt/I heard you were hurt bad.” This is the worst translation as the word “hurt” is much too vague. Both prosubs decided to maintain the indirectness of the ST but didn’t conceal the rape as much as ShinY did. They translated the sentence as follows: 「聽說你被硬上，而 且很粗暴」. This is a very appropriate phrasing of the ST as it gives the proper amount of insinuation.
Ex. 6
ST TV DVD ShinY Fix Vision. YYeTs
Sandor: For fuck's
sake. 搞什麼 搞什麼 去他媽的 操他媽
的
不是吧 操他娘的
After they have won the battle with the Army of the Dead, Arya and Sandor stealthily leave Winterfell separately and make their way to King’s Landing. Sandor marches to the
biggest most brutal person in all of Westeros, while Arya has plans to kill Queen Cersei.
Despite leaving at separate times, they “coincidentally” run into each other, which seems as if Arya has deliberately sought out Sandor as a traveling companion. Sandor is shocked that Arya could somehow appear on the same stretch of road and at the same time. He curses,
‘Oh, for fuck’s sake,’ which is an expression that essentially means, “what is going on?” All the fansubs translated the sentence similarly. ShinY translated the sentence as 「見鬼了」.
FIX and Visionary Sub both translated the sentence as 「去他媽的」. YYeTs translated the sentence as 「操他娘的」. Both prosubs however settled on a more PC version that in this instance is more understandable「搞什麼啊」. It is the best translation as it is easily understood and captures the tone of Sandor’s curse in more standard Chinese.