The wrong Chinese characters appear in the scenes

La suite officielle en 26 épisodes par MoviePlus (Jean Chalopin) et Blue Spirit, diffusée sur TF1 en 2013.
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desmondchan71
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The wrong Chinese characters appear in the scenes

Message par desmondchan71 »

Dear all,

I live in Hong Kong and I can read and write both Chinese and English (but not French). I watched Season One when I was still a secondary school student in summer 1984. I ordered the Season Two blu-ray discs recently from Amazon. Season Two's story takes place in ancient China, but there are something wrong with the Chinese characters appear the the scene. I will state them below:

1. Episode 8 15:08 '橄榄绘图'
108t01.mp4_snapshot_15.08.png
First of all these are Simplified Chinese Characters used in Mainland China (Peoples' Republic of China), Singapore and Malaysia. However, official Simplified Chinese Characters did not appear until 1950s. It should be '橄欖繪圖' in Traditional Chinese Characters which are used in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.

Secondly, what is the meaning of these four characters? It means 'Olive Drawings' (maybe it is the name of a drawing studio), and I don't think this is related to a buddhist temple which is famous of Chinese Kung Fu!

2. Episode 8 5:08
108t01.mp4_snapshot_05.08.png
Chinese characters can be written either vertically or horizontally. Traditional, if Chinese Characters are written horizontally, it should be from right to left (but nowaday Chinese Characters are written from left to right because of word processing using computer). In the scene the Chinese Characters should be read vertically because they are written on two separate banners, and is not in correct order. I here attached the correct one:
108t01.mp4_snapshot_05.08-modify.png
The meanings of these four characters are 'hope' and 'wisdom'.

3. Epsiode 9 1:24
109t00.mp4_snapshot_01.24.png
The name of the inn '館的兩條龍' is incorrect in Chinese grammar, although '兩條龍' means 'two dragons' (there are two dragons on the top of the inn) and '館' can mean '旅館' (inn). However '旅館' is a modern term of 'inn' in Chinese. I will name it as '雙龍客棧' (Double Dragon Inn) rather. In Chinese character '雙' means 'double', '龍' means 'dragon', '客棧' means 'inn' in older Chinese.
109t00.mp4_snapshot_01.24-modify.png
I will post more if more error is found.
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Routard
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Re: The wrong Chinese characters appear in the scenes

Message par Routard »

desmondchan71 a écrit : 13 juil. 2018, 19:00 Secondly, what is the meaning of these four characters? It means 'Olive Drawings' (maybe it is the name of a drawing studio), and I don't think this is related to a buddhist temple which is famous of Chinese Kung Fu!
Very interesting... and funny if I can say!!!
Concerning your translation, in French "Olivier" exists as a first name* (close to "Olive" which also exists as a first name, but much more rare)...
And when you look at the credits of episode 8, the storyboard is drawn by... Olivier Poirette. That is the explanation of the not-so-obvious temple name :x-):

* my first name is Olivier :lol:
Au revoir, à bientôt
Routard,
https://www.LesCitesdOr.com
desmondchan71
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Re: The wrong Chinese characters appear in the scenes

Message par desmondchan71 »

Routard a écrit : 13 juil. 2018, 23:01 Very interesting... and funny if I can say!!!
Concerning your translation, in French "Olivier" exists as a first name* (close to "Olive" which also exists as a first name, but much more rare)...
And when you look at the credits of episode 8, the storyboard is drawn by... Olivier Poirette. That is the explanation of the not-so-obvious temple name :x-):

* my first name is Olivier :lol:
Mystery solved :-@ . Thank you for your information! It seems that the artist wants to leave his/her name on this cartoon by translating his/her name into Chinese characters and displayed in an unimportant place... However for MCOG lovers who can read Chinese like me, it is really strange. Anyway using traditional Chinese characters is better because it suits the time of the story.

N.B. The Season One I watched in 1984 was Japanese version with Cantonese dubbing added. Cantonese instead of Mandarin is my mother tongue.
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Re: The wrong Chinese characters appear in the scenes

Message par Ra Mu »

Routard a écrit : 13 juil. 2018, 23:01 Concerning your translation, in French "Olivier" exists as a first name* (close to "Olive" which also exists as a first name, but much more rare)...
And when you look at the credits of episode 8, the storyboard is drawn by... Olivier Poirette. That is the explanation of the not-so-obvious temple name :x-):
You have a point definitely.
But I think this "Olivier " refers to the background designer Olivier Montenon (another Olivier 8) ) who was in charge with the Shaolin sets.

@ desmondchan71
Thanks for your sharing
Regarding modern sinographs , I assume this anime was meant to be read easily by young children in Asia (especially in China).
Besides, in westerners eyes, they were just drawn in order to give a somewhat "exotic scenerery" as well as a watermark.
I don't think designers were eager to reach such a high level of historical accuracy.


I'm indeed interested in translations as a lot of people here are unable to read chinese writing. :D
- On s'est tout de même embrassés, cela ne signifie donc rien?
- HEIN? T'as embrassé Ambrosius?
- *soupir* Allez, déblaie!
HOP HOP HOP! :x-):
desmondchan71
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Re: The wrong Chinese characters appear in the scenes

Message par desmondchan71 »

Episode 10 17:52
201t09.mp4_snapshot_17.52.png
Usually a poem, beautiful pictures or other optimistic words will be drawn or written on a handheld fan in Chinese tradition. This time, besides simplified Chinese characters are used, the meaning of these Chinese words is 'Whether he has goal or not, he will be unable to achieve' ('目标' means 'goal' or 'target', '无法' means 'cannot', '实现' means 'achieve'). Usually we won't write such pessimistic words on a handheld fan! If I were to rewrite this words, I will write a famous Chinese idiom '有志者事竟成' ('Anyone has a determined goal will achieve it finally').
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