Tony talks in Cantonese, Ziyi talks in Mandarin in 2046?

[waterlilly]

I also much prefer subtitles. I speak a bit of Cantonese but still watch movies with Eng subtitles on. I agree that at time the subtitles are pretty awful. I know they have to condense waht is being said into a few words and convey the sense but sometimes they just seem to be making it up rather than following the film.

Once, can't remember the film, a character was surprised to get a call from her Mum and she actually says " Oh...hello Mum..." and the subtitle read " My God "! Ok that might have been what she was thinking but it certainly was not what she said! Plus it's about time they learnt to spell 'losing' and 'lose' - that word is never spelt right!

But dubbing is the pits! The voices are all so flat, always an American accent and dreadful!

[Kanako]

[Eri]

I recently bought French version of 2046 Special Edition which include supplements of interviews, Cannes film Fes. reports etc.
Although this was mainly in Mandarin, Cantonese with French subtitles or French talked about WKW's films in French without subtitles, still very interesting. (There are some short parts in which Tony and WKW answered in English.)

Anyway in this interview, WKW said something like "In 2046's future part, Takuya Kimura speaking in Japanese is to show that people speaking in different languages and still communicate with each other without problem as SF." You can see that in the part of 60's story, Faye instructed the directions to Takuya and he couldn't understand what she was saying.
In that sense, Takuya Kimura speaking in Japanese was important for this film. I don't think Kimura's way of speaking is excellent, but viewers can at least realize he was speaking Japanese, unless all the conversation was dubbed into same language.

[Gathoni]

[quote="Kanako"]Anyway, I hope you'll somehow get a version with subtitle. As Pungyo said, the voices are one of the essential elements of actors' performances. Besides, you might want to hear the way how Tony speaks the lines, because it's sooooo charming!!!
(Oops! Calm down, me!)

into a English expression by some acrobatic translation, or just omit the nuance element.
I see much of the flavor is lost by the translation process as such. If you could hear the original voices, however, you could hear the nuances from the voice and mix it with the meanings from subtitles in your brain.

quote]

I'm sure I could be dancing on top of the roof when I hear Tony's voice..... what I would give to have that...... Yes, English must have different grammer, a bit stiffer, straight and cannot bring out the flowery aspect of the conversation..... yes, I'm sure I can be able to mix the meanings and expression with the translation, that can be much, much better. Hoping that soon, will have access to such dvds. Thanks Kanako. By the way that's a pretty name you have.
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[Gathoni]

thanks Eri, and I still think this is the most amazing of skills, each member of the cast speaking in their own languages, that really needs artistic prowess!
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[Gathoni]

yeah, most amazing and intriguing.... nothing common at all!
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[Guest]

[Kanako]

The above post was mine. I forgot to log in.

[Eri]

Dear Kaneko

Hummm, Eri-san, no personal offence to you, but I just coundn’t find anything worthy in Kimura’s performance. When I first watched 2046, I thought “Maybe WKW made this SF thing up by purely aesthetic motive to make Fay Wong into an android.” Part of me still suspect that. Maybe the role had been at first expected to develop into some interesting character, which turned out unsuccessfully.

I am not saying anything about Kimura's acting. I only wrote about what WKW said. And he didn't even said the Japanese character was necessary to express something about communication.

I think it was just to show the difference between 60's and 2046. Androids understood different languages but in 60's Fay couldn't communicate well with the person she loved because of Language Barrier.

Recently I actually talked to a robot who speaks Japanese, Chinese, Korean and English, but WITHOUT much feelings, of course. So if you think
"Kimura’s role hardly communicate with anyone through languages anyway..…androids talk almost nothing.", I can say that in 2046 Androids becoming like a human and Kimura is becoming like an Android. If you think like that isn't he suitable for this role ? ha ha ha. I mean he shouldn't express his feelings.

But I think this is a special case for 2046 (or WKW's films), and most films in mixture of Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean and Japanese are dubbed at the final DVD if it involved some long conversation. (even though original sound was each actors own languages during shooting) eg. as in "Flowers of Shanghai".

[Eri]

Sorry Kanako, I wrote your name wrong.

Anyway, I watched this WKW interview in French DVD lemonberry mentioned. (In Cantonese with French subtitles)

http://www.tonyleung.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=3118

[Bibi]

i don't think i would ever watch the dubbed version of any of Tony'd movies. I don't speak cantonese but i like the sound of his voice...
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[Pungyo]

Hi Bibi,

I agree with you... love his voice. In fact, if he wants to read the Hong Kong phone book on stage, I'd buy a ticket!

That's why I've always said that it would be wonderful if he decided to come here to the U.S. to perform on stage... Andy Lau Tak Wah and Jordan Chan Siu Chun have come to Atlantic City and Foxwoods in Connecticut, respectively... and they performed to a full house! I'm sure Tony would have a great response, too!!

-K
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