whatliesbeneaththefacade

[whatliesbeneaththefacade]

Some more literal translations of the Mandarin in Shang-Chi [spoilers obviously]

Okay so there are lots of nuances missing from the subtitles in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings movie and I know some decisions are for ease of reading but for those interested, here are some more literal translations of some of the Mandarin in Shang-Chi, based on my interpretation:

Above, the Chinese is 火山口, which is specifically a volcanic crater, not any sort of crater.

Above, the meaning of the second line is actually completely different; the emphasis is on the fact that already conquered so much yet wanted more; not what he was chasing.

The proper pinyin of Ta Lo is “Taluo”, which I’ve used here.

Same here, Shang-Chi is actually “Shangqi” in Chinese pinyin.

This one is extremely simplified in the subtitles, not sure why because it can’t be a speed thing, she says three separate sentences that they could have translated.

Not sure why this wasn’t subbed lol

I think this difference is interesting because the subs imply the guy was almost misleading, i.e. you have to sign this to get in the building, but the actual Mandarin is very vague, all he says is to sign there.

The last phrase here is “你别把我扔在这”, with the “扔” meaning “throw”, so even more literally it translates as “don’t throw me away here”. It gives an extra sense of abandonment that the subs don’t capture.

Don’t move your head, Wenwu

Guang Bo’s line here is harsher in Mandarin, and I think hits especially hard in light of how “Go back to where you came from” is classically thrown at Asian immigrants. There’s intense irony in the line coming from the other side, that the subtitles don’t convey.

English subs censored his swearing lol

Here Guang Bo says “混账”, which is an insult, usually used when someone has just said something extremely disrespectful.

Here Wenwu calls him “小子”, “小” meaning “small”. “Young man” is a much too polite translation of the phrase there. Then his last line is a Chinese idiom, “我吃的盐比你吃的饭还多” which is used to show how much more experience one has than the person you’re talking to.

I prefer “Come back alive” tbh

Anyway I hope this was interesting, translating is obviously not an easy art so this isn’t meant to suggest better subs, I just wanted to share what non-Chinese speakers might have missed out on because the experience was truly better being able to understand both languages. It’s so refreshing seeing such a bilingual movie come out of Hollywood, and this coming from someone who isn’t even really a Marvel fan.

#spoilers #shang chi #shang chi and the legend of the ten rings #mandarin #language #translation #shang chi spoilers

[whatliesbeneaththefacade]

He is 24 years old.

1996 is when his parents met. Maybe they didn't immediately get married. It was implied that a lot of time passed where they just have picnics in the bamboo forest and do some training.

And maybe Ying Li also didn't immediately get pregnant after being married.

Finally watched Shang-Chi (loved it by the way, I know it took me so long) and I want someone to explain something to me. They often repeated that Shang-Chi was sent on a mission to kill his mother’s murderer when he was 14 and was found by his father ten years later. So please tell me if I understand correctly that Shang-Chi is only 23-24 years old?!

#shang-chi

[whatliesbeneaththefacade]

So... Uh...

Anyone who's seen Marvel's Eternals, is there really a 'love scene' in the movie and just how explicit is it?

I just want to know whether or not I should sit this one out because... I'm generally repulsed by those kind of scenes (and my repulsion is getting worse lately).

#mcu #eternals #questions #spoilers #eternals spoilers

[whatliesbeneaththefacade]

maybe just maybe.... never experiencing romantic love isn't a bad thing besties

[whatliesbeneaththefacade]

I'm all for academic integrity and accurate citing until I change the access date in the footnote to make my professors think I didn't procrastinate

[whatliesbeneaththefacade]

Story time:

In middle school biology, we did an experiment. We were given yams, which we would sprout in cups of water. We then had to make hypotheses about how the yams would grow, based on descriptions of yam plants in our books, and make notes of our observations as they grew.

Here’s what was supposed to happen: we were supposed to see that the actual growth of the plant did not resemble our hypotheses. We were then supposed to figure out that these were, in fact, sweet potatoes.

What actually happened was that every single student in every single class lied in their notes so that their observations perfectly matched their hypotheses. See, everyone assumed the mismatch meant they had done something wrong in the process of growing the plant or that they had misunderstood the dichotomous key or the plant identification terminology. And, thanks to the wonders of a public school education, everyone assumed the wrong results would get us a failing grade. We were trying to pass. We didn’t want to get bitched out by the teacher. Curiosity, learning, science - that had nothing to do with why we were sitting in that classroom. So we all lied.

The teacher was furious. She tried to fail every student, but the administration stepped in and told her she wasn’t allowed to because a 100% fail rate is recognized as a failure of the teacher, not the class. It wasn’t even her fault, really, though her being a notorious hard-ass didn’t help. It was a failure of the entire educational system.

So whenever I see crap like Elizabeth Holmes’s blood test scam or pharmaceutical trials which are unable to be replicated or industry-funded research that reaches wildly unscientific conclusions, I just remember those fucking sweet potatoes. I remember that curiosity dies when people are just trying to give their superiors the “right” answers, so they can get the grade, get the job, get the paycheck. It’s not about truth when it’s about paying rent. There’s no scientific integrity if you can’t control for human desperation.

[whatliesbeneaththefacade]

Story time:

In middle school biology, we did an experiment. We were given yams, which we would sprout in cups of water. We then had to make hypotheses about how the yams would grow, based on descriptions of yam plants in our books, and make notes of our observations as they grew.

