Use of language by VisitingMyIntentions

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Use of language

POSTED BY: VISITINGMYINTENTIONS
UPDATED: Tuesday, October 25, 2005 22:43
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Tuesday, October 25, 2005 8:46 PM

I hate to complain about what I pretty much regard as the best show ever, but the use of mandarin/english doesn't seem right. I'm not talking about bad accents or that sort of thing. I'm talking about when and what they use Chinese for.

IIRC, people tend to swear and break out emotionally in the language of their cradle, not the privileged language of the upper class (the Tams, Mr. Wing, etc.). It seems to me that Inara should be speaking in Mandarin to her clients and swearing in English when Mal upsets her.

Of course, I'm beginning to doubt this whole anglo-sino upperclass when we see more asians at the Eavesdown docks than at the party in Shindig...

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Early: Where'd she go?

Simon: I can't keep track of her when she's NOT incorporeally possessing a spaceship, don't look at me --

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Tuesday, October 25, 2005 10:21 PM

PURPLEYIN

Ignoring the real-world reasons (like not swearing on primetime television, and not alienating the audience, and there being too few East Asian looking actors that turned up to the auditions) we can guess that the upper class looks primarily Caucasian because of the eastern and western upper classes intermarrying to various degrees. The Tams are based on an East Asian family, so clearly during the early days of the anglo-sino alliance all the tam family did was marry to wealthy 'Anglo' families to maintain prestige.

As for the swearing perhaps the language has evolved to a level that most (but not all) English swearwords aren’t even remembered. It only takes one generation to not use a swearword for it to be lost. I still hear my grandparents discussing walleys and prats as if they just used the most inflammatory language imaginable… Inara, who is presumably fluent in most languages of the alliance, would also have a great deal of self control (it comes with the job) so she wouldn’t seem unladylike.

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Tuesday, October 25, 2005 10:43 PM

JACQUI

The way I see it, and this has been discussed before somewhere...

The Chinese is used much the same way as Latin was used centuries ago, as crude swearing. Latin was a language that was used primarily, but became overshadowed by the languages we speak today. Some of it remained in the crude vernacular centuries ago.

Which is how I see the Chinese in Firefly. After the US/Chinese superpowers got together, a lot of the Chinese influence, culture, heritage, geneology, etc... was assimilated into the US one.

I know it's supposed to be a 'blend', but really the Universe smacks more of a US culture that uses smatterings of other cultures to 'prove' how multicultural they are. A few Chinese letters here and there, a phrase, a wall hanging.

*~*~*
"Your toes are in the sand."
"And your head's up your..."
"Hey!"

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