"Avengers: Age of Ultron" has finally arrived to Chinese cinema, which is the world's second biggest film market. Joss Whedon's latest superhero film feature, however, has left the Chinese audience irritated, and for the most part, very confused.
Apparently, most of the translations made for the film's Chinese subtitles were too literal.
According to Baidu, "Avengers: Age of Ultron" was translated by veteran Liu Dayong, who also translated "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies" and "Titanic."
He was tutored by Jia Xiuyan, whose literalism caused strong reactions among viewers due to his work in "Guardians of the Galaxy." The movie was translated to "Interplanetary Unusual Attacking Team."
The overall experience can prove to be quite baffling and annoying for moviegoers. In one scene, Captain America, played by Chris Evans, says "I'm home." The Chinese subtitles, on the other hand, read that what he said was "I'm good." Webizens were quick to point out this error and express their irritation.
It's not an isolated case as well. There were many other scenes in the film where what was said wasn't translated correctly and appropriately.
A scene in the movie shows the Avengers struggling to defeat the enemy and save people. Iron Man says, "We may not make it out of this." Clearly he hasn't given up, but he's not optimistic about their survival. What was read in the Chinese subtitles implied otherwise, as what he said was translated as, "Let's back out now."
Other translations, on the other hand, have completely missed their mark. The phrase "son of a bitch" was translated to "my old, familiar partner." This has been noted in social media as well as popular websites such as Nanfang.
Chinese cinemas appeared to have already corrected the subtitles, according to some reports.
Wo Jiao Sanzhiya, an avid filmgoer, posted on his Weibo social media account: "The woman in front of me almost cried and said let's go home, I can't put up with it." His post has been retweeted thousands of times.