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Translating a film to English

Started by Trevor, September 25, 2021, 02:30:28 PM

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Trevor

I've started translating the dialogue of the SA film "Die Kandidaat" [The Candidate, 1968] from Afrikaans to English. This is an important film in our history as it was our first political thriller and it stuck two fingers up at the apartheid government. The trouble is, it's almost entirely in Afrikaans (my second language) and some words and phrases do not translate well - try this one:

"Is u een van die Afrikaners met benoude boude?"  :buggedout: :buggedout:

Rough translation: "Are you one of the Afrikaans speaking South Africans with a nervous bum?"  :buggedout:

This should be fun  :buggedout: :buggedout: :wink:

We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness.

Newt

Quote from: Trevor on September 25, 2021, 02:30:28 PM
I've started translating the dialogue of the SA film "Die Kandidaat" [The Candidate, 1968] from Afrikaans to English. This is an important film in our history as it was our first political thriller and it stuck two fingers up at the apartheid government. The trouble is, it's almost entirely in Afrikaans (my second language) and some words and phrases do not translate well - try this one:

"Is u een van die Afrikaners met benoude boude?"  :buggedout: :buggedout:

Rough translation: "Are you one of the Afrikaans speaking South Africans with a nervous bum?"  :buggedout:

This should be fun  :buggedout: :buggedout: :wink:


lol!  Sounds to me as though there should be two versions of the translation.  Save the 'good' one for us!   :wink:
"May I offer you a Peek Frean?" - Walter Bishop
"Thank you for appreciating my descent into deviant behavior, Mr. Reese." - Harold Finch

Trevor

Quote from: Newt on September 25, 2021, 02:53:42 PM
lol!  Sounds to me as though there should be two versions of the translation.  Save the 'good' one for us!   :wink:

Will do  :wink:

That out of left field line was typical of Jans Rautenbach's sly sense of humor. Even in the most serious of films, a character would say something that would make the audience do a collective spit take. The film Ongewenste Vreemdeling - [The Unwanted Stranger] about a paroled murderer visiting a community of loggers in SA's Eastern Cape has another gem.

Trucker: "Where do you come from?"
Parolee: [points in one direction] "From over there."
Trucker: "I see. Where are you going to?"
Parolee [points in the other direction] "That way."  :teddyr:
We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness.

bob

Kubrick, Nolan, Tarantino, Wan, Iñárritu, Scorsese, Chaplin, Abrams, Wes Anderson, Gilliam, Kurosawa, Villeneuve - the elite



I believe in the international communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids.

Trevor

We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness.

The Burgomaster

Translations are often interesting - - years ago, I watched "Das Boot" with English dubbing AND English subtitles . . . and the translations were often quite different between the two.
"Do not walk behind me, for I may not lead. Do not walk ahead of me, for I may not follow. Do not walk beside me either. Just pretty much leave me the hell alone."

Allhallowsday

Quote from: The Burgomaster on September 26, 2021, 11:03:07 AM
Translations are often interesting - - years ago, I watched "Das Boot" with English dubbing AND English subtitles . . . and the translations were often quite different between the two.

Absolutely.  Discretion and intent are what are mostly lost in translation.   Often, translation moves along one parameter, literal or colloquial.  A good translation strives for both.
If you want to view paradise . . . simply look around and view it!

Trevor

Quote from: The Burgomaster on September 26, 2021, 11:03:07 AM
Translations are often interesting - - years ago, I watched "Das Boot" with English dubbing AND English subtitles . . . and the translations were often quite different between the two.

Another odd thing is the director / writer of Die Kandidaat, Jans Rautenbach - a career mentor who I was privileged to know for over 20 years - only ever spoke English to me, never Afrikaans. Strange.  :question:
We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness.

Trevor

We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness.