Request: Image File of 'Browncoat' In Chinese

POSTED BY: Almanac
UPDATED: Saturday, March 24, 2012 04:52
VIEWED: 21240
PAGE 2 of 2

PREV PAGE 1 2

NEWOLDBROWNCOAT

Wednesday, July 20, 2011 4:21 PM

Golly, missed this thread too. It is from a long time ago, but I was here then.

Thanx, PR- maybe gonna include this in my " chop", if I ever get around to actually creating it.

LEAHSFICTION

Sunday, March 18, 2012 6:40 AM

Sorry for resurrecting this thread (again), but I've been working on a fic in Mandarin for Firefly and I'm trying to translate "Browncoat" too.

Brown = zong1 (棕) or he4 (褐), a fairly neutral decision. I'll have to toss a coin.

Lots of suggestions for "coat":
da4yi1 大衣 = coat - connotations towards a full, long one like Mal's
wai4tao4 外套 = outerwear; a coat or a jacket. My folks used this in a "cover up or you'll catch your death" sense.
shang4yi1 上衣 = outerwear (upper/over-clothes)
yi1fu2 衣服 = clothing in general
zhi4fu2 制服 = uniform. However, fu 服 has connotations of service and obedience.
I'm gonna go with the more neutral yi 衣 even though it could refer to any piece of clothing. Since compound words often take one character from each, instead of zong1se4da4yi1 (brown-colour-greatcoat) you'd likely have zong1yi1.

Now, either "man" or "soldier": I think ren2 人 is a good neutral word - man, men, people. It indicates that this attribute applies to people instead of horses or buildings or whatever.
Bing1 兵, soldier, can also refer to "the troops" or "the army" in general. Seems a bit too orderly and Alliancey for freedom-minded folk. Might want to look into synonyms for "fighter", "warrior", stuff like that.

Zong1yiren2 - 棕衣人 - which Google Translate tells me is "brownshirts", but I feel confident after having overthought this.
Pronunciation: ZOONG-yee REN.

Finally, it depends on the connotation. A purplebelly could swap in all sorts of unflattering synonyms/puns. Y'know, like "dung-coat neutered rabble" (that's my polite version) or the like.

WISHIMAY

Sunday, March 18, 2012 1:29 PM

Wow, you just put more thought into that than I have into any one thing else, ever, ha.

I'm impressed

How long were you figuring that out for?

LEAHSFICTION

Sunday, March 18, 2012 3:15 PM

Thanks, I'm flattered. A couple hours.

Not to toot my own horn, but *TOOT* the first phrase I translated for my fic was "The Battle of Serenity Valley". It seemed kinda important.

The Battle of Serenity Valley = Ningjinggu Zhi Zhan 宁静谷之战

EBFIDDLER

Monday, March 19, 2012 3:12 AM

Wow, thank you for writing in and explaining your thoughts on this. There are so many choices in translating, and the nuances are important. I would love to see your choice for "purplebelly" with similar accompanying notes.

LEAHSFICTION

Saturday, March 24, 2012 4:40 AM

Purplebelly = zi3du4pi2 紫肚皮 - "purple-painted belly" is a fairly literal translation.

Purple:
zi3 紫 = a common word for purple (especially fabric). Zi doesn't seem to have the connotations of imperial rule (you want huang, yellow/emperor, for that)
jin3 堇 = yellow clay/old variant of “violet plant”/pansy (however, neither “clay”, “yellow”, or “pansy” have the same connotations of cowardice in Chinese)
gan4 绀 = a more obscure, technical word for purple skin or cyanosis. It sounds the same as 干 “do”.
[Maybe if you wanted to imply “red-faced bureaucrat” or “cannon fodder”? It's hard to tell if “purplebelly” was intended only to mock the colours of the Alliance uniform.]

Belly:
fu4 腹 = abdomen, ventral
du4 肚 = tummy, belly (the most basic one)
wei4 胃 = stomach (especially related to gastric functions)
du4pi2 肚皮 = belly surface. I chose this one, even though it's kinda redundant, for the cadence. Sometimes you just gotta have three syllables.

Continuing from gan4 绀 above, a medical train of thought: what about swollen - zhong3 肿? Or inflated/bloated - peng2 膨, or specifically bloated from overeating - heng2 脝.

Eventually, I came up with:
紫肥杜 Zi3fei2du4 = fat purple bellies, but with puns:
资费 zi1fei4 = tariff
自肥 zi4fei2 = self-enriching
Fei2 肥 refers to both fat and fertilizer. Fei4 费, of course, is waste/expense (“Serenity ain't fei4wu4”)

Purplebelly
-----------
literal translation: zi3du4pi2 紫肚皮 (zz-doo-pee)
creative translation: zifeidu4 紫肥杜 (zz-fay-doo)

sorry if the pinyin/tones are getting unbearable; I can understand Mandarin but barely read Chinese. --your humble translator

EBFIDDLER

Saturday, March 24, 2012 4:52 AM

Awesome. Thanks for sharing. I can work a translator site, and I have familiarity with characters from studying Japanese, but there is no way I can be aware of things like puns. I'm sure the translations I've come up with for my fics are awkward if not downright wrong. I I love what you've come up with for Purplebelly. And, actually I like it that you're also writing the pinyin with tones.

PREV PAGE 1 2