physical comedy vs slapstick comedy

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keannu

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This physical comedy is translated as "slapstick comedy", but I found "slapstick comedy" is a part of "physical comedy", which is a broader concept. What do you think?

mo1-37
ex)Buster Keaton was born in Piqua, Kansas, in America in 1894... He was best known for his silent films, in which his trademark was physical comedy....
 

Raymott

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This physical comedy is translated as "slapstick comedy", but I found "slapstick comedy" is a part of "physical comedy", which is a broader concept. What do you think?

mo1-37
ex)Buster Keaton was born in Piqua, Kansas, in America in 1894... He was best known for his silent films, in which his trademark was physical comedy....
keannu, you keep using this phrase, "X is translated as Y". What do you actually mean? Who has translated 'physical comedy' as 'slapstick comedy'?
 

keannu

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The writings I quote are from study materials for high schoolers and middle schoolers, and there's always a tranlsation part for any original writing. To get the meaning of unknown words or phrases, we refer to the translation. The translation must have been made by professors or professional English teachers affiliated with the publishers.

I don't know exactly who the translators are. The materials are so public that I try to accept the translation without any doubt, but sometimes some translation causes me to doubt its correctness.

Are you really curious about who they are or the meaning of "X is translated as Y", which may sound awkward?
 

Chicken Sandwich

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To get the meaning of unknown words or phrases, we refer to the translation.

But why would you want to do that? I don't think that this is a good approach because referring to a Korean translation could make things more difficult. I'd say that if you don't understand a certain component of a text written in English, it would be better to just figure it out using an English dictionary.
 
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Raymott

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The writings I quote are from study materials for high schoolers and middle schoolers, and there's always a tranlsation part for any original writing. To get the meaning of unknown words or phrases, we refer to the translation. The translation must have been made by professors or professional English teachers affiliated with the publishers.

I don't know exactly who the translators are. The materials are so public that I try to accept the translation without any doubt, but sometimes some translation causes me to doubt its correctness.

Are you really curious about who they are or the meaning of "X is translated as Y", which may sound awkward?
No, you've told me who does it. I'm not quite sure of the process.
Do you mean it's a glossary of some kind? If you don't understand one English word (slapstick), they give you another English word (physical comedy) to help you?
Or is it, as Chicken Sandwich has inferred, that if you don't understand a certain English word (slapstick) they give you a Korean word that when translated back into English means "physical comedy". We don't use "translate" for paraphrasing something in the same language. So "physical comedy" can't be translated as "slapstick comedy", and I'm wondering if there is any translation into another language involved. It matters.
 

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Slapstick comedy is one kind of physical comedy: it relies on such things as jerky movements, accidents, practical jokes, and the like.

Physical comedy in general relies on appearance rather than speech. So an actor making a funny face is an example of physical comedy, though few would call facial mimicry slapstick.

In general, therefore, I definitely agree slapstick is a subcategory of physical comedy.
 

Raymott

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Slapstick comedy is one kind of physical comedy: it relies on such things as jerky movements, accidents, practical jokes, and the like.

Physical comedy in general relies on appearance rather than speech. So an actor making a funny face is an example of physical comedy, though few would call facial mimicry slapstick.

In general, therefore, I definitely agree slapstick is a subcategory of physical comedy.
Yes exactly. And poodle is a subclass of dog. If 'poodle' is being glossed as "a dog" (both in English), and keannu is then translating "dog" into Korean and realising that not all dogs are poodles, then coming here to ask what's going on, we would be able to tell him.
What I need to know is what "poodle is translated as dog" means to keannu.
 

keannu

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I meant translation from English to Korean, which I doubted is wrong and that's why I always said "translated as".
 

Chicken Sandwich

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I meant translation from English to Korean, which I doubted is wrong and that's why I always said "translated as".

Does Korean lack the word for "slapstick"? In most European languages there is no translation of "slapstick", the English word is used, just like it's written in English.
 
