Request: Image File of 'Browncoat' In Chinese by Almanac

FIREFLY CHINESE TRANSLATIONS

Request: Image File of 'Browncoat' In Chinese

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POSTED BY: ALMANAC
UPDATED: Friday, March 23, 2012 18:52
SHORT URL: http://bit.ly/nYGgBj
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Friday, March 9, 2007 8:00 AM

I've been to Ying's site already, and I see that there are two versions of the translation for "Browncoat"...

I'm in the process of helping put together a Browncoat consuite, and I need a "clean" graphic version (i.e. black kanji on a white background) of one or both translations to give to the person designing our logo, as opposed to the Chinese text display on his site.

If anyone could help me out (ASAP, if you could), please feel free to email me through the site linked below...

Thank you very much in advance.

Edgar Governo
Historian of Things That Never Were
http://www.mts.net/~arphaxad/history.html

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Friday, March 9, 2007 8:06 AM

MAVOURNEEN

Don't know if this will help, but this site sells kanji jewelry. Here's the link for the word Browncoat.

http://dragonweave.com/chinese-japanese-symbol-charms-a.html#browncoat

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Friday, March 9, 2007 8:18 AM

ALMANAC

Quote:
Originally posted by Mavourneen:
Don't know if this will help, but this site sells kanji jewelry. Here's the link for the word Browncoat.

http://dragonweave.com/chinese-japanese-symbol-charms-a.html#browncoat

I've seen that before, but there a couple of problems with that image, from our perspective:

First off, my untrained eye can't tell where one kanji ends and the other begins. Since we're planning to create a horizontal logo (that looks similar to the Blue Sun logo), knowing this sort of thing is paramount. Plain black-on-white kanji would be easier to customise and modify.

Secondly, Ying's site lists two translations for "Browncoat," and ideally, I'd like plain, separated versions of both--especially since he explains the differences in the translations (along the lines of Blue Sun, again, and Serenity, both of which also have two "official" translations).

Edgar Governo
Historian of Things That Never Were
http://www.mts.net/~arphaxad/history.html

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Friday, March 16, 2007 12:22 AM

ALMANAC

I'm just giving this a quick bump, for those who might not have seen it the first time, since I still need help with this...

Thanks again.

Edgar Governo
Historian of Things That Never Were
http://www.mts.net/~arphaxad/history.html

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Friday, March 16, 2007 12:28 AM

PHOENIXROSE

You think you know--what's to come, what you are. You haven't even begun.

What site is this that gives the translations? I've got a Chinese font in photoshop, so I might could make one pretty easily.

Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.

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Friday, March 16, 2007 12:43 AM

ALMANAC

Quote:
Originally posted by PhoenixRose:
What site is this that gives the translations? I've got a Chinese font in photoshop, so I might could make one pretty easily.

I'm referring here to Ying's Firefly-Serenity Chinese Pinyinary:

http://fireflychinese.kevinsullivansite.net/index.html

If you're able to make an image file based on the translations there--especially if your font can go significantly larger than the average screen text size--that would be fantastic, and I'd really be grateful.

I believe both of the "Browncoat" translations I'm referring to are listed in his FAQ...

Edgar Governo
Historian of Things That Never Were
http://www.mts.net/~arphaxad/history.html

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Friday, March 16, 2007 1:02 AM

PHOENIXROSE

You think you know--what's to come, what you are. You haven't even begun.

Ahhhh, one of my favorite sites! Never looked at the FAQ, though. And yes, the font can get very large. Be with you shortly...

*edit* Done! Put spaces between them, so you can tell for sure what lines go with what kanji. If you need them put back close together, I can do that too. Font size here is 90, but I think I can make it bigger if you need that, too.

Brown overcoat, modeled on Mal's long coat.

Brown coat or jacket, modeled on the British Redcoats

Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.

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Saturday, March 17, 2007 8:17 PM

PHOENIXROSE

You think you know--what's to come, what you are. You haven't even begun.

Just giving a bump

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Friday, April 27, 2007 8:45 AM

ALMANAC

I never did thank you for these translations...

They're proving extremely useful in designing our logo, although we don't have a final graphic quite yet.

If you're curious to know more about our Browncoat Saloon, you can check it out on LiveJournal:

http://community.livejournal.com/browncoatsaloon/

You can also do the same on MySpace:

http://www.myspace.com/browncoatsaloon

Once again, thank you very much!

Edgar Governo
Historian of Things That Never Were
http://www.mts.net/~arphaxad/history.html

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Wednesday, July 20, 2011 2:47 AM

MENDUR

Resurrecting an old thread:

Okay, you listed

"brown long coat"

and

"brown coat/jacket"

My question is: what would be the symbols for "man/person wearing brown coat", since we use the word "Browncoat" to refer not to the coats but to the people wearing them.

The Codex Menduri: http://mendur.blogspot.com

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Wednesday, July 20, 2011 6:21 AM

NEWOLDBROWNCOAT

Golly, missed this thread too. It is from a long time ago, but I was here then.

