Difficulty understanding a few words

[Lu]

I'm making subtitles for a short Q&A session with two film directors and most of it is going great, but there are a few bits that for the life of me I can't figure out. Can anyone help?

 

One of the directors is asked about the visual style of the film and the set design and such. He replies with some explanation and then 所以我们用了很多，譬如说像譬如说玩具、譬如说插花、譬如说像zìkǎng，然后用了很有趣的歌曲来组合这个电影。(His exact spoken words.) Now what can this zìkǎng be? He says it very clearly, and with some emphasis, so I'd prefer not to leave it out. Pleco and Line have no idea. This director has a pretty pronounced Taiwanese accent, so it can be zikang/zhikang/zikan/zhikan, but the tones are clear.

 

I can try pasting a sound clip but I hope someone here can help from just my description because I don't know how to do that.

[EnergyReaper]

Can't think of any word with the pronunciation zìkǎng.

Can you give the full context? The question he was asked and his full answer before 所以我们用了很多.

If you can give the sound clip, that will help a lot.

[Tomsima]

shot in the dark, the only thing I can think of that would fit the tone pattern is 质感. But thats kind of problematic in itself, because the other things he is listing are all concrete nouns, so it doesnt really fit the flow. Post the audio if you can, I'm curious too

[Leslie Frank]

On 1/29/2021 at 2:06 AM, Lu said:

I can try pasting a sound clip but I hope someone here can help from just my description because I don't know how to do that.

You can save audio files to Google drive or SoundCloud, (or Dropbox, although I don't particularly care for Dropbox cuz I don't like the way they manage files)--all are free to upload your files as long as you don't exceed a certain amount. You have the choice to make your files private or accessible to the public with varying degrees of privacy/security, so you would simply post the URL to your sound clip so that ppl can hear it.

[Lu]

Right, an attempt. It's one sentence in a longer filmed interview, and the thing as a whole is not mine to share. But I've made a sound recording of this one sentence with primitive means, apologies for the horrible quality, I know very little about these things. I hope it's playable.

 

recording-2021-01-30-12-29-17 zikang.amr

[Publius]

譬如說像電動玩具，譬如像插畫，譬如說像jùkǎn (sorry, no idea what it is)

 

[wibr]

My Taiwanese friend says it's 字卡

[SunnySideUp]

Could it be some kind of brand name?

[roddy]

2 hours ago, wibr said:

My Taiwanese friend says it's 字卡

That's what I hear, though not sure if I'd have heard that before reading your post. Fits with 'toys' though. 

[EnergyReaper]

What I heard was the same as what @Publius heard, and I still have no idea.

10 hours ago, wibr said:

My Taiwanese friend says it's 字卡

I just know variety shows often use 字卡, but films seldom. @wibr Did your friend tell you that after he or she had listened to the sound clip?

@Lu Can you tell us the title of the film? Maybe after watching the film, we can get more clues.

[roddy]

Ha, didn't even notice @Publius is back! Excellent. 

[Tomsima]

1 hour ago, roddy said:

Ha, didn't even notice @Publius is back! Excellent. 

 

Brought a smile to my face too!

[Leslie Frank]

my go-to mando gal said it sounded like 字卡 also (although, i also seem to hear kǎng as well). and btw, seconding @Publius's response of 插画 for illustrations. maybe you can confirm it with the director. be interesting to hear what he says.

13 hours ago, Publius said:

譬如像插畫

 

[wibr]

@EnergyReaper yes after listening to the clip, with 95% certainty... the n/ng at the end is probably caused by going low for the third tone. I think the fourth tone on 插畫 is pretty clear.

[EnergyReaper]

@wibr I just listened to the clip again, turned off my subwoofer, turned the volume up to what it could be, and still got it as jùkǎn, not zìkǎ. Publius is also a native Chinese speaker, and he got the same answer, so I am confused. Unless Taiwanese people may pronounce 字卡 as jùkǎn or similar ... But Lu watched the original video and she said it might be zìkǎng. Maybe it's just because her clip is not that high quality?  I don't know. On the other hand, You mean 字卡 like 综艺字卡, right? If it's a music video, I can understand, like the MV of a Korean idol girl group ITZY's song — ICY. ICY MV Reaction (I can't access Youtube, so I'm not sure if the link is right.) I saw many 字卡 in it.

The pronunciation of 插畫 is very clear, so I never doubt it.

[Lu]

Thanks everyone! I'm embarrassed I heard 插画 as 插花 (what else did I mishear...), but glad you guys pointed it out. 字卡 makes sense, I don't specifically recall them being in the film but it absolutely fits the style so they are probably there and I forgot them. I'll amend my subtitles.

 

The clip I posted is of very low quality. The interview was taped from an okay Zoom connection, I made the sound clip by playing the interview on my computer and recording that bit with my phone. Feel free to facepalm a bit about my technical savvy here.

 

I won't mention which film, sorry. I try to keep my real life away from these forums and not make my forum self too easily connected to my real-life self.