Other languages in Serenity movie (no movie spoilers)

POSTED BY: Kizyr
UPDATED: Friday, February 17, 2006 04:57
VIEWED: 8888
PAGE 1 of 1

KIZYR

Wednesday, October 5, 2005 5:29 AM

I don't know how frequent other languages besides Chinese and English are... but I saw quite a few in the movie.

Hindi - on the side of the new mule
Arabic - label on one of the doors in the cockpit
Japanese (katakana) - signs on the doors in Serenity

Besides Niska's occasional lines in Russian, and the brief singing in Hindi in Heart of Gold, I never noticed anything besides English or Chinese in the series. Maybe Joss is taking this opportunity on the bigger screen to expand the universe a little?

I don't know what the Hindi or Arabic said (latter was too brief, and former, I can't read). The Japanese letters only said "se-ri-ra" or something; I assumed it was an acronym for some other term.

Anyone else notice even more languages in the movie, or the series itself? Any clue on what the other signs said? KF

~Kaiser Farooque

ZOE: Preacher, don’t the Bible have some pretty specific things to say about killing?
BOOK: Quite specific. It is, however, somewhat fuzzier on the subject of kneecaps...

FLAMETREE

Friday, October 7, 2005 8:41 AM

Hello Kiyzr,

I only saw the japanese ? maybe korean ? symbols.

I was a little surprised. Mostly I was surprised at the lack of asians. Also the crew was swearing in english on a number of occasions. Since I enjoy seeing / hearing / learning the manadarin expressions I was a little saddened by this.

In short it could have been more multicultural. Chow Yun Fat would have made a excellent operative! :)

JYNK

Thursday, October 13, 2005 12:42 PM

Just a note: Niska spoke Czech.

-------------------
"Let's move this conversation in a not-Jayne's-fault direction." - Jayne

RABIT

Thursday, October 13, 2005 1:31 PM

One of Kaylee's shirts in the movie had Cyrillic characters on the shoulder.

Rabit

ZELADIOUS

Tuesday, January 3, 2006 9:05 PM

One of Simon's lines in the movie is Russian

“Serenity is not freedom from the storm, but peace amid the storm”

KANESKI

Thursday, January 12, 2006 1:23 AM

which one?

AMYEL

Thursday, January 12, 2006 2:24 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Kaneski:
which one?

spoiler in my answer!

Select to view spoiler:

The sleepy-time phrase was in Russian. Simon said "Eto kuram na smekh," which roughly translates into "this laughter is for chickens."

KANESKI

Thursday, January 12, 2006 3:31 AM

Oh... now that I listen for it I recognise it...

MADHURI

Wednesday, February 15, 2006 5:46 AM

Does any one know what the hindi script on the side of the mule says? I've been learning devanagri, but I can't make it out...

KIZYR

Friday, February 17, 2006 4:57 AM

I put up a shot of the mule text here:

There's also some odd text on the credit notes in the Official Visual Companion... I scanned just that line in here:

It's Hebrew on the left (first occurrence I've seen of it), Chinese in the middle, and Arabic--possibly Farsi--on the right. Farsi in that the fourth character (from right) is a "V" character that's not ordinarily in Arabic, but borrowed from the Farsi alphabet.

Now that I'm looking back through, I'm thinking that the non-Chinese languages (with a few exceptions) are really gibberish... I still can't find any sense of any of any Japanese text (including the Fruity Oaty Bar stuff), and something looks odd about the Arabic/Farsi text on the credit notes. KF

~KF

Lord, I'm walking your way. Let me in, for my feet are sore, my clothes are ragged.
Look in my eyes, Lord, and my sins will play out on them as on a screen. Read them all.
Forgive what you can and send me on my path. I will walk on until you bid me rest.
~Haven Prayer