Chinese translations for 'Out of Gas'

POSTED BY: FFfan
UPDATED: Thursday, January 16, 2003 04:03
VIEWED: 15931
PAGE 1 of 2

1 2 NEXT PAGE

FFFAN

Saturday, October 26, 2002 1:43 AM

All of the Chinese in this episode was actually understandable. =)

1) Opening scene

Zoe: It's a piece of "fei-oo".
Mal: "Fei-oo"?

Translation: "fei-oo" means waste or junk.

2) ~15 minutes into OoG

Mal: I wasn't asking. I was telling.
Wash: "Chur ni-duh."
Mal: You're going to get to that bridge and you're going to get us back on our feet.

Translation: Not sure but I think "chur ni-duh" means something like "yeah, you wish."

3) ~25 minutes into OoG

Jayne (to Mal and Wash): What the "guai" do you two think you're doing fighting at a time like this?

Translation: "guai" literally means "devil" so "what the hell" is appropriate here.

4) ~30 minutes into OoG

Mal (to Kaylee): "Dong ma?"

Translation: "dong ma?" means "understood?"

5) ~55 minutes into OoG

"Pirate" captain: You and him are going to pilot this pile of "go se" out of here.

Translation: "go se" literally means "dog shit."

------------------------

Did anyone else notice that the ship's computer was speaking Cantonese and not Mandarin? It says, "life support failure, check oxygen levels at once" and then repeats that line in Cantonese. I thought it was funny that the crew speaks one Chinese dialect, but the ship speaks another. ;)

BILLIAM

Sunday, October 27, 2002 7:06 PM

I also noticed that the ship spoke Cantonese instead of Mandarin. I guess they couldn't find a good Mandarin speaker to do the computer voice?! I suppose by using a competent AND current speaker for the computer voice, that the Chinese language/dialects in the show are pretty much the same as the current dialects. I guess the cast should go to Chinese school on saturdays now to improve their pronunciation

MOLLYBLOOM

Sunday, October 27, 2002 7:49 PM

Does anyone know what Mal was saying when he walked in on Kaylee and Bester (the original mechanic)?

EVANS

Sunday, October 27, 2002 8:41 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by MollyBloom:
Does anyone know what Mal was saying when he walked in on Kaylee and Bester (the original mechanic)?

From the transcription by Shrift ==

MAL: What in the name of [suo-yo duh doh shr-dang - "all that's proper...?"]
(long beat) Bester.

MOLLYBLOOM

Sunday, October 27, 2002 8:51 PM

Thanks!

JHSIAO

Monday, October 28, 2002 5:37 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by FFfan:
2) ~15 minutes into OoG

Mal: I wasn't asking. I was telling.
Wash: "Chur ni-duh."
Mal: You're going to get to that bridge and you're going to get us back on our feet.

Translation: Not sure but I think "chur ni-duh" means something like "yeah, you wish."

My understanding was that it was merely mispronounced. Literally "Go you" it means "Get outta here".

Quote:

Did anyone else notice that the ship's computer was speaking Cantonese and not Mandarin? It says, "life support failure, check oxygen levels at once" and then repeats that line in Cantonese. I thought it was funny that the crew speaks one Chinese dialect, but the ship speaks another. ;)

Took awhile for me to figure it out. I was wracking my poor Mandarin vocabulary trying to figure out what the hell the ship was saying.

ADBO

Monday, October 28, 2002 8:52 PM

Quote:

2) ~15 minutes into OoG

Mal: I wasn't asking. I was telling.
Wash: "Chur ni-duh."
Mal: You're going to get to that bridge and you're going to get us back on our feet.

Translation: Not sure but I think "chur ni-duh" means something like "yeah, you wish."

No, he said "Qu Ni De!!" It means, literally, "Up Yours!!" That's so funny... he should have said "Qu Ni Ma De", which is like "Up Yomama"....

And yeah, I noticed the Cantonese too. And I see that all the Chinese characters are in traditional, not simplified form (thank goodness). That could mean that someone from HK helped them with their Chinese part (hence the terrible mandarin pronounciations! Cantonese are not known for their accurate mandarin)

IKENTICUS

Monday, November 11, 2002 8:48 PM

probably not HK or Taiwanese technical help on the set, because the sign during the "virtual pool hall" scene in another episode was written in Simplified Chinese, not Traditional --- something most Taiwanese and Hong Kong folk balk at.

JASONZZZ

Tuesday, November 12, 2002 4:57 AM

PLEASE! Everyone go and learn pinyin and stop
making up your own romanization system.

Go to

http://www.zhongwen.com

if you need help.

GUAILO

Thursday, January 2, 2003 11:08 PM

Quote:
Did anyone else notice that the ship's computer was speaking Cantonese and not Mandarin? It says, "life support failure, check oxygen levels at once" and then repeats that line in Cantonese. I thought it was funny that the crew speaks one Chinese dialect, but the ship speaks another. ;)

Obviously by my handle 'round here I know "go se" about speaking Mandarin or Cantonese. But my understanding is that Cantonese is sort of the "common tongue" and is generally spoken by the "poor and undereducated". This is, of course, a huge generalization, but it is factually derived from Canton, the main trade province during pre-Communist China.

The Mandarin dialect is typically thought of as "high speak" and is typically attributed to the upper class and is considered more propper, more formal and all around better. Shiny, if you will.

I think if those facts are true, then the fact that the ship speaks Cantonese makes sense in it's role as a freighter and all-around commoner class ship. Likewise, it tracks that if people are speaking mandarin, it's because it's considered (or was considered) fashionable and more formal.

I'd be interested to see if Inara's ship speaks/displays Mandarin or formal script.

1 2 NEXT PAGE