MovieChat Forums > Kolja (1997) Discussion > the part with flags

the part with flags


I don't know how can someone translate this part into English: Kolja pointed to the russian flag and said: "Náš KRASNYJ."(in Russian language it means: "our flag is red"). And Louka said something like that: "Co? Vzdyt je celá cervená, nase je KRÁSNÁ!"("What? Your flag is only red, OUR flag is beautiful!"---he thought Kolja said: "our flag is beautiful", -it's a pun)
So that: Russian KRASNYJ = RED
Czech KRÁSNÝ = BEAUTIFUL

I hope you undersand this :) And I'm sorry for my doubtful English

Monika

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Yes, I would like to know how it is translated... anyone can tell us?

"There is Robinson, alone on lone island - but they will marry."

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when i first saw the film i thought it was a translation error cos i only knew the word krasny as meaning beautiful...but i get it now :)
cheers!

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I watched the film with swedish subtitles, I dont know russian or czech (is that right?) and I think the translator simply skipped the part about "our flag is beautiful." Too bad!
I really like the movie by the way!

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This is one of the subtleties of language and nuance which cannot be translated well in any foreign language. I believe only Russian and Czech speakers would really understand the irony of the difference between the two.

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Not really. Also Pole understanding as well Czech and Russian and knowing history of Eastern Europe after World War II. Like me.

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In the English subtitles (the version I have, anyway) they just translate literally and don't even try to keep the pun (I don't see how would they manage):

Kolya: [ Russian ] Ours is red.
Louka: What's so beautiful about it? It's red like your underpants. Now ours is beautiful.
Kolya: [ Russian ] Ours is red.
Louka: You don't understand a thing.

It is clear that there is a misunderstanding between them, but it cannot be explained on the fly for non-slavic speakers.

So great film, by the way! One of my favourites. And the music is awesome. Moreover that I have been unable to find a sopran-sung version of "The lord is my shepherd", which Klara sings in the film very nicely ... until she gets a hand on her butt

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yeah I thought that was funny. I knew this because my dad explained it to me. He's Czech I'm planning to learn after I finish school which is this year!

http://i11.tinypic.com/4gsmssm.jpg
Dean:Wasn't that from Oprah?
Sam:You watch Oprah?

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Thank you so much for explaining this. As I had to rely on English subtitles I thought it meant the boy simply meant red was beautiful (a kind of Soviet conditioning).

Now you've explained the ambiguity red/beautiful. Thank you so much :-)

This was perhaps the most beautiful film I've ever watched. I laughed, I cried, and I cared.

"Cry 'havoc', and let slip the dogs of war"

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I saw this on Norwegian tv once, and they translated Koljas line with: Our flag is red and beautiful.

Much more fun with the pun, but it's impossible to translate properly.

**********
Hugs...

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This was a rather important scene in the film. The point is that the word "krasny" exists in both the Czech and Russian languages, but has different meanings. In Czech it means "beautiful", in Russian "red". That's why they were both confused with what the other was saying. Kolja was only commenting that the Soviet flag was red, while Louka (thinking in Czech) understood it to mean beautiful. It's one of the main themes of the film - reconciling the history between Czechs and Russians and exploring the things that both share in common and not dwelling only on differences. This is in contrast to an earlier scene when Louka first takes Kolja home. Louka realizes it's going to be difficult to communicate as his Russian is rusty, but he tries to get Kolya to drink some tea. Russian and Czech both use the same word for tea - čaj. I can't remember the exact phrasing, but Louka says to him something like "čaj u Nas, u Vas čaj" - the translation would be something like "it's 'čaj' with us, with you it's 'čaj' too" and he goes on to say later something like "we're both Slavs, so we have to at least understand each other a little". Again, this goes back to one of the main points of that film - that Czechs and Russians share certain things in common. At least that's my opinion. I hope this helps add some more context and understanding to this scene of this wonderful movie.

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