Anyone Done Mandarin Translations for Our Mrs Reynolds?

POSTED BY: Rhea
UPDATED: Wednesday, October 15, 2003 03:54
VIEWED: 18858
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RHEA

Monday, October 21, 2002 6:46 PM

I'm dying to know what they were saying, as always. Plus, it seemed like there was more Mandarin in OMR than the other episodes.

Anybody? Please, please, please?

JHSIAO

Monday, October 21, 2002 9:24 PM

1) When asked if he had an encyclopedia, Simon says: "Dan Nang" = I'm almost certain that I do

Note: should be pronounced "danh ran"

2) When Kaylee says: "Nee boo goo gah, nee hwang chian" = unknown

But it could mean: "Nee boo gan kai nee hwang chian" = You must not open your yellow gun. With yellow gun equivalent to penis, Kaylee is saying that Mal's words are like piss. Translation: "Don't speak so nastily".

3) Mal responds: "Gwon nee ju jee du shu" = mind your own business/affairs.

4) Wash says: "Did she really make fresh Bao?" = "bao" is the white, meat-filled bun that Saffron served to Mal.

Those of you familiar with dim sum cuisine know what it is.

5) Mal says: "Just because some hudong gave you to me doesn't make us married" = unknown.

Not knowing what the actual thing is--I suspect it's like "hwin dan" which means "mixed egg". Sorta like "jerk" but kinda mild.

I really have no idea what Wash said after Saffron tried to seduce him, what Inara said when she found out that Mal was still alive (something "je fwitsu"), or what Zoe called Saffron ("ching hwa") after Mal regained consiousness.

ZTREAM

Tuesday, October 22, 2002 12:45 AM

Why isn't there a section of this site devoted to the mandarin or even overall language of Firefly anyway? We're obviously going to need this sort of discussion for every episode...

RHEA

Tuesday, October 22, 2002 3:16 AM

Thanks, Jhsiao.

I understand from some friends who speak a little Mandarin that the pronunciation is very bad. As a singer, I don't speak Mandarin but living around San Francisco's Chinatown, even I can tell how bad it is - no changes in pitch, for one thing.

NEOOLONG

Tuesday, October 22, 2002 5:13 AM

It seems like they are just pronouncing the Mandarin phonetically. Therefore there is no pitch. It's like in English you raise your voice a bit when you ask a question. Without the context it all sounds monotone. This makes the Mandarin especially difficult because of all the subtle inflection differences that change the meaning of certain words. And makes it really really hard to understand at times.

RHEA

Tuesday, October 22, 2002 1:45 PM

^If Firefly lasts, somebody ought to work with them on pronunciation - after all, they're actors - they ought to be able to learn a more correct pronunciation.

GOSSEYN2

Tuesday, October 22, 2002 2:11 PM

Maybe it isn't supposed to sound like a 21st century Chinese speaking Mandarin.

gosseyn2

ESME

Tuesday, October 22, 2002 5:16 PM

I didn't even know they were speaking Mandarin....what other languages do they speak?

CHARLIEBLUE

Tuesday, October 22, 2002 5:59 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by esme:
I didn't even know they were speaking Mandarin....what other languages do they speak?

English.

RHEA

Tuesday, October 22, 2002 6:38 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by gosseyn2:
Maybe it isn't supposed to sound like a 21st century Chinese speaking Mandarin.

gosseyn2

Trouble with that is that even if they've only learned it for purposes of trade, they'd still have to be comprehensible to people of their own time for whom Chinese is the primary language. Otherwise, why bother?

WNERRAW

Saturday, October 26, 2002 4:31 AM

This episode is even harder to decipher the chinese because the closed captioned text says '(speaking chinese)' instead of the normal english sound's letter equivalent.

RHEA

Saturday, October 26, 2002 6:02 AM

I'm reading the Serenity script, and I realized that Joss has the script noted like this:

Chinese:
My f**** mother!

So we should be able to put together what shows up onscreen with what Joss says it's supposed to mean in the script.:D

And if you haven't read any of the scripts, I'd recommend it - it's highly entertaining.

WNERRAW

Monday, October 28, 2002 7:26 PM

where can i get access to the scripts?

ADBO

Monday, October 28, 2002 8:35 PM

Quote:

2) When Kaylee says: "Nee boo goo gah, nee hwang chian" = unknown

But it could mean: "Nee boo gan kai nee hwang chian" = You must not open your yellow gun. With yellow gun equivalent to penis, Kaylee is saying that Mal's words are like piss. Translation: "Don't speak so nastily".

I think ur translation is right, but "huang chiang" means "Yellow Mouth/Cavity", which means speech which has strong sexual connotations. It's a great colloquial way of speaking, but it's used in the wrong way; he's just being nasty, not making a pass (in fact she's angry because he's NOT making a pass at her

Quote:

I really have no idea what Wash said after Saffron tried to seduce him, what Inara said when she found out that Mal was still alive (something "je fwitsu"), or what Zoe called Saffron ("ching hwa") after Mal regained consiousness.

