Firefly language translations .....

POSTED BY: AllianceSoldier
UPDATED: Tuesday, June 27, 2006 05:22
VIEWED: 46186
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BAHAMUDE

Friday, March 11, 2005 4:40 PM

Mei mei is used when referring to a younger sister, or someone who is close enough to be a younger sister. In Chinese culture, everyone you know is either family or cousins and you give them honorific names.

The fact that someone would refer to someone as Mei Mei and not be directly related indicates an unusual closeness and familial bond. Ordinarily you never refer to someone as Mei Mei just because they're younger or a friend.

Friends are "pung yo" (I'm going to be using phonetic pronunciations)

A young woman you know (an aquaintance) but is not your friend is a "shiao je"

A younger friend is just a "shiao pung yo" (literally means little friend).

-Albert

CPTJACKMURRAY

Monday, October 10, 2005 1:45 PM

no rutting is not what u said it was its its a diversion from rutty wich is something like "trash-like" I love living in the south.

GIRLWHOKNOWSMANDARINCHINESE

Thursday, October 27, 2005 11:07 AM

in my experience, it is okay to call any young girl "mei mei" when addressing her, just like you would say "little girl" or "sweetie" to a young girl. i think i've been called "mei mei" by store clerks and other strangers even when i was 18 (i might have looked 14 though). So you really don't have to be that close to a person to refer to them as "mei mei." store clerks are trying to be nice, of course, to sell you stuff, so it does have a little bit of endearment or friendliness to it. but "mei mei" just means "little/younger sister" and the rest of it is a matter of how the culture uses it. while i was still a child or teenager, i could refer to any woman i didn't know as "aunt" and any man i didn't know as "uncle" as a form of respect (you are taught to respect all elders), even if i was only asking him or her for directions. Now that i'm older (almost old enough to be referred to as "aunt" myself) I would refer to them as "miss/ms." or "mister" unless it is obvious they are older than me by at least a generation, then i could still refer to them as "aunt" or "uncle."
also, i disagree that "mei mei" translates to "dear sister," "dear sister" should be "qing1 ai4 de5 mei2 mei2" (pronounced more like "ching eye duh mei mei"), as "qing1 ai4 de5" means "dear."
However, you might appear less creepy if you follow Albert's suggestions and use "shiao jie" for "miss" and "shiao pung yo" for "Child" (it is literally "little friend" but it means child, which encompasses little girl).

my first post! i like the series a lot, even though i'm very critical of the chinese translations.

AMDIRAN

Friday, October 28, 2005 9:24 PM

A few more...

First episode: Scene where they are all arguing in kitchen area about River and Simon. Mal says

Ni men dou bi zui! Trans: Everyone shut up!

During the Movie: The students are discussing reavers and their usual rumored killing habits, and the teacher says

Ni men an jing yi diar! Transl: Everyone quiet a bit!

I know it's not much. As I watch it again I'll pick some more out.

JACKCORDIAL

Tuesday, December 13, 2005 6:53 PM

I use "gorram" all the time at work, and "ruttin'" too. Usually in conjunction with each other, and most often directed at customers in private. (I. E. "Gorram ruttin' library patrons can't even so much as conduct themselves like adults for five minutes...". You'd be surprised how some adults conduct themselves out in public.)
My whole theory on "rutting" is that is that it was cleverly taken from the biological term "rutting" meaning mating or procreating, a vulgar form of which is "f***ing" which is universally understood as a swear word.

AMDIRAN

Tuesday, December 13, 2005 7:30 PM

Yeah, I use both of those in addition to 'shiny' and the Heart of Gold's version of 'sly'. A lot of fun, and cryptic to those from whom you'd like your meaning kept secret.

JACKCORDIAL

Tuesday, December 13, 2005 10:30 PM

Also easy to tell who other browncoats are without asking them directly. Just pop words like "shiny" and "gorram" into your vocabulary and see who responds.

JACKCORDIAL

Tuesday, December 13, 2005 10:34 PM

I just called a coworker of mine who said something really odd "moony-brained" She just looked at me sort of oddly. Apparently, she has no clue what I'm on about.

SHUTTLE2

Friday, December 23, 2005 7:17 AM

From my limited highschool chinese education i got:

Dong ma?= understand??

Shen me?= What?

Mei mei= little sister

and everything else was said so wrong i couldn't understand what they were saying haha!

I never heard them say "ge ge" or "ni hao ma". Hmm.....

"I'm a leaf on the wind!"....R.I.P Wash

MEIMEINICCO

Thursday, February 23, 2006 3:12 AM

I am not quite sure on the episode title, its the one where Inara, mal and kaylee go to taht ball and mal gets himself in trouble, again and he has to duel some dude.

Gossa- shit

from what i uderstand anyway. and also about the whole 'mei mei" thing... i remember inara calling River that...i dunno.

i feel so lost on the firefly universe now that it has been taken off tv...again. oh well just gotta find it on DVD.

*thinking of one*

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