Specific Solutions
How to improve translation skills through parallel texts.
All films and TV shows are vetted by a government committee. Oddly, however, China has no ratings system to denote a film's suitability for certain age-groups. It has no TV “watershed” either, as many countries do, dividing the day into family-oriented programming and late-night viewing with more adult content.
When translating, without referring to parallel texts, the term "watershed" is easily translated as "分水岭".
Below is the translated text based on the parallel texts found online:
Movies are prohibited from containing the following content:
(1) Violating the basic principles stipulated in the Constitution;
(2) Endangering national unity, sovereignty, and territorial integrity;
(3) Disclosing state secrets, endangering national security, harming national honor and interests;
(4) Inciting ethnic hatred, discrimination, undermining national unity, violating ethnic customs and habits;
(5) Violating the state's religious policies, promoting cults and superstitions;
(6) Disrupting social order, undermining social stability;
(7) Promoting obscenity, gambling, violence, inciting crimes;
(8) Insulting or defaming others, infringing upon the legitimate rights and interests of others;
(9) Harming social morality, disparaging the excellent culture of the nation;
(10) Including other content prohibited by national laws and regulations.
In Japan, although movies have a rating system, television programs do not have a clear rating. In principle, 17:00 to 21:00 is the main time for children and adolescents to watch TV programs. Television stations will not broadcast content that exceeds certain limits during this time period. For programs after 21:00, if they contain restricted content, a warning will be displayed before Airuing. After 23:00, some programs may contain restricted content without any prior warning. Apart from these general agreements, each TV station in Japan has different standards.
The term "watershed" is actually a geographical term, which does not indicate a division of time in Chinese and is not used in the television broadcasting industry. Therefore, translating it as "分水岭" would confuse readers.
Here is the translation of the above text:
All films and TV shows are vetted by a government committee. Oddly, however, China has no ratings system to denote a film's suitability for certain age-groups. It has no TV “watershed” either, as many countries do, dividing the day into family-oriented programming and late-night viewing with more adult content. Violent TV dramas are sometimes shown on public transport. Ticket sales at cinemas increased nearly 50% in the first 11 months of 2015 on the previous year to reach $6.3 billion, a total surpassed only by America. Yet questions are often raised about whether films are safe and appropriate for children, who can watch any of them.
All movies and television programs are reviewed by the National Radio and Television Administration. However, strangely, China does not have a rating system (similarly, it cannot be translated as a scoring system) to indicate whether movies are suitable for certain age groups, nor is there a "time-slot broadcasting" system for television like in many other countries, which divides the day into family program time slots and late-night slots that contain more adult content. In China, violent TV dramas are sometimes broadcast on public transportation facilities. In the first 11 months of 2015, box office sales in cinemas increased by nearly 50% compared to the previous year, reaching $6.3 billion, second only to the United States. However, there are frequent concerns about whether movies are safe and suitable for children, as children can access any film.
Here is the full translation:
A FLYING dagger stabs a Japanese soldier in the heart. Another fighter has his neck slit by a Chinese secret agent. Others are shot at close range, gassed or drowned. Like war dramas everywhere, “Royalty in Blood”, a 36-part television series about the war between China and Japan from 1937-45, is pretty gory. Yet unlike elsewhere, the on-screen violence is not just for adult viewers. It is aired each week at 7.35pm, the most popular television-watching hour, when even very young children in China have yet to go to bed.
一名日本士兵的心脏被一把飞刀刺伤,另一名战士的脖子被中国特工拧断,其他士兵被近距离射死,毒死或淹死。就像其他战争剧一样,《异镇》是一部关于1937年至1945年中日战争的36集电视连续剧,该剧的血腥画面让人血脉喷张。然而与其他战争剧不同,不仅成年观众能接触到这些暴力画面。该电视剧每周播出时间为晚上7点35分,这是电视观看黄金时间,这时候年幼的中国孩子还没有上床睡觉。
All films and TV shows are vetted by a government committee. Oddly, however, China has no ratings system to denote a film's suitability for certain age-groups. It has no TV “watershed” either, as many countries do, dividing the day into family-oriented programming and late-night viewing with more adult content. Violent TV dramas are sometimes shown on public transport. Ticket sales at cinemas increased nearly 50% in the first 11 months of 2015 on the previous year to reach $6.3 billion, a total surpassed only by America. Yet questions are often raised about whether films are safe and appropriate for children, who can watch any of them.
所有电影和电视节目都由广电总局审查。然而奇怪的是,中国没有分级系统来表示电影是否适合某些年龄组,也没有像许多其他国家那样有电视“限时播放”制度,即将这一天分为以家庭节目时段和包含更多成人内容的深夜时段。在中国,暴力电视剧有时会在公共交通设施上播放。2015年的前11个月,电影院的门票销售额比前一年增长近50%,达到63亿美元,仅次于美国。然而,人们经常质疑电影是否安全且适合儿童,因为儿童可以接触到任何电影。
The government does not want ratings or a watershed because it does not want to be seen to be permitting sex and violence for anyone. Its constraints on what may appear on screen represent a laundry list of the state's anxieties. Content must not “endanger” China's unity, security or honour. It also should not “twist” history, feature explicit sex or gambling, advocate “the supremacy of religion” or “meticulously describe fortune-telling”. Playing up violence is prohibited, in theory.
中国政府不采取分级 或“限时播放”制度,因为他们不想被视为允许任何性行为或暴力行为。政府的限制清单代表了政府多种焦虑。内容不得“危害”中国的团结,安全或荣誉,也不能“扭曲”历史,不能以性或赌博为特色,不能提倡“宗教至上”或精心描述“封建迷信”。理论上也禁止播放暴力。
But to attract adult audiences, makers of film and TV entertainment often like to push the boundaries of what the Communist Party regards as good taste. And even the prudish standards of the censors are sometimes flexible enough to allow content that might shock children, who are just as impressionable in China as anywhere else. In apparent response to demand from anxious parents, a handful of cinemas in the far western province of Xinjiang introduced their own unofficial ratings in 2014.
但为了吸引成年观众,电影和电视娱乐制作方往往喜欢突破共产党的限制。甚至保守的审查者有时也过于灵活,会允许通过可能不适宜儿童的内容,而这些中国的孩子和其他任何地方一样容易受到影响。为了响应焦虑父母的要求,西部新疆省一些电影院在2014年引入了他们自己制定的非官方收视评级。
Censors' shockability has varied over time. The first Communist-era on-screen kiss was a peck on the cheek in “Romance on Lushan Mountain” in 1980, the year that Richard Gere appeared naked in “American Gigolo”, among the first Hollywood films to feature full-frontal male nudity.
审查的尺度随着时间的推移而变化。在第一代共产主义年代,银幕亲吻是1980年《庐山恋》中如闪电一般的吻脸,同年理查德·基尔裸体出现在“美国舞男”中,这也是第一部以正面男性裸体为特色的好莱坞电影之一。