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keannu

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"Physical comedy" was translated to "slapstick comedy" as it is. Koreans use "slapstick comedy" as it is and they know it fairely well. I doubted if the two are synonyms, which were proved wrong by the teachers here. I know better than to not differentiate bigger concept from its subcategories.

I don't know what Raymott intended by "poodle" and "dog", but I can tell the difference among easy ones, so whenever I ask with translation ambiguity, it's because the ambiguity is beyond my knowledge.
 
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Raymott

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"Physical comedy" was translated to "slapstick comedy" as it is.
Koreans use "slapstick comedy" as it is and they know it fairely well.
Do you mean Koreans use "slapstick comedy", or do they use a Korean word that translates to the English term "slapstick comedy"?

I doubted if the two are synonyms, which were proved wrong by the teachers here. I know better than to not differentiate bigger concept from its subcategories.

I don't know what Raymott intended by "poodle" and "dog", but I can tell the difference among easy ones, so whenever I ask with translation ambiguity, it's because the ambiguity is beyond my knowledge.
Do you understand that "Physical comedy" was not translated to "slapstick comedy"?
I suggested that "physical comedy" was translated to a Korean word, which you've translated back to English as "slapstick comedy". And you seem to have confirmed this.
You might understand the poodle/dog analogy once you understand that 'physical comedy' was not translated as 'slapstick comedy', but as a different word altogether, in another language, which translates into English as 'slapstick comedy'. If you have Korean letters available, you should be able to tell us what 'physical comedy' was translated as.

You're playing a game of Chinese Whispers, then wondering why the last version doesn't accord with the first.
 
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keannu

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This is the translation. "슬랩스틱" in itself is a sound version of "slapstick", which we understand quite well without translating to another Korean word. In every language, there must be loanwords like "Kimchi", a Korean food in English. "슬랩스틱(slapstick)" is a directly adopted English word in Korean.

The translator just inserted "slapstick" inside the parenthesis centering around "physical comedy", and it must be for readers' understanding not familiar with "physical comedy". He might have used "slapstick" either as the main idea, or a supporting idea.

And I doubted if the translator made a subcategory mistranslation of "physical comedy", and that's why I tried to confirm it through native speakers here. And from now on, whenever I use the expression "A is translated as B", I'd like you to understand what I mean.

Of course, even in my other numerous threads, where I said "A is translated as B", B didn't mean an English word, but a Korean word translated back from English. But I don't think I have to say "A is translated as B(English) translated back from its Korean counterpart" all the time.

ex)신체(슬랩스틱)코미디 => physical(slapstick) comedy
:please note the correpondance of "신체 = phyical, 슬랩스틱 = slapstick, 코미디=comedy"
 
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Raymott

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And from now on, whenever I use the expression "A is translated as B", I'd like you to understand what I mean.
Thanks for that keannu. OK, I will understand what you mean; but it's wrong, and others might not understand.
Actually, we have had this conversation before. I think I mentioned what happens when you use a machine translator to translate from language A to language B, and then again back to language A. You get bizarre results. Your "A is translated as B" does not explain the process by which you sometimes get these strange results.

"Physical comedy" is translated as 슬랩스틱 which means "slapstick'". I see no problem with this.
 
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keannu

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Do you think I have to write like this everytime I mention translation? Native speakers will skip the Korean part, which they can't understand. I don't know if this longer one is necessary, and that's why I just need your understanding.

"Physical comedy" is translated as 슬랩스틱 which means "slapstick'".
 

Raymott

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Do you think I have to write like this everytime I mention translation? Native speakers will skip the Korean part, which they can't understand. I don't know if this longer one is necessary, and that's why I just need your understanding.

"Physical comedy" is translated as 슬랩스틱 which means "slapstick'".
I don't know. But I do know that writing "Physical comedy is translated as slapstick", even ignoring that it's a false statement, is unlikely to give your reader a clue about what your confusion is.
Of course readers will skip the Korean, but they will have some idea of what you are saying.

"Physical comedy" is explained by a word in Korean which translates as "slapstick'".
 
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