"Night Garden" toy "Swears in Mandarin"

von Smallhausen · 14-05-2010 03:49PM #1

Read this in The Sun newspaper yesterday.

The BBC is investigating claims that a character on In The Night Garden was heard swearing in China.

BBC Worldwide sold the rights to the show to Chinese channel CCTV last year but the narration and characters' names were translated from English into Mandarin.

The Sun reports that one viewer has now called the BBC claiming that he heard one of the characters say, "F**k your mother".

"Mandarin is all about tonality so you can end up saying something quite different to what you actually mean if you get it wrong," a source said. "Someone was watching the show in Beijing and was convinced they heard a Tombliboo say, 'F**k your mother' which, as you can imagine, is not on in any language.

"The viewer complained to the BBC and the matter is being urgently investigated. Obviously we can't have a character on one of the most successful kids' shows going around the world uttering profanities."

A spokesperson for BBC Worldwide confirmed that the claims are being investigated.

kylith · 14-05-2010 03:56PM

More audio pareidolia. Sure if I made a doll that said "squibble, ibble, ibble" it'd probably be insulting in some language.

petes · 14-05-2010 03:58PM

kylith wrote: »

Sure if I made a doll that said "squibble, ibble, ibble" it'd probably be insulting in some language.

What did you say about my mother?

davyjose · 14-05-2010 03:58PM

kylith wrote: »

More audio pareidolia. Sure if I made a doll that said "squibble, ibble, ibble" it'd probably be insulting in some language.

Post reported!!!

JONJO THE MISER · 14-05-2010 03:59PM

Down with this sort of thing, careful now.

phasers · 14-05-2010 03:59PM

The Tombliboos don't talk though

AnonoBoy · 14-05-2010 04:05PM

kylith wrote: »

More audio pareidolia. Sure if I made a doll that said "squibble, ibble, ibble" it'd probably be insulting in some language.

I bet it wouldn't be.

So there.

kylith · 14-05-2010 04:17PM

AnonoBoy wrote: »

I bet it wouldn't be.

So there.

You're on!

AnonoBoy · 14-05-2010 04:28PM

kylith wrote: »

You're on!

Excellent.

Fiver, yeah?

ILikePizza · 14-05-2010 04:38PM

I was in a Chinese restaurant once and I saw one of the Chinese ladies that worked there watching a Chinese programme with Chinese subtitles...
As I am very nosy, I asked her WHY??
She told me that it is absolutely NORMAL for Chinese ppl to watch tv with Chinese subtitles as they find it hard to understand!!!! ... ...
She explained that there are many different dialects in China and pronunciation varies A LOT from region to region!

The most interesting thing about Mandarin (which is the official Chinese) is that it is not SPOKEN... it is SUNG!!! or at least that's what I've been told.
Apparently the meaning of a sentence could vary dramatically depending on the tone of your voice... I think it's just like in Irish the same word could mean something else if you put a fada on it.

So it wouldn't be surprising that someone could hear all sorts of bad words in a tv show for children... has anybody told "the viewer" to TURN ON THE SUBTITLES???:rolleyes:

FouxDaFaFa · 14-05-2010 04:53PM

The BBC is investigating claims that a character on In The Night Garden was heard swearing in China.

Must have been one loud tv character.

Gone Drinking · 14-05-2010 04:55PM

Should have sold them the rights to The Clangers, this would have never happened then

entropi · 14-05-2010 05:47PM

I believe the phonetics for saying f*ck your mother in Mandarin are, if said in English: Dao Ní Ma...

Feel free to correct me, by shouting the correct version back at me:pac:

"Night Garden" toy "Swears in Mandarin"

Comments