Twelve knives?

[Lu]

I'm subtitling an interview again, fortunately this speaker has very clear standard Mandarin, so even though his sentences are sometimes rather a collection of fragments, at least I know exactly what fragments. But now he says something I don't understand. Speaking of the censorship on his film, he says:

 

我们当时候接到通知要大概删剪shí'èrdāo，就这shí'èrmù。

 

What could shí'èrdāo or shí'èrmù be? I assume shí'èr is 十二. The only word I can find that reads dāo is 刀, for mù there are more options, but none that seem to make sense. Perhaps it's film-specific vocabulary? Does anyone here have any idea?

[TheBigZaboon]

For shiermu (十二牧), referring to twelve ancient kindoms, see "A glossary of terms in the dramatic and performing arts." I will try to find the glossary and upload it . It is kinda obscure, but it should be useful to you for performing arts stuff in the future.   

 

There's a shi er dao, but it's 十二道 锋味 (Chef Nic) used in descriptions on cooking programs, wrong tone on the third syllable. Google search for the pinyin will turn this up. If you can't find it, let me know.

 

I don't know anything about your interview, but these are just suggestions that might help.

 

TBZ

 

Got it, I hope: 

9780472901760.pdf

[889]

Maybe 12 cuts, in 12 scenes? 刀 can be a measure word "for knife cuts or stabs" according to Pleco. 幕 as in act of a play for the second.

[Lu]

@889 Hm, so maybe 十二刀，十二幕? 12 cuts for 12 scenes? That would also explain why he explains/rewords his shí'èrdāo, if he realises as he is saying it that it's somewhat jargon-y.

 

@TheBigZaboon Thanks for your suggestions!

[889]

It's unclear to me whether he had to cut out 12 scenes or make 12 cuts affecting 12 scenes. Maybe in context with his voice it's clear.

[Jim]

The 刀 would then be part of a phrasal verb with 剪 I think, see this example for a similar construction: https://zhidao.baidu.com/question/591115731891268165.html

 

So does seem like he's saying that we were notified of the need to make twelve cuts, then clarifies that to emphasise they were to twelve separate scenes.

[Lu]

Thanks both! I now translated it as 'We were informed that we would have to make cuts in twelve different scenes.' I guess I could go with 'twelve different places' if I want to keep it vague whether the scenes had to be cut entirely.