Trash: Translation attempt for Teaser & Act I

POSTED BY: ae660
UPDATED: Wednesday, October 12, 2005 00:52
VIEWED: 8487
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AE660

Wednesday, March 26, 2003 5:58 PM

I thought I'd try to translate the Chinese phrases as the script gets posted. I haven't been able to figure out a few words, and I hope some people here will be able to help.

SAFFRON: [BUN tyen-shung duh ee-DWAY-RO.]
BUN - ?
tyen-shung duh (天生的) - (Natural) born
ee-DWAY (一堆?) - A pile of (?)
RO (肉?) - Meat?
"A natural-born pile of meat" doesn't make sense to me. The only words I'm sure of are "natural born."

SAFFRON: No you ! [HOE-tze duh PEE-goo!]
HOE-tze duh (猴子的) - Monkey's
PEE-goo (屁股) - ass
"Monkey's ass!"

MAL: [EE-chee shung-hoo-shee.]
EE-chee (一齊) - Let's all...
shung-hoo-shee (深呼吸) - ...take a deep breath.
"Let's all take a deep breath."

INARA (meekly): [Suo-SHEE?]
Suo-SHEE (瑣細) - As Mal said, it's supposed to be Chinese for 'petty', but it's not. What Inara said means "tiny and numerous". The translator's English probably sucked and must have looked up a dictionary. I'm not sure there's a common term for "petty criminals" in Chinese, actually.

Michael Liu

WERESPAZ

Wednesday, March 26, 2003 7:28 PM

Cool, Thanks for the translations. Being the paranoid anglo that I am, I'm always afraid people speaking in a different language are always saying bad things about me.

-The SpAz

HAKEN

Wednesday, March 26, 2003 7:57 PM

Whao cool. Chinese font.

AE660

Monday, March 31, 2003 9:47 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by ae660:
SAFFRON: [BUN tyen-shung duh ee-DWAY-RO.]
BUN - ?
tyen-shung duh (天生的) - (Natural) born
ee-DWAY (一堆?) - A pile of (?)
RO (肉?) - Meat?
"A natural-born pile of meat" doesn't make sense to me. The only words I'm sure of are "natural born."

Now that translations are posted with Teaser and Act I, I know this sentence is supposed to be: "Stupid inbred stack of meat." This sentence in Chinese is ungrammatical, however.

To correct the grammar: "Tyen-shung duh ee-DWAY-BUN-RO." ('Bun' (笨 - stupid) was in the wrong place.)

My guesses were right, though. :) The correct sentence, in Chinese, is: "天生的一堆笨肉."

Michael Liu

INVISIBLEGREEN

Monday, March 31, 2003 11:16 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by ae660:
INARA (meekly): [Suo-SHEE?]
Suo-SHEE (瑣細) - As Mal said, it's supposed to be Chinese for 'petty', but it's not. What Inara said means "tiny and numerous". The translator's English probably sucked and must have looked up a dictionary. I'm not sure there's a common term for "petty criminals" in Chinese, actually.

215 years in the future, words many words will have different connations and denotations than they do today, so it really isn't important that the translations are precise.

MCC

Sunday, December 21, 2003 10:34 PM

So, what about the *rest* of the episode? :)

ANDELONG

Friday, January 2, 2004 5:56 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by InvisibleGreen:

215 years in the future, words many words will have different connations and denotations than they do today, so it really isn't important that the translations are precise.

That may be, but even Inara corrects Mal by saying that the phrase she uses does not mean petty.

FLAMETREE

Saturday, January 17, 2004 4:24 AM

the mandarin for small, or petty, thief is
xiaotou.

I thought it sounded something like
shou xiao
xiao is ok - small
without seeing the character it is hard to know
what shou it means
shou (1st tone) gather, collect or receive
(is to receive small things?)
could be shou (3rd tone) by hand
(ie little things taken by hand?)
shou head, first or beginning?

could be anything but I think shou xiao - collect small things works best
of course I could be totally wrong :)

CR427

Tuesday, October 11, 2005 8:17 PM

I believe the correct phrase to be suǒ xì ( 瑣細 )

Primary meaning is "trivial"

also does mean petty, small, tedious, trifling.

寧靜

FLAMETREE

Wednesday, October 12, 2005 12:52 AM

Nin Hao CR427,

Your translation makes good sense.

There has to be a game in here somewhere guessing what was said and what was meant. There should be a prize :)

Ziajian