# Hindi for 'Parental Advisory, Explicit Content'



## keochan

I am doing a Hindi debut rap album and wanted to translate the popular 'Parental Advisory, Explicit Content' label into Hindi, for the album art. I thought of 'अभिभावकीय परामर्श' but couldn't find anything for 'explicit content'. Please help, thanks.


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## littlepond

keochan said:


> I am doing a Hindi debut rap album and wanted to translate the popular 'Parental Advisory, Explicit Content' label into Hindi, for the album art. I thought of 'अभिभावकीय परामर्श'



I would go for रजामंदी instead of परामर्श - the former is closer to what the English "advisory" in this context means, plus more understandable to everyone.



keochan said:


> but couldn't find anything for 'explicit content'. Please help, thanks.



In this context, I would think of translating "adult content," which could be something like वयस्क विषय.


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## Qureshpor

maaN-baap ko mashvara
bachchoN ke liye naa-munaasib


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## littlepond

Though I think that the intention of saying "explicit content" is saying that it _may _be unsuitable for children, but don't you think, @Qureshpor jii, that a terse "bachchoN ke liye naa-munaasib" is a rather affirmative/didactic "it _is_ unsuitable for children"?


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## aevynn

This is admittedly not very literal, but perhaps one could use something like "fahash! khabardaar!" ...?


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## keochan

littlepond said:


> In this context, I would think of translating "adult content," which could be something like वयस्क विषय.


Yes. I guess that works. Thanks @littlepond jii.



Qureshpor said:


> maaN-baap ko mashvara
> bachchoN ke liye naa-munaasib



I did have 'naa-munaasib rachna' before in mind. Though @Qureshpor jii, it's a four-word long label, so I wanted something a little more concise. Thank you anyway for your contribution.



aevynn said:


> This is admittedly not very literal, but perhaps one could use something like "fahash! khabardaar!" ...?



One could, but I needed it to sound more formal (if that makes sense?). Thank you though!

Edit: Please wish me luck for the album!


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## amiramir

For advisory, how about मार्गदर्शन? Somehow fits stylistically better for me, but I am far from a native speaker


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## littlepond

amiramir said:


> For advisory, how about मार्गदर्शन? Somehow fits stylistically better for me, but I am far from a native speaker


 "maargdarshan" is more "guidance" (as if the parents would guide the child how to watch it): wouldn't fit here, at least for me. Of course, I understand that what you had in mind is probably putting two words of a similar register together.


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## aevynn

I have minor concerns about _razaamandii_ -- this is more like "approval" or "consent," rather than "advisory," right? I suppose the intended implication of _abhibhaavakiiya razaamandii_ is something like "is ailbam ko sunne ke liye bachchoN ko apne abhibhaavakoN kii razaamandii zaruurii hai." That's a coherent thought that's not too distant from the intended meaning of the Parental Advisory label, but I think the label is supposed to serve as a word of advice to parents and it doesn't actually carry any legal requirements. In that way, it feels to me that words like _paraamarsh_ or _mashvaraa_ (or _salaah_) actually fit a little better...? But I think using "warning" words (_khabardaar_, _saavdhaan_, _chetaavnii_, etc) gets the message across much more clearly. For instance, maybe something like the following would sound more "formal" (ie, in the heavily Sanskritized register that's typical of content issued by the government of India)...?

अभिभावकों को
*चेतावनी*
अश्लील विषयवस्तु



keochan said:


> Please wish me luck for the album!


Good luck!  I've always thought there was a dearth of good rap in Hindi, so I hope it goes well!


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## littlepond

keochan said:


> Edit: Please wish me luck for the album!



Good luck! 



aevynn said:


> I suppose the intended implication of _abhibhaavakiiya razaamandii_ is something like "is ailbam ko sunne ke liye bachchoN ko apne abhibhaavakoN kii razaamandii zaruurii hai."


Yes, that's the train of thought I had. Because...


aevynn said:


> That's a coherent thought that's not too distant from the intended meaning of the Parental Advisory label, but I think the label is supposed to serve as a word of advice to parents and it doesn't actually carry any legal requirements. In that way, it feels to me that words like _paraamarsh_ or _mashvaraa_ (or _salaah_) actually fit a little better...? But I think using "warning" words (_khabardaar_, _saavdhaan_, _chetaavnii_, etc) gets the message across much more clearly.


