Star War The Third Gathers: The Backstroke of the West (often referred to as Star War Episo: The Backstroke of the West or shortened to Backstroke of the West) is a bootlegged version of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. The bootleg contains hilarious English subtitles translated poorly from Chinese. Due to the language barrier, many of the words and phrases were translated either literally or with alternate meanings, and thus the original meaning was lost. Most likely, the broken English is the result of being machine translated from the Chinese script. The subtitles were translated from Chinese rather than using the original English script.

The film became the subject of an Internet phenomenon when one American living in China who purchased a copy of the DVD put up a website containing various screenshots from the film with the humorously translated subtitles. Amongst the most quoted lines is "Do not want", the translation of Darth Vader's already widely parodied "Noooooo!" at the end of the film.

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Opening Crawl Subtitles Edit

The Third Gathers

The Backstroke of the West The war came! The republic encountered Two squares fight the vehemence The improbity fills the world The space general of the alliance is skillful Kidnap the D the speaker the conduct The proper abruption alliance troops tries ratio prosperous drive with the

Characters Edit

The majority of the characters' names were backtranslated from the Chinese transliterations, such as "Dáxī Wéidá" (Darth Vader) meaning "Reaching the west of reaches".

Senator Padmé Amidala: The Plum Of or The Gets the Rice Chinese: One of the characters in Padme's name is most certainly 梅 ( méi - "plum"). Perhaps it is 帕的梅 ( Pàdeméi - "the plum of a handkerchief"), though it is unusual to use a grammatical particle like 的 as a phonetic. The normal Chinese transliteration of her name is 帕德梅·艾米达拉 ( Pàdéméi Àimǐdálā ).

or C-3PO: Blow the skin Chinese: 吹皮欧 ( Chuīpíōu ) - 吹 means "blow", 皮 means "skin", 欧 is a phonetic character used in transliteration.

Chewbacca: Drag along Chinese: Normally his name is written as 丘巴卡 ( Qiūbākǎ ) or 丘百卡 ( Qiūbǎikǎ ) but the relationship to "drag along" is uncertain, unless one of the characters used is 拖 ( tuō - "drag") or its synonym. However, 揪 ( qiū ), which could also have the meaning of "drag", could be a plausible candidate to relate the syllable with the back-translation.

Count Dooku: The (Obi-Wan calls him Drop in the mistranslation of " You won't get away this time, Dooku ", which is translated as " You this time ran to do not, Drop "). This is debatable; there is no real solid evidence that this is how his name translated into Chinese and back, although the mistranslation of the beginning scroll ends with "the", while General Grievous' line, "But we lost the", replacing "But... the loss of Count Dooku..." makes this likely. However there is a fundamental problem with this as a proposed back-translation: Mandarin Chinese has no word for "the". He is also referred to as "a Big". 杜库伯爵 (杜库 Dùkù 伯爵 Bójué - "Count") is how the name is normally written in Chinese.

(Obi-Wan calls him in the mistranslation of " ", which is translated as " "). This is debatable; there is no real solid evidence that this is how his name translated into Chinese and back, although the mistranslation of the beginning scroll ends with "the", while General Grievous' line, "But we lost the", replacing "But... the loss of Count Dooku..." makes this likely. However there is a fundamental problem with this as a proposed back-translation: Mandarin Chinese has no word for "the". He is also referred to as "a Big". 杜库伯爵 (杜库 伯爵 - "Count") is how the name is normally written in Chinese. General Grievous: Space General Chinese: presumably 太空将军 - "space general". His name in Chinese is variously written as 格里弗斯将军, 葛里维斯将军, or 葛瑞菲斯将军. It is most likely that in the original English-to-Chinese translation, "Grievous" was deemed too hard to translate, and the translator simply invented the name "Space General" instead. Ironically, this would make it one of the only names to be accurately backtranslated.

Obi-Wan Kenobi: He is called The Willing to Compares or Ratio the Tile and just Ratio Tile throughout the movie, but is also called Ratio Prosperous during the opening scroll, General Grievous also calls him Section ratio general before their lightsaber duel on Utapau, which seems to mean " General Kenobi " and Bail Organa calls him " Section pulls the ratio ", which seems to mean " Master Kenobi " Chinese: 欧比瓦·肯欧比( Ōubǐwǎ Kěnōubǐ ). 欧 is a phonetic character used in transliteration, 比 means "ratio" or "to compare", 瓦 means "tile", 肯 means "willing". The rendering of 欧比旺 ( Ōubǐwàng ) is more standard; 旺 means "prosperous". In Taiwan his name was rendered as 歐比王 ( Ōubǐwáng - "King Obi") in the non-pirated version of this film. "Kenobi" is more commonly transliterated as 肯诺比 ( Kěnnuòbǐ ).

or and just throughout the movie, but is also called during the opening scroll, General Grievous also calls him before their lightsaber duel on Utapau, which seems to mean " " and Bail Organa calls him " ", which seems to mean " " Supreme Chancellor Palpatine: Mr. Speaker or Speaker D , also sometimes just called D. Although the translation is almost correct in the sense that it refers to Palpatine as a high ranking politician, Palpatine is not the Speaker of the Senate, as Mas Amedda is the Speaker. Chinese: 议长先生 ( Yìzhǎng Xiānsheng "Mr. Chancellor", "Mr. Speaker", "Mr. President"). Also, 帕卜丁 ( Pàbǔdīng "Palpatine"), where 丁 is the fourth Heavenly Stem. The Heavenly Stems are often used for enumeration purposes, similar to the way the letters of the alphabet are used in English for enumeration. In this case, 丁 is equivalent to D.

