Thread: Chinese length compared to English

To all Chinese speakers out there, I have a question:

It so happened I had to subtitle a Chinese movie. The movie itself was spoken in Chinese but it had English subtitles burnt on screen, and I had to translate those subs into Spanish.

Now, I felt most times it took a lot more time to say something in Chinese when compared to English. But when a character was in a rush, or they decided to speak particularly fast, they seemed to convey a lot of meaning in just under a second, something that in English needed maybe 2 or 3 seconds.

So, I was confused, can you convey the same meaning shortening phrases drastically? By means of intonation maybe? I certainly couldn't explain that!

I just came across this. I don't speak Chinese, unfortunately, so I can't help you. But I do wish someone would answer, it sounds really interesting!

Hi francot!

I'm not sure how it is orally, but if you take, say, an English text and would like to know how many Chinese characters the translation would have, you have to multiply it by 1.8. So, if you have 100 English words, you'll have 180 Chinese characters. Following this rule, it should take more time to say something in Chinese than it would in English.

Regarding clipping words, I have absolutely on idea. Good luck!

Originally Posted by agustinab

Hi francot!

I'm not sure how it is orally, but if you take, say, an English text and would like to know how many Chinese characters the translation would have, you have to multiply it by 1.8. So, if you have 100 English words, you'll have 180 Chinese characters. Following this rule, it should take more time to say something in Chinese than it would in English.

Regarding clipping words, I have absolutely on idea. Good luck!

Yes, that's a good starting point. Sounds about right. Which tells me it's easy to subtitle a Chinese movie into English, but the other way around must be quite hellish!

Absolutely!

Did you solve the mistery of the clipped words in the end?