... words like "saavdhaan," etc., are "warning" for me, and I think they are a bit heavy-handed. Of course, in the Indian context, many like to be a bit didactic/heavy-handed, but I was not translating from how most Indian parents are, but rather what an advisory in this context woud mean. I agree that "salaah" looks a better translation (in which case, maybe "abhiibhaavokoN kii salaah se"), but I still somehow don't feel it in the same way as the English word "advisory" (lighter than "saavdhaan" but heavier than "salaah, mashvaraa") feels like. But, of course, there could be nothing "right" in translation, it's up to each person.



aevynn said:


> अश्लील विषयवस्तु


I would like to differ here. अश्लील means "vulgar," whereas the OP had it "explicit": not all explicit content is vulgar. For example, there could be a lot of violence in the content, which may not be अश्लील.


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## aevynn

littlepond said:


> I would like to differ here. अश्लील means "vulgar," whereas the OP had it "explicit": not all explicit content is vulgar. For example, there could be a lot of violence in the content, which may not be अश्लील.


Fair enough!  I mostly had vulgar language use in mind (bhaddii gaaliyaaN, vagairah), but you're certainly right that descriptions of violence and the like could also be explicit without being vulgar.



littlepond said:


> I agree that "salaah" looks a better translation (in which case, maybe "abhiibhaavokoN kii salaah se"), but I still somehow don't feel it in the same way as the English word "advisory" (lighter than "saavdhaan" but heavier than "salaah, mashvaraa") feels like. But, of course, there could be nothing "right" in translation, it's up to each person.


Fair enough again! A phrase that feels to me like it could potentially land us somewhere between "advice" words like salaah and "warning" words like saavdhaan is _ehtiyaat baratnaa_. But I'm not sure how one might use this phrase and still keep the "parental advisory" part of the label within ~2 words. With 3 words, perhaps one could do something like:

अभिभावक
*एहतियात बरतें*

Parents
*Take Heed!*


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## amiramir

aevynn said:


> अभिभावक
> *एहतियात बरतें*
> 
> Parents
> *Take Heed*



Could/should 'parents' be in the vocative here, given that we're addressing parents directly:
अभिभावको (!)
*एहतियात बरतें*

Or does it work better / more idiomatic to have 'parents' in the nominative plural?

Also for Hindi-phone ears, is it jarring to have such an obviously Sanskritized word for parents juxtaposed by an obviously Persian word in faux-government speak? Or is एहतियात sufficiently common that it doesn't really register non-Indic roots?


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## aevynn

amiramir said:


> Could/should 'parents' be in the vocative here, given that we're addressing parents directly:
> अभिभावको (!)
> *एहतियात बरतें*
> 
> Or does it work better / more idiomatic to have 'parents' in the nominative plural?


The phrase I had suggested (abhibhaavak ehtiyaat barteN) is actually a subjunctive sentence (with plural subject abhibhaavak) rather than an imperative. I admittedly translated it to English using an imperative, but only because a subjunctive-y translation (eg, "parents should take heed") took even more words  

I suppose you could use a vocative followed by an imperative, but for some reason the subjunctive sounds slightly better to me here. Likely only because it's slightly more succinct...?


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## littlepond

amiramir said:


> Also for Hindi-phone ears, is it jarring to have such an obviously Sanskritized word for parents juxtaposed by an obviously Persian word in faux-government speak? Or is एहतियात sufficiently common that it doesn't really register non-Indic roots?



Not jarring at all: that's why I had earlier also suggested razaamandii. As long as a word is used normally in Hindi, we don't bother to think about what's the origin of the word. Now, if it were to be a right-wing political speech or some speech of a fake _guru_, then of course that would matter!


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## Sheikh_14

aevynn said:


> This is admittedly not very literal, but perhaps one could use something like "fahash! khabardaar!" ...?


For Urdu-phones perhaps, Waalidain xabardaar! FoHsh-mawaad.


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## littlepond

Sheikh_14 said:


> For Urdu-phones perhaps, Waalidain xabardaar! FoHsh-mawaad.


The OP had not asked for Urdu.


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