Tidbits: the Chinese Office and Bootlegs

Bootlegs are a mainstay of China. Anyone who's been here will have experienced walking by a mall, brightly lit store or even street vendor selling all sorts of pirated goods. The lack of quality, easily recognized by improper spelling (Nika, Adidais, Guuchi) or inferior assembly, is carefully balanced by the fact that it costs anywhere from 1/2 to an 1/8th of the true products price tag. But sometimes there is added value that arises from goods, adding additional laughs and greater personal value.

For example, I recently started watching (rewatching) season 2 of the Office. However, in this version of the office, there is an added bonus that gives the already familiar viewer much more value. Chinese subtitling! Taking up the bottom 1/4 to 1/3rd of the screen is written english text converting what is said into a strange mix of hilarious and often confusing sentences that more often then not translate both what the person is thinking and saying. However, it is barebones chinese to english translations, so lots of things don't fit.

Dwight's character is referred to as "Virtuous White," a name that makes me think that Dwight is a model worker by Chinese standards... Oh and then last night there was a scene referring to sexual harassment education, or in chinese "no touch precious area rape party learning". Following which, a red head joke about dying hair was warped into "fire scalp change harmonious lies". Maybe, I'm a little immature, but to me this is pure gold. Not only do you get a good laugh, but you can literally see where and how the translations went wrong.

While the quality of the video is subpar, lets put it this way, for 15 kuai (around $2.10) you can get an entire season of the Office, with additional commentary that adds rewatching value. In the words of "Virtuous White," "has nothing great happiness if battle poor smell". I'll let you figure that one out on your own...