Free Advertising For Uk Phone Distributor

[Gaccha]

Free advertising for UK phone distributor... because advert has Thai language content

So here they are:

Main advert:

Subsidiary advert:

Now, they are apparently intended to be funny but I don't find them funny. I think the humour is the exotic relocation of a mundane activity (picking phone contract) for the ever so exotic but familiar enough for the lower income brackets of England.

Anyway, what interests me is the gap between the subtitle translation and the actual Thai spoken.

Starting with the first sentence spoken:

What the subtitles say: "Easy internet access"

What they say: "very easy to use"

Does anyone care to transliterate so I can get the whole advert...

...particularly, when they write 'fooolishman'. What does he actually say? and when they write 'OMG', What do they say? "make them believe him.." or something like that...

:jap:

Edited February 20, 2011 by Gaccha

[Rikker]

Commercial 1:

Oldy McGuardington: มันใช้ได้ดีมากเลย ชัดเปีะ ส่งไปบอกเพื่อนได้เลยว่า นักโทษมันแหกคุก

"It works really well. Extremely clear. I can send [text(s)] to my friend(s) to say: The prisoners have escaped!"

Announcer: Really?

Oldy: บ้ารึ ไม่ใช่

"Are you nuts? No."

โหลดเข้าไปเลยเพลงอ่ะ ความจุตั้งแปดกิ๊ก ทินชี่ สไทรเดอร์

"You can load it up with music. 8 gigs of storage. Tinchy Stryder."

กล้องคมชัดมาก 12 ล้านพิกเซล

"[Pictures taken with] the camera are really clear. 12 megapixels."

Prisoner in cell: ไม่ได้หย่าแล้วเหรอ

"So [you're?] not divorced?"

(This doesn't make sense, but that's what I hear. I assume they took a random bit of footage they had and made up subtitles as needed.)

Beardy von Guardsworth: ไม่ใช่

"No."

Prisoner: อ้อ

"Oh."

Announcer: ...So, a good phone.

Oldy: ใช่ ดี ไม่คืนด้วย

"Right. [it's] good. And I'm not giving it back, either."

Commercial 2

Oldy: [...]เอามาใช้

"[...] to use it."

(The clip cuts in in the middle of his sentence. Presumably he's saying, "I told you I need to use it" as he takes the phone from her, because as the woman is saying her line, he can be heard saying, "บอกว่าจะเอาไปใช้เลย"

Mistress (I assume that's the impression they were going for): ยังใช้ไม่เสร็จเลย นิสัยไม่ดีจริงๆเลยคนเนี้ยะ เบื่อมาก

"I'm not done using it! You've got a real attitude problem. [i'm] so sick of [you]."

(Of course, what she literally says in the second sentence is "this person has terrible character," but this is the kind of phrase that can't be translated too literally.

[Gaccha]

Thanks Koon Rikker. That is deeply reassuring. I thought I was going completely mad when I thought I heard the prisoner mention divorce.

A comment on the 'megapixels'. It is interesting it didn't become a loanword, but instead the Thai uses 1000-pixels. It reminds me of my discovery that MP3 is translated as a full loanword but MP4 is not. That is to say, the 4 is translated to Thai.

I am trying to decide if 'Phone 4 U' were blase with the translation, the film company deceived the phone company, lazy as to the translation or there was a metajoke going on, where the joke was on the audience. I hope it was the latter, but I suspect the first explanation is nearer the truth.

[Rikker]

Yeah, I think they just "punched up" the subtitles to be more pithy. The company needed particular scenes filmed, but the dialogue wasn't too important because they knew they could put whatever subtitles they needed.