I have tivo so I'll check again for these. Some are really hard since I'm believing that they are reading hanyupinyin, which has a lost of X and Z/Zh alphabets but has unique pronounciation.

In fact, for "mind your own business", all you English speaker can try to pronounce the following unassisted, and you'll find yourself say producing the same sound Mal did:

"Guan Ni Zi Zi De Shi Qing"

RHEA

Thursday, October 31, 2002 4:53 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by wnerraw:
where can i get access to the scripts?

http://buffyscripts.net/episodes/firefly/season01.html

I think only two of the scripts (including Serenity are up). I didn't want to download Serenity and watch a poor-quality movie of it, so I got the script instead. And actually, Joss' script is fun to read - his character descriptions, for instance, are interesting.

KLAUREL

Saturday, November 16, 2002 12:58 AM

One of my friend's thoughts is that as Chinese and English-speakers mixed, true Chinese kind of gave way to more of an English-speaker's Chinese.

Of course, I think that they just didn't want to pay for a dialect coach!

PAGEOFCUPS

Friday, December 6, 2002 7:40 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Rhea:
Quote:
Originally posted by wnerraw:
where can i get access to the scripts?

http://buffyscripts.net/episodes/firefly/season01.html

I think only two of the scripts (including Serenity are up). I didn't want to download Serenity and watch a poor-quality movie of it, so I got the script instead. And actually, Joss' script is fun to read - his character descriptions, for instance, are interesting.

Either the URL there is bad, or they've been pulled. I get a "no such address" msg.

PoC

LIVINGIMPAIRED

Friday, December 6, 2002 8:10 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by PageOfCups:
Quote:
Originally posted by Rhea:
Quote:
Originally posted by wnerraw:
where can i get access to the scripts?

http://buffyscripts.net/episodes/firefly/season01.html

I think only two of the scripts (including Serenity are up). I didn't want to download Serenity and watch a poor-quality movie of it, so I got the script instead. And actually, Joss' script is fun to read - his character descriptions, for instance, are interesting.

Either the URL there is bad, or they've been pulled. I get a "no such address" msg.

PoC

Their server gave 'em the boot. They should be up the begining of next year.

________________

Sorry, sir. Didn't mean to enjoy the moment.

THEWRITINGWENCH

Thursday, January 23, 2003 8:38 PM

Regarding Buffyscripts and accessing the Firefly scripts there... Go into the Joss Whedon comic book (can't think of the title at the mo') and that's the only way you can access any of the Firefly scripts, but you can access the 3 that are up if you go in through this "back" door.

The Writing Wench

*********************************************
Nan dèanadh mo làmh mar a dh'iarradh mo shùil!
If my hand could do as my eye would desire!

AE660

Wednesday, February 5, 2003 6:38 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by jhsiao:
2) When Kaylee says: "Nee boo goo gah, nee hwang chian" = unknown

But it could mean: "Nee boo gan kai nee hwang chian" = You must not open your yellow gun. With yellow gun equivalent to penis, Kaylee is saying that Mal's words are like piss. Translation: "Don't speak so nastily".

Whoa! Not quite right. 'Chiang' means cavity (same pronunciation as 'gun' in Mandarin). A 'yellow cavity' refers to a dirty mouth (yellow being dirty/profane/pornographic; the mouth being the cavity).

Kaylee was saying Mal shouldn't open his dirty mouth.

Breakdown:

Nee = You

boo gai = should not (not should)

kai = open

nee (duh) = Missing a word here. "Nee duh" would mean 'your'.

hwang chiang = yellow cavity

FFYING2

Wednesday, October 15, 2003 3:54 AM

Quote:
SAFFRON
... Make this night what it should be. Please? Show me the stars.

WASH
(Chinese - "Holy mother of god and all her wacky Nephews") Do I wish I was somebody else right now. Somebody not... married, not madly in love with a beautiful woman who can kill me with her pinkie!

Based on a dictionary search of the impressionistic spelling of HawkMoth/Dangermoth posted elsewhere, I think Wash said:

Wo3 de5 ma1 he2 ta1 de5 feng1kuang2-de5 wai4sheng1 dou1.

My [I POSSESSIVE] mother and her [he/she/it POSSESSIVE] wacky nephew[s] all.

In "Firefly"-speak, this would probably be:
Wo duh mah huh tah duh fung kwahng duh wai shung do.

The "wo duh ma" for "Mother of God" or "My God" is, of course, the same as what's been used in several episodes.

Ying/
Firefly Funsite
http://fireflyfunsite.home.att.net

EDIT: and now also http://fireflychinese.home.att.net