Star Wars: Backstroke of the West

[DisneyDaniel]

I've seen Episode III probably more times than the average moviegoer, but I guess I wasn't paying enough attention to the dialogue. Is that what they're saying?

Those screen caps are unintentional, pure comic genius! However, what's strange--which made me question the authenticity of this Chinese bootleg translation--is that the screen caps do NOT show Chinese subtitles as well. Almost all the American films I've seen in Chinese-release versions have both Chinese and English subtitles flashing at the same time on the bottom of the screen. But then again, these were "official" foreign releases of American films.

[flippyshark]

I can't help but wonder if this is really what it appears. The extreme nature of the mistranslations strikes a "too good to be true" chord for me. Now, we have seen many humorous Engrish T-shirts from Japan, but those are created with almost complete disregard for what they mean. (The Japanese just think that 'romaji' looks cool.) On the other hand, it's hard to believe that a Chinese translator, even one working for a pirating organization, would be able to come up with such consistently funny mistakes. The Presbyterian Church bit strikes me as just a little too "wink wink" hilarious. (Some blogs have also wondered why a Chinese disc of an English language film would have English subtitles in the first place. Even if it is pirated from a Chinese language print, it is far more likely that the subs would include Mandarin or Cantonese, whichever dialect the movie itself wasn't in. I don't know that pirate discs typically offer multiple selectable languages.)

I can imagine a couple of scenarios. In one, a clever Westerner gets hold of a bootleg and creates a "bad translation." If this is the case, it is a clever parody of the ways in which English gets garbled, but it struck me as way over the top. Another possibility, the pirates themselves knowingly created an outrageously bad subtitle track to confound and infuriate the suckers who would buy the illegal discs. Less likely, I know.

Of course, I can't prove this contention. It may actually be exactly what is claimed. But, I have seen more than a few grey market Chinese discs in my day, and that is WAAAY beyond any awkward English translations I have seen before. Alas, my suspicions made reading the lines much less humorous, as I felt the hand of a snarky American behind it, rightly or wrongly. (Just for kicks, I looked up Snopes to see if there was an entry about this. Not at this time.)

Whatever the case, George Lucas should include this as an alternate subtitle track on the official DVD, don't you think?

[sleepyjeff]

OMG that was funny