or , also sometimes just called Although the translation is almost correct in the sense that it refers to Palpatine as a high ranking politician, Palpatine is not the Speaker of the Senate, as Mas Amedda is the Speaker. R2-D2: R2 or Reach the Man . Although "Artoo" is the more accepted spelling, this is nonetheless the only correctly translated name in the film. However, other astromech droids in the film, such as R4-P17, are also referred to as "R2". However, Artoo (and R4-P17) are occasionally referred to as 'Reach the Man'.

or . Although "Artoo" is the more accepted spelling, this is nonetheless the only correctly translated name in the film. However, other astromech droids in the film, such as R4-P17, are also referred to as "R2". However, Artoo (and R4-P17) are occasionally referred to as 'Reach the Man'. Anakin Skywalker: The Peaceful is Willing To or Allah Gold (often shortened to "Gold") Chinese: 阿纳金 ( Ānàjīn ) is the standard transliteration of Anakin. Perhaps in this rendition, the name was transliterated as 阿拉金 ( Ālājīn ) or 安拉金 ( Ānlājīn ), both translated as "Allah gold" if it is separated into two terms - 阿拉 and 金, or 安拉 and 金. Additionally, 安 can mean "peaceful".

or (often shortened to "Gold") Darth Vader: Reaching the west of reaches Chinese: 达西·维达 ( Dáxī Wéidá ) 达 means "reach", 西 means "west", 维 has a number of meanings, including "dimension". The normal Chinese rendition is 达斯·维达 ( Dásī Wéidá ).

Luke Skywalker: See me Chinese: 看我 (translated from a Mondegreen—"Luke" misheard as "look", which translates to "看" in Chinese.) "我", or "I" in English, was added to make the phrase "看我". It was then translated back into English as "see me", although a more correct translation would be "look at me".

Yoda: Vanquish is or Particularly Reach the Master (尤达 Yóudá , his standard Chinese name, literally translates to "particularly reach"). Yet another usage of "达" as the "da" sound.

or (尤达 , his standard Chinese name, literally translates to "particularly reach"). Yet another usage of "达" as the "da" sound. Tarfful: See again

Terminology Edit

Sith Lord: South Host . Palpatine also warns Obi Wan and Anakin that Count Dooku is "a big". Obi Wan reassures Palpatine: "Mr. Speaker, we are for 'the big'." Chinese: "Host" presumably comes from 主人, meaning "master/lord" but also "host", depending on the context.

. Palpatine also warns Obi Wan and Anakin that Count Dooku is "a big". Obi Wan reassures Palpatine: "Mr. Speaker, we are for 'the big'." Sith: West & The Big Chinese: 西斯 ( Xīsī ) - a transliteration of "Sith". 西 means "west", 斯 is a phonetic often used to transliterate the "s" sound or to approximate "th", a sound that Chinese does not have.

& Jedi Council: Presbyterian Church , Hopeless Situation Presbyterian or Hopeless Situation Parliament . Chinese: 长老会 (literally "Council of Elders") or perhaps 长老教会 ("a religious gathering held by the elders"). The Presbyterian Church is ruled by "presbyters", or "elders". Therefore, it is in fact "a religious gathering held by the elders."

, or . Jedi Knight: Hopeless Situation Warrior ; "Hopeless Situation" or just "Hopeless" for short. In the later videos, they are referred to as Hero's Ground. Chinese: 绝地武士 ( Juédì wǔshì - Jedi warrior) - Literally, 绝地 means "end ground". It is used to describe battles with no possible retreat, hence "hopeless situation" and "hero's ground".

; "Hopeless Situation" or just "Hopeless" for short. In the later videos, they are referred to as 绝态 (Juetai) also means "hopeless situation")

Jedi Temple: Hopeless Situation Temple

Galaxy: Milky Way . Star Wars is not set in our galaxy, so this would not technically make sense in English. Chinese: 银河系 - In Chinese this term means "silver river system", referring to the Milky Way. The term can be used loosely to refer to any galaxy, however the more appropriate term would be 星系 ("star system").

. Star Wars is not set in our galaxy, so this would not technically make sense in English. Spacecraft: Airship . Just about every form of spacecraft, be it a mothership or a small fighter vessel, is referred to as an "airship". Chinese: 空船

. Just about every form of spacecraft, be it a mothership or a small fighter vessel, is referred to as an "airship". Buzz droids: Airship robots . Chinese:

. Escape pods: First aid Chinese: 急救 - "emergency rescue", also meaning "first aid" in Chinese.

The Force: Wish power , Original Dint Chinese: 原力，原 means original, 力 means Dint. 願力 ("wish power") may have come from the translation of "may the force be with you" ("the wish power are together with you").

, Dark side of the Force: Dark World & The Black Influence Chinese: 黑暗世界，黑暗势力

& Sand People: Pathetic people Chinese: 哀伤人们 - "Sand" having been misheard as "sad" (哀伤), with people being 人们.

Confederacy of Independent Systems/Separatists: Abruption doctrine, or just "doctrine." The droid army commanded by the Separatists is referred to as "the alliance." Chinese: 独立派- 派 means "doctrine", 独立 means "to separate" or "to become independent." "Abruption" is an overly formal term meaning "separation"; a Separatist is literally "one who subscribes to the doctrine of separation."

or just "doctrine." The droid army commanded by the Separatists is referred to as "the alliance."

Other words and phrases Edit