10 BL Scenes I Wish We Had Translator Notes On
Inspired by a discussion in this post. Here are some BL scenes I really wish we had extensive notes from translators to read. Or that a language coach or linguistics professor would analyze.
(Note: I don’t always have a picture of the scene in question.)
1. Daisy & Touch’s Date in Secret Crush On You
I did this one myself but I am nothing but a dilettante, I’d love someone more experienced with Thai nuance and the queer community do a full on analysis of the language use.
2. Phun coming out to his dad in Love Sick 2
I haven’t rewatched in a while and I would probubly understand more now, but at the time this scene was SO confusing. The translated pronouns are all over the place and I wasn’t at all sure whether he even was actually coming out or not.
3. Thun talking to his mom on the phone in He’s Coming to Me
There a whole subtle thing that goes on when Mes overhears Thun on the phone, to do with “ter.” I think I got it, but also, I think I missed a bit of the nuances that’s insightful to their mother/son relationship.
4. The ex-girlfriend, the boys, and the balcony in Precise Shot
A VERY odd choice as this is a Chinese censored bromance but I am pretty darn sure there is a whole subtextual dig at Taiwan and Taiwanese spoken Mandarin in this scene that went WAY over my head. I think it’s so rich for China to take a dig at Taiwan in an CENSORED BL. I want to know more about what’s going on.
5. The gendered(?) register code switch in the office kitchen in Old Fashion Cupcake
Honestly the translations are just really really bad for this one (on Viki for Japanese in general) and I am super grateful I have at least some ear for Japanese because I can tell when they mess up (which they keep doing). It’s a marker of how good this show is that I adored it despite this. Still, I would like the nuance of this scene explained a bit more. I get that he switched into a feminine register but how exactly? To what degree? What are the additional implications of this? How rare is that for a man of his age? How mocking was it? Or does mockery not come into it? Is there a queer of gay coded implication to this behavior? I HAVE QUESTIONS.
6. Nuch’s speech in Not Me
We don’t get speeches in BL very often, especially not subversive ones from a queer person addressing a crowd. The language is by necessity completely different under these circumstances and I really really like to know how and why certain choices were made.
7. Paitong’s speech of protection in La Cuisine
I love the way this one is translated but I am not entirely sure that translation was accurate. The supportive way Pai talks about his sisters (including Kitty in that) made me so happy, I want to believe it is honestly translated but I am not 100% certain that the queer implications of that translation were thought through (in English).
8. The frozen register usage from Prince’s mom in Sky in Your Heart.
I did not like this BL but the language use going on when Sky visits Prince’s house mansion is CRAZY cool. There is a dialectic switch but also a register switch and I am pretty sure they are speaking in frozen (which no one really does IRL unless they are/are with royalty). I’ve never heard anyone speak Thai the way she does.
* Note: Anytime you see Thai script subbed it means the characters are probubly speaking in a heavy dialect. So there are a few shows set in the north, like Siew Sum Noi that I would have liked a lot more linguistic info on, but the fact that I managed to find them translated at all, is kinda a miracle.
9. Yaja time in Semantic Error
I think I fully understand the concept and I got the implications of the drunk conversation before the kiss. But I’d like to know, in that particular version of yaja time, if there’s anything else more subtly queer going in with these two. I mean we all known and could hear that JaeYoung executes the sluttiest “hyung” on the goddamn planet but is there something else happening linguistically?
Often with KBL the culture around queer is so coded and so subtle I feel like I am missing a lot of the linguistic hints. Or maybe it just really is that repressed.
10. Mr Cinderella and the pronoun negotiations
I can’t pick a specific scene off the top of my head, although I am sure there is one. I understand from @squeakygeeky that Vietnamese I/you pronouns are pretty gender and power dynamic coded. This makes Mr Cinderella (the least Seme/uke of all VBLs) one of the most challenging on the actors and translations. I’d love it if they, and me, were given more information about this. Not just translation, but script choice, why those pronouns at that point in the narrative? Why the switch? Why NO switching? That kinda thing.
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