General Discussions

Firefly - fun *and* educational!

POSTED BY: WildHeavenFarm
UPDATED: Thursday, September 30, 2004 19:32
VIEWED: 1520
PAGE 1 of 1

Wednesday, September 29, 2004 1:19 PM

I've actually managed to "learn" some Chinese by watching Firefly (and, of course, looking up the translations). I discovered this last night while watching a sex slave smuggling episode of Law & Order: SVU. One character was telling another in Mandarin that everything was alright or everything would be alright and I got it right off, thanks to the Gabriel Tam's line "Nah mei guan-shee".

Anyone else been able to apply their pidgin-Mandarin?

Mary
Always a beast, never a burden.

NOTIFY: Y  | REPLY  | REPLY WITH QUOTE  | PERMALINK  | TOP  | HOME

Thursday, September 30, 2004 2:04 PM

Yes, actually: at Anime Weekend Atlanta, I was watching a live-action version of Marmalade Boy, which was apparently made in Hong Kong. I found I could pick out a few words of the dialogue (shuai, mei mei, xie-xie) without reference to the subtitles. Wonder if they were using Mandarin for some reaons, or those words are just the same in Cantonese?

--------
Kotoba yori tashika na koto michizure ni shite.

NOTIFY: N  | REPLY  | REPLY WITH QUOTE  | PERMALINK  | TOP  | HOME

YT
Thursday, September 30, 2004 7:32 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Michizure:
I found I could pick out a few words of the dialogue (shuai, mei mei, xie-xie) without reference to the subtitles. Wonder if they were using Mandarin for some reaons, or those words are just the same in Cantonese?



I recently emailed an old friend from Hong Kong, who speaks Cantonese fluently and has school girl memories of Mandarin, and called her xiao mei mei. She asked me when I learned to speak Mandarin. I infered that that phrase, at least, is not the same in Cantonese.

Keep the Shiny Side Up

Wutzon: the Motet, "Chicken Scratch", from "Play"

NOTIFY: Y  | REPLY  | REPLY WITH QUOTE  | PERMALINK  | TOP  | HOME