Thanx, PR- maybe gonna include this in my " chop", if I ever get around to actually creating it.

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Saturday, March 17, 2012 8:40 PM

LEAHSFICTION

Sorry for resurrecting this thread (again), but I've been working on a fic in Mandarin for Firefly and I'm trying to translate "Browncoat" too.

Brown = zong1 (棕) or he4 (褐), a fairly neutral decision. I'll have to toss a coin.

Lots of suggestions for "coat":
da4yi1 大衣 = coat - connotations towards a full, long one like Mal's
wai4tao4 外套 = outerwear; a coat or a jacket. My folks used this in a "cover up or you'll catch your death" sense.
shang4yi1 上衣 = outerwear (upper/over-clothes)
yi1fu2 衣服 = clothing in general
zhi4fu2 制服 = uniform. However, fu 服 has connotations of service and obedience.
I'm gonna go with the more neutral yi 衣 even though it could refer to any piece of clothing. Since compound words often take one character from each, instead of zong1se4da4yi1 (brown-colour-greatcoat) you'd likely have zong1yi1.

Now, either "man" or "soldier": I think ren2 人 is a good neutral word - man, men, people. It indicates that this attribute applies to people instead of horses or buildings or whatever.
Bing1 兵, soldier, can also refer to "the troops" or "the army" in general. Seems a bit too orderly and Alliancey for freedom-minded folk. Might want to look into synonyms for "fighter", "warrior", stuff like that.

Zong1yiren2 - 棕衣人 - which Google Translate tells me is "brownshirts", but I feel confident after having overthought this.
Pronunciation: ZOONG-yee REN.

Finally, it depends on the connotation. A purplebelly could swap in all sorts of unflattering synonyms/puns. Y'know, like "dung-coat neutered rabble" (that's my polite version) or the like.

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Sunday, March 18, 2012 3:29 AM

WISHIMAY

Wow, you just put more thought into that than I have into any one thing else, ever, ha.

I'm impressed

How long were you figuring that out for?

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Sunday, March 18, 2012 5:15 AM

LEAHSFICTION

Thanks, I'm flattered. A couple hours.

Not to toot my own horn, but *TOOT* the first phrase I translated for my fic was "The Battle of Serenity Valley". It seemed kinda important.

The Battle of Serenity Valley = Ningjinggu Zhi Zhan 宁静谷之战

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Sunday, March 18, 2012 5:12 PM

EBFIDDLER

Wow, thank you for writing in and explaining your thoughts on this. There are so many choices in translating, and the nuances are important. I would love to see your choice for "purplebelly" with similar accompanying notes.

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Friday, March 23, 2012 6:40 PM

LEAHSFICTION

Purplebelly = zi3du4pi2 紫肚皮 - "purple-painted belly" is a fairly literal translation.

Purple:
zi3 紫 = a common word for purple (especially fabric). Zi doesn't seem to have the connotations of imperial rule (you want huang, yellow/emperor, for that)
jin3 堇 = yellow clay/old variant of “violet plant”/pansy (however, neither “clay”, “yellow”, or “pansy” have the same connotations of cowardice in Chinese)
gan4 绀 = a more obscure, technical word for purple skin or cyanosis. It sounds the same as 干 “do”.
[Maybe if you wanted to imply “red-faced bureaucrat” or “cannon fodder”? It's hard to tell if “purplebelly” was intended only to mock the colours of the Alliance uniform.]

Belly:
fu4 腹 = abdomen, ventral
du4 肚 = tummy, belly (the most basic one)
wei4 胃 = stomach (especially related to gastric functions)
du4pi2 肚皮 = belly surface. I chose this one, even though it's kinda redundant, for the cadence. Sometimes you just gotta have three syllables.

Continuing from gan4 绀 above, a medical train of thought: what about swollen - zhong3 肿? Or inflated/bloated - peng2 膨, or specifically bloated from overeating - heng2 脝.

Eventually, I came up with:
紫肥杜 Zi3fei2du4 = fat purple bellies, but with puns:
资费 zi1fei4 = tariff
自肥 zi4fei2 = self-enriching
Fei2 肥 refers to both fat and fertilizer. Fei4 费, of course, is waste/expense (“Serenity ain't fei4wu4”)

Purplebelly
-----------
literal translation: zi3du4pi2 紫肚皮 (zz-doo-pee)
creative translation: zifeidu4 紫肥杜 (zz-fay-doo)

sorry if the pinyin/tones are getting unbearable; I can understand Mandarin but barely read Chinese. --your humble translator

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Friday, March 23, 2012 6:52 PM

EBFIDDLER

Awesome. Thanks for sharing. I can work a translator site, and I have familiarity with characters from studying Japanese, but there is no way I can be aware of things like puns. I'm sure the translations I've come up with for my fics are awkward if not downright wrong. I I love what you've come up with for Purplebelly. And, actually I like it that you're also writing the pinyin with tones.

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