The Wire (HBO) with Chinese subtitles

[jaapgrolleman]

With the Shanghai lockdown taking 61 days (we're out now) we watched The Wire for the first time, but used Chinese subtitles to make it more educational. 

 

It’s interesting to read the translations, sometimes literally translating from English, other times writing down the intention. Sometimes an English idiom is swapped for a Chinese one, such as:

• “Lambs to the slaughter here.” becomes “这是羊入虎口了啊” (Lambs entering a tiger’s den (口 here refers to a den, think about the 口 in 出口)).

 

Sometimes the translation is done pretty, such as:

• “Man, money ain’t got no owners, only spenders” / “嘿 钱可没住人 谁能花出去出那才算数.” (Money has no owners. Only those who can spend it are counted for.)

 

Anyway, I went back and copied down the opening lines (epigraphs) of each episode, from the Chinese subtitles as well as English, as well as some other famous quotes and any Chinese characters I saw on the screen (mostly tattoos). Sometimes I had to look up the character to write out the sentences, but most characters used are fairly normal.

 

Full quotes here of all episodes:

https://jaapgrolleman.com/chinese-in-the-wire/

[abcdefg]

Interesting project. Thanks! Always fun to see how Chinese handles the vernacular of other countries. I did not realize this series was available with Chinese subs, though I should have known it would be. 

[sekkar]

Interesting read! I'd completely forgotten about that tattoo scene.