I last took Mandarin ten years ago, so I can barely remember how to say “Hello” and “Two beers, please.” A little help translating this poster I scored yesterday would be appreciated.
The pinyin reads:
Xie xie.
The overall sentiment is:
“American Imperialism, get the f*** out of southern Vietnam.”
I have trouble coming up with the appropriate English translation for 滾出去. It is not a swear word, but it is quite a bit stronger than just “get out”.
If it helps, an almost word-for-word translation is:
“American Imperialism from Vietnam southern roll away!”
Figured it was something like that when I saw “mei di guo”. Hen xie, Waffle Decider.
I would translate 滾出去 as “get the hell out”, it’s the kind of phrase you would use in situations like:
after a dressing down “I don’t want to see another screw up like this again, get the hell out!”
happening on people where they shouldn’t be (to persons of lower status) “This is the teachers’ room, what are you rascals doing in here? Get the hell out!”
Hmm… after thinking about it for a while, this phrase can also be used semi-affectionately, for example where a mother is asking a child to get out of a kitchen because he’s made a mess.
Now that you’ve pointed it out, “get the hell out” does seem to be a good choice. I don’t know why I didn’t think of that before…
PS: If anyone is a Buffy fan, this reminds me of the infamous scene with Dawn screaming “get out Get Out GET OUT!!!” at the top of her lungs. Heh.
When my parents had heated arguments when I was younger, my mom would tell my dad “給我滾出去!!”