You may not have heard (unlikely), but the 89th Annual Academy Awards made more noise via media than it usual does, and was labeled as “the weirdest TV finale since Lost” by host Jimmy Kimmel, following the monumental Best Picture naming snafu (which may actually indicate everything we know is a computer simulation, but that's besides the point).
Despite everyone and their ayi hearing about that one particular screw-up, fewer people may in fact know the Chinese translations of this year's Oscar winners, cutting conversations with your Chinese friends to just short of "My word, isn't Ryan Gosling the sauciest thing since a 2am helping of roubing." That's why we've rounded up this year's golden statuette-nabbers and detailed their Chinese translations as well as their literal English translations. It's up to you to decide whether they actually make any sense.
First of all, let’s get the basics out of the way:
- Oscars 奥斯卡 àosīkǎ
- The 89th Annual Academy Awards 第89届奥斯卡金像奖 dì 89 jiè àosīkǎ jīnxiàngjiǎng
- Host 主持人 zhǔchírén
- Movie 电影 diànyǐng
- Red carpet 红毯 hóngtǎn
- Jimmy Kimmel 吉米·坎摩尔 (jímǐ kǎnmóěr). His Jimmy Kimmel Live! is called 吉米鸡毛秀 (jímǐ jīmáo xiù) in Chinese, literally meaning Jimmy's Chicken Feather Show for no other reason than Western transliterated surnames are often difficult for people to remember and so they usually take on an easy, often silly, moniker.
Now, the films:
Best Picture 最佳影片 zuì jiā yǐng piàn: Moonlight 月光男孩 yuèguāng nánhái, literally Boy in the Moonlight.
The Film That Almost Won Best Picture: La La Land爱乐之城 àiyuè zhī chéng, literally The City That Likes Music. The moment at which Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway announced that the biggest award of the evening went to La La Land (not in fact the real winner, Moonlight), was deemed in Chinese the 奥斯卡乌龙事件 àosīkǎ wūlóng shìjiàn, literally meaning the Oscars snafu.
Best Actor in a Leading Role 最佳男主角 zuìjiā nánzhǔjué: Casey Affleck卡西·阿弗莱克, Manchester by the Sea 海边的曼彻斯特 hǎibiān de mànchèsītè,literally Manchester by the Sea. No messing around there then.
Best Actress in a Leading Role 最佳女主角 zuìjiā nǚnzhǔjué: Emma Stone 艾玛·斯通 ài mǎ·sī tōng.
Best Actor in a Supporting Role 最佳男配角 zuìjiā nánpèijué: Mashershala Ali 马赫沙拉·阿里 ǎhè shālā·ālǐ
Best Actress in a Supporting Role最佳女配角 zuìjiā nǚpèijué: Viola Davis 维奥拉·戴维斯 wéi ào lā·dài wéi sī in Fences 藩篱 fānlí, literally Fences.
Best Director 最佳导演 zuìjiā dǎoyǎn: Damien Chazelle 达米恩·查泽雷 dá mǐ ēn·chá zé léi
Best Cinematography 最佳摄影 zuì jiā shèyǐng / Music (Original Song) 最佳原创歌曲 zuì jiā yuánchuàng gēqǔ / Music (Original Score) 最佳原创配乐 zuì jiā yuánchuàng pèiyuè: La La Land
Best Film Editing 最佳剪辑 zuìjiā jiǎnjí: John Gilbert 约翰·吉尔伯特 yuēhàn·jí'ěr bó tè for Hacksaw Ridge 血战钢锯岭 xuèzhàn gāngjù lǐng, literally Bloody Battle at Hacksaw Ridge.
Best Original Screenplay 最佳原创剧本 zuìjiā yuánchuàng jùběn: Manchester by the Sea
Best Adapted Screenplay 最佳改编剧本 zuìjiā gǎibiān jùběn: Moonlight
Animated Feature File 最佳动画长片 zuìjiā dònghuà zhǎngpiān: Zootopia疯狂动物城 fēngkuáng dòngwù chéng, literally Crazy Animal City.
Best Short Film (Animated) 最佳动画短片 zuìjiā dònghuà duǎnpiān: Piper 鹬 yù, literally Piper.
Best Foreign Language Film最佳外语片 zuì jiā wài yǔpiān: The Salesman推销员 tuīxiāo yuán, literally Salesman.
Best Visual Effects 最佳视觉效果 zuìjiā shìué xiàoguǒ: The Jungle Book奇幻森林 qíhuàn sēnlín, literally Fantasy Jungle.
Best Production Design 最佳艺术指导 zuìjiā yìshù zhǐdǎo: La La Land
Best Costume Design最佳服装设计 zuìjiā fúzhuāng shèjì: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them神奇动物在哪里shénqí dòngwù zàinǎlǐ,literally Where Are The Mysterious Animals.
Best Documentary (Feature) 最佳纪录长片 zuìjiā jìlù zhǎngpiān: O.J.: Made in America 辛普森：美国制造 xīnpǔsēn, měiguó zhìzào, literally Simpson: Made in America.
Best Documentary (Short Subject) 最佳纪录短片 (zuìjiā jìlù duǎnpiān): The White Helmets白头盔 bái tóukuī, literally The White Helmets.
Best Sound Mixing 最佳音响效果 zuì jiā yīn xiǎng xiào guǒ: Hacksaw Ridge
Best Sound Editing 最佳音效剪辑 zuìjiā yīnxiào jiǎnjí: Arrival 降临 jiànglín, literally Arrival.
Best Makeup and Hairstyling 最佳化妆与发型设计 zuìjiā huàzhuāng yǔ fàxíng shèjì: Suicide Squad X特遣队 X tèqiǎn duì, literally Task Force X.
And what about their usage? Here are several sentences that should get you some way towards dropping these Oscar tidbits into conversation:
你看了奥斯卡颁奖礼了吗？ nǐ kànle àosīkǎ bānjiǎnglǐ le ma? Did you watched the Oscars?
你最喜欢哪部电影？ nǐ zuì xǐhuān nǎbù diànyǐng? What is your favorite movie?
我认为《间谍联盟》好烂。 wǒ rènwéi jiāndié liánméng hǎolàn. I think Allied sucked.
《神奇动物在哪里》是哈利波特的续集吗？ shénqí dòngwù zàinǎlǐ shì hālì bōtè de xùjí ma. Does Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them belong to the Harry Potter series?
好莱坞终于拍摄了反映美国黑人同志族群的电影，我特别开心。 hǎoláiwù zhōngyú pāishè le fǎnyìng měiguó hēirén tóngzhì zúqún de diànyǐng, wǒ tèbié kāixīn. I was happy to finally see America's gay black population represented in a Hollywood film.
我认为伊莎贝尔·于佩尔在《她》里面表演很好，她应该得最佳女主角。 wǒ rènwéi yīshābèi ěr yúpèiěr zài tā lǐmiàn biǎoyǎn hěnhǎo, tā yīnggāi dé zuìjiā nǚzhǔjué. I think Isabelle Huppert’s performance in Elle was good enough to win an award.
Mandarin Monday is a weekly column where – similar to our Mandarin Month series from last year – we help you improve your Chinese by detailing fun and practical phrases and characters.
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Photos: Douban