Interplanetary Unusual Attacking Team

When Guardians of the Galaxy was translated into Chinese, they cut some corners. The title of the movie shown in China is now Interplanetary Unusual Attacking Team. The insults have been changed to endearments, and other lines just make no sense at all. Some examples:

  • Each time a character was meant to insult Rocket by calling him “rodent” or “weasel” it was translated into “small raccoon,” a term of endearment.
  • When Gamora says, “Your ship is filthy,” and Star-Lord responds “She has no idea,” the translation came out to “Your ship stinks” and “No culture is terrible.”
  • Star-Lord calling Ronan “turd blossom” translated to “big face.”
  • Gamora’s “I will not succumb to your pelvic sorcery!” became “I will not succumb to your rhetoric sorcery!”

There’s more at The Mary Sue, and even more criticism of the translation if you can read Chinese.


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I used to read Language Log, which is a collection of linguist blogs. It made me happy to learn that a lot of spelling "rules" come from misapprehensions of how language is actually used, including many grammar rules in Strunk and White which weren't true when written, and weren't even followed by White. This link is well aligned with what I learned from LL, and nicely summarizes the points. If you want to read more about these sorts of topics, I enjoyed and recommend the "Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage" .. which has most of a column about "irregardless" :)
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My view is that it's my language, and I'll use it however I damned well please. If I choose to break the rules, the chances are I'm doing it deliberately because it creates the effect I'm looking for[1]. Except, of course, when it happens 'cos I'm careless or tired, or ignorant - and I plead to all three on occasions.
[1] For which I am looking.
Pet hates? "Utilise" instead of "use". Verbing in general..."He medalled at the Olympics". The loss of useful distinctions, such as insure/ensure.
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