This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
Robert: Discussion copied from Translation Censorship.
BT The P: The Firefly crew are all speaking English. They use Mandarin curse words because you get the point across with fewer syllables, and it's just popular in that time period. Mandarin and English are the twin lingua franca of the Verse, because the Alliance is the Anglo-Sino Alliance, i.e. England and China.
Red Shoe: No disagreement here, but I think that the fact that being "dual language" really means "100% of profanity in Mandarin, 100% of other conversation in English" makes it qualify. Picard's not speaking French the rest of the time either
Silent Hunter: Other things are said in Mandarin, par exemple Mal's name for Kaylee.
//When I saw the title of this entry, it made me think of anime that had been very badly bowdlerized in the "official" English versions. Is there a different term for that? I ask because it seems to me that what this article describes is a very different thing.
Dark Sasami: I agree completely. When I first saw this I thought immediately of the "tea" (sake) in Tenchi Muyo, of various ecchi titles calling high school "college," of the omission of any explanation of Tomo's "chinsuke" joke in Azumanga Daioh, you get the idea. Conversely, Japanese fans of Powerpuff Girls complain about the violence that is cut out for Japanese television! Maybe the existing article could be renamed Pardon My Klingon and Pardon My Klingon be used for censorship in translation?
Red Shoe: That's a funnier title, so I've got no problemn if you want to rename, but it seems like what you're talking about is already somewhat covered under Too Long; Didn't Dub
Ununnilium: We could have a whole trope *just* for alcohol being renamed in dubs. Tea, soda, juice... The Yu Gi Oh episode my brother was watching last night used "hot sauce". Sheesh.
Looney Toons: I second "Pardon My Klingon" as a better title.
The One Who Tropes: No. This article should be about swearing in Alien Languages / Con Langs. This is not the Trope you're looking for. The Trope you're looking for is Cut And Paste Translation. It is the opposite of Woolseyism. Also see Lost in Translation, "Blind Idiot" Translation and Translation Trainwreck.
//I'm not sure whether Farscape is an example or a subversion of this trope. If it is a direct application, all the characters should swear in their native tongues. Including Chrichton, who would then just say 'fu... the f-word'. Instead the microbes replace all use of said f-word with another f-word 'Frell' which allows the characters to swear all they want, without upsetting the network-censors. Meanwhile everyone knows what 'frell' means, while the original trope revolves around obscuring the exact swearing with an alien or foreign language.
Qit el-Remel: Noy-jitat! Someone got to the classic before I could!
Mr Death: Took out the thing about Teal'c, because in watching the show's entire run, I can't think of him swearing once.
The One Who Tropes: The thing where he used the word for "arse" is still there. although it could also mean "testicles".
Red Shoe: I am of the opinion that, in "Fires of Pompeii", the TARDIS did not translate Donna's speech into Welsh, or English, or Gaelic. It did not translate it at all. The Pompeiians heard latin, they just heard it spoken as Donna did, which was so far away from the local usage and pronunciation that they couldn't make out what she was saying.
Daibhid C: Pulled this from the Discworld entry:
- Later books started using "Klatch" as a swear word, Klatch being a Middle East/Indian sub-continent mirror
