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Infernal Affairs question for chinese literate

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Infernal Affairs question for chinese literate

Old 07-16-03, 09:54 AM
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Infernal Affairs question for chinese literate

was having this discussion with a friend.

based on the translation of the chinese title to english, is "Infernal Affairs" mistranslated? is it really "Internal Affairs"?

thanks
Old 07-16-03, 10:06 AM
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I can't speak from the Chinese perspective, but I assumed it was meant to be a pun.
Old 07-16-03, 10:34 AM
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i figured it had to do with all the "buddha and the circle of hell" text in the beginning.
Old 07-16-03, 05:04 PM
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I don't know Chinese, so you can ignore this, but I doubt it's a literal translation. It's too good of a pun to work in two completely different languages.
Old 07-16-03, 06:20 PM
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The Chinese name for the movie literally refers to a place in hell. So the 'Infernal' part of the name is certainly accurate. At the same time, someone probably got cute and tried to make the English name a play on the 'Internal Affairs' name.

Last edited by Yellow Hammer; 07-16-03 at 06:25 PM.
Old 07-16-03, 08:51 PM
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i see, thanks hammer (and the rest of you)
Old 07-17-03, 04:07 PM
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also, note the scene where Yan writes "bodyguard" (or "biu" in cantonese). he wrote the word correctly first. but crossed it out. and then, replaced it with "biu", a word that sounds the same but with a different meaning which means "goal". my theory is Yan figured out that the info Eric Tsang's character wanted was going to cop/triad undercover which is Andy Lau.

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