First Episode 6: 我爱我家

[renzhe]

A part of the Grand First Episode Project -- See this thread for more info.

Much-loved family sitcom set in 90s Beijing.

Emule/Edonkey - Youku

Unfortunately, this version doesn't come with subtitles, which made it quite difficult for me. This is the second of the Grand Project episodes which I can't follow. Very fast moving, Beijing accent, no subtitles is a bad combination for me. Anyone have a link that uses subtitles, preferably not on youku (which I can't currently view under Linux)?

Since this one is obviously extremely conversation/character driven, I can't really write much more about it.

EDIT: Some vocabulary:

动画片儿 dòng huà piānr cartoon / animation

频道 pín dào frequency / (television) channel

霸 bà tyrant / to rule by force

鸡腿儿 jī tuǐr chicken leg

心事 xīn shì a load on one's mind / worry

丧偶 sàng ǒu be bereaved of one' s spouse

着调

去世 qù shì to pass away / to die

烦恼 fán nǎo agonize / agony

单行道 dān xíng dào one way street

那儿跟那儿 mixed up / make no sense

任副总经理 to appoint a deputy

享 享 xiǎng to enjoy / to benefit /

轻福

气油 -- I think this should be 汽油 qì yóu gas / gasoline

纯属 纯属 chún shǔ pure and simple

我那是哄着他玩儿 I think this means to dance on one's command -- follow somebody's orders

批评 pī píng to criticize / criticism

议论 yì lùn to comment / to talk about

深浅 shēn qiǎn deep or shallow / depth (of the sea)

嘀咕 dí gu to whisper

妇联 fù lián women's league / women's association

群众 qún zhòng the masses

威信 wēi xìn prestige / reputation

彻底 chè dǐ thorough

机关 jī guān organ / mechanism

松快 sōng kuai relieved / relaxed

政协 zhèng xié CPPCC (Chinese People's Political Consultative Committee)

发挥 fā huī to display / to exhibit

余热 yú rè heat residue

级别 jí bié (military) rank / level / grade

作主 zuò zhǔ to decide / to make decisions

劳动 láo dòng work / toil / physical labor

后勤 hòu qín logistics

人心 rén xīn popular feeling / the will of the people

See post #11 for the rest of vocabulary, courtesy of roddy.

Edited February 9, 2010 at 02:15 PM by renzhe

[roddy]

Actually we may have transcripts for this one - I just remembered this from 2006. There's a download page here. The first one is a .chm file - ie a Windows help file, which is an odd format and the download doesn't appear to work. The second is a .zip of html files, you want 发挥余热 上 and 下。

As pointed out in the linked discussion, the two might not match up 100%, but should still be very useful.

Got this downloaded now, hopefully will be able to watch today. Although it's not the only thing on yesterday's list of things to do that still needs done . . .

台词编辑帮助文档源代码.zip

Edited September 9, 2008 at 08:00 PM by roddy

[renzhe]

Thanks.

The transcripts were really helpful. At least I understand what's going on now. Still, it seems far more difficult than the more modern urban TV shows. I have a feeling that this is a more traditional type show, written for actors, and that the trend has been to move to more spoken, colloqial language. Just a guess though.

[roddy]

Actually I'd say it's very colloquial - but it's also very fast, very Beijing (看哪门子动画片呀), has plenty of references to stuff like 中央, 妇联，and there's a fair bit of humor drawn from cadre-type language being dropped into the domestic setting, such as "咱们家是缺了个当家人，早就该治理整顿啦！"

I actually just went looking to see if I could find out who made the series in the first place, ended up reading Baidu's 百科 page and it seems the show was removed from Beijing TV after six episodes just because of that humor.

《我爱我家》里，文兴宇扮演的离休老干部一本正经的旧式思维与官方话语遭到儿孙辈的无情嘲笑，让这部中国第一情景喜剧在北京电视台播出6集后被掐，首都人民不得不通过河北电视台的覆盖继续他们每晚20分钟的欢乐。

[imron]

and there's a fair bit of humor drawn from cadre-type language being dropped into the domestic setting

That's what I love about it. The father definitely makes this show.

[roddy]

Have now watched it (although have seen it before).

Damn but it's fast. I can keep up, but there's no room for drifting off and missing anything, and as if one rapid-fire Beijinger wasn't enough, half the time you've got a living room of them talking over each other. Oh, and they threw in a heavily-accented maid for good measure, bless them. I should go over it again with the transcript and see how much I understood and how much I just thought I understood.