Here’s what was supposed to happen: we were supposed to see that the actual growth of the plant did not resemble our hypotheses. We were then supposed to figure out that these were, in fact, sweet potatoes.

What actually happened was that every single student in every single class lied in their notes so that their observations perfectly matched their hypotheses. See, everyone assumed the mismatch meant they had done something wrong in the process of growing the plant or that they had misunderstood the dichotomous key or the plant identification terminology. And, thanks to the wonders of a public school education, everyone assumed the wrong results would get us a failing grade. We were trying to pass. We didn’t want to get bitched out by the teacher. Curiosity, learning, science - that had nothing to do with why we were sitting in that classroom. So we all lied.

The teacher was furious. She tried to fail every student, but the administration stepped in and told her she wasn’t allowed to because a 100% fail rate is recognized as a failure of the teacher, not the class. It wasn’t even her fault, really, though her being a notorious hard-ass didn’t help. It was a failure of the entire educational system.

So whenever I see crap like Elizabeth Holmes’s blood test scam or pharmaceutical trials which are unable to be replicated or industry-funded research that reaches wildly unscientific conclusions, I just remember those fucking sweet potatoes. I remember that curiosity dies when people are just trying to give their superiors the “right” answers, so they can get the grade, get the job, get the paycheck. It’s not about truth when it’s about paying rent. There’s no scientific integrity if you can’t control for human desperation.

[whatliesbeneaththefacade]

having ocs is so fun tho. It’s like playing with barbie dolls except we’re hallucinating it all vividly in our heads and everybody is emotionally scarred

[whatliesbeneaththefacade]

Anyone else been in multiple school systems and ended up with a mix of British and American English? Like I would never dare to spell “civilization” with an s, but am also adamant that “mum” has a u. Or in one sentence I’ll spell favourite with an “ou” but in the next one I’ll spell it as “favorite”. 

[whatliesbeneaththefacade]

Just so you know, a normal response to a child breaking something is to first check to see if they got hurt and then if they’re old enough make them help clean it up. And then afterwards explaining to them how to avoid doing that in the future. At no point is yelling necessary to make them understand why they shouldn’t do that.

[whatliesbeneaththefacade]

Flight!

[whatliesbeneaththefacade]

my favorite game is “shit i lost my phone in my blankets where the fuck did it go”

[whatliesbeneaththefacade]

[whatliesbeneaththefacade]

Raise your hand if you're your own target audience

[whatliesbeneaththefacade]

Anyway if you’re from the US and you ever wanted to know what tumblr feels like from a non-USAmerican perspective (please note that the rest of the world is not a monolith either and none of these apply without exception):

Everybody’s talking about brands and stores you’ve never seen in real life. You generally assume they exist, but they might as well be one giant prank the rest of the internet is in on.

You find a post that just sounds wrong. It makes no sense. It’s like OP lives in a weird alternate reality. 9/10 times, it’s just some USAmerican Thing.

You’re still not entirely sure how much an inch is. Or a foot. Or even how many of the former there are in the latter. You maybe know your height in feet and inches.

You have no idea how much a pound is. You’d also like to know how the fuck pound shortens to lbs.

What the fuck is “military time”

Somebody talks about some legal process or something similar. They don’t mention which country’s legal system this pertains to. You know anyway.

People talk about politics. None of it pertains to you. Many posts contain guilt tripping. “How can you not care about this?? Why won’t you reblog this?? People need to know this about x candidate for y position!” You’re busy trying to stay on top of the political landscape in your own country.

You pick up some random slang from the internet. Monkey see monkey do. You’re called racist. You didn’t know it was AAVE. You learnt it from black letters on white background, not from the mouths of people whose faces you could see. How would you have known? You try to unlearn it.

People tell you that you must publicly denounce Chick-fil-A or you’re homophobic. You don’t even know what a Chick-fil-A is.

People say you don’t know LGBTQ+ history. What they mean is you don’t know USAmerican LGBTQ+ history. Nobody cares about your country’s history.

You’re “called out” on using an “offensive” term. It’s (a direct translation of) a completely harmless word where you live.

People expect you to have an idea of how far apart 2 USAmerican states are. You barely know geography past your country’s immediate neighbors.

You randomly switch between British and American spellings. Nothing’s real and there are no rules.

People talk about multiple hour car rides and you get twitchy just thinking about it. You suddenly understand why USAmerican cars are so big.

Somebody talks about school shooting drills. You only ever had fire alarm drills.

You see a cool statistic. The study’s only about the US. It’s unfortunately of no use to you.

People misuse/misspell words and names from your native language. It’s tiring.

(You feel sorry for the French. Nobody should be allowed to mangle the word déjà vu like that.)

You’re still not over the fact that USAmerican school children are supposed to say that pledge thing every morning. You’re never getting over that.

You still don’t know why the men are fresh or what the fuck a sophomore is.

Who the fuck pays up first and then fills up gas??? That’s made up, right??

Everybody has a weird obsession with some comfort food you’d never even heard of before you signed up here.

Fellow non-USAmericans, please add anything else you can think of.

[whatliesbeneaththefacade]

Not 2 be fuckin weird but I think the best sound in the world is when ur pettin and rubbin a big/sturdy dog and ur suddenly compelled to do those real Firm Pats™️ and it makes that nice solid “thud thud thud” noise while the dog smiles and wags his tail real hard do y’all have any idea wtf I’m talkin about??

[whatliesbeneaththefacade]

Finally someone says it