Great fun though, and the actors are obviously enjoying themselves. Do they make them like this any more?

I didn't realize, but this is part one of a two-parter. In the transcript you only need 发挥余热 上, 下 is the next one. It stands up fine on its own though.

[imron]

Great fun though, and the actors are obviously enjoying themselves. Do they make them like this any more?

Probably not. This was the first Chinese sitcom, so I imagine that back in the day it was breaking all sorts of new ground. Things nowadays seem to be much more cookie-cutter. Even though the show is quite dated now (both in content and production values) it's still full of great lines and interesting characters.

Part two of the first episode is good too, and definitely worth a watch, especially at the end where they're all confessing to the father about their mistakes.

[ChugokuOtaku]

if you found 我爱我家 entertaining, try watching 带着孩子结婚

[roddy]

Hadn't heard of that one, but it's the same director (英达)

[renzhe]

I've just been through the transcript roddy linked to in the second post, and I found it a lot funnier this time round. Probably because I had time to concentrate on what's being said.

I've attached a vocabulary list to the first post, a couple are missing. They are taken from the transcript, in case anyone wants to have a go and needs the context.

[roddy]

晕腥 typo in the transcript, should be 荤腥 - 人家一礼拜可才见一回晕腥, we only get meat once a week.

打蔫儿 to shrivel, in context maybe to mope?

轻福 - ?

车接车送 - to be picked up and dropped off by car. Not sure it's a word so much as an efficient phrase.

还不光是老 - not just old. Someone says something like he's getting old, then someone else says 'and it's not just his age . . .'

海涵 - forgiveness

全国一盘棋 - the country is all one game of chess - consider the country as a whole. Political phrase, used jokingly in the context of office gossip

处级干部 - 处 as in office within a government department, etc. So an office-level cadre, ie ranking under a 部级干部， etc

犯晕 to feel faint, dizzy. You also see 犯 used like this is 犯困，犯傻。

I'm going to attached the transcripts for the series to my earlier post - they're online elsewhere and I don't usually like to duplicate stuff online, but it'd be a shame to lose these if the other site closes down.

[aristotle1990]

Oh, and they threw in a heavily-accented maid for good measure, bless them.

The mom's accent is really quite extraordinary too -- I mean, it almost seems like she's just dropping words sometimes...

Also, anyone else think certain inflections sound funny? Like, in some of the later episodes the dad and the daughter say 哪儿去了 with a really strong emphasis on the 哪儿 and then throw in the 去 almost as an afterthought, giving it a tinny, weak sound that makes it very strange. I actually didn't understand what they were saying at first. I wonder if it's a feature of 北京话...

Edited May 3, 2010 at 07:42 AM by aristotle1990

[roddy]

Paging @markhavemann

 

In a stroke of artificial genius, the Youtube algorithm threw Episode 17 of this into my 'you may want to waste time watching' list, alongside Game of Thrones clips and In The Thick Of It insult-compilations. Hang on, said I. Is that 葛优. It only bloody is! Anyway, that tickled some memories, and here we are. 

 

1) You should all watch this. At least give the first episode a shot. Simpler times. History being made. Casually watch this on your office computer as older colleagues walk past. 

2) Mark, above there's a zip file with a bunch of transcripts. It's a rich vein ripe for the mining for your transcription project - and particularly valuable as this particular show doesn't have subtitles and is [understatement]not easy to understand[/understatement]. Note caveats above about accuracy. 

 

What's that, Youtube? The 大山 episode of 编辑部的故事? Don't mind if I do.  But first, I need to start my 'Sponsor me to watch 90s Chinese TV shows' Patreon page.

[markhavemann]

16 hours ago, roddy said:

Mark, above there's a zip file with a bunch of transcripts. It's

Nice, this looks like it could be a quite a challenge. And it's even got the mom from 家有儿女, I wouldn't have recognised her if not for her voice!  

 

I've extracted the text from those annoying HTM files and the text version of the transcripts are available on the Transcription Project page: 

https://www.chinese-forums.com/forums/topic/57644-transcription-project/

[imron]

This was a great show!  The grandfather was my favourite character.

 

8 hours ago, markhavemann said:

And it's even got the mom from 家有儿女

Alternatively, 家有儿女 has the mum from 我爱我家