Favorite quotes
POSTED BY: Persephone
UPDATED: Wednesday, December 4, 2002 01:52
VIEWED: 17587
PAGE 4 of 6
Quote:
Originally posted by Idefix:
Idefix
sorry for bad english, it isn't my native language.
You're doing great. From the post, I would not have guessed that you were not a native speaker.
And OMG! Did you notice one of the affiliates is called SPACE MONKEYS?
________________
So I'm an idiot. What are you? Perfect?
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Shindig
MAL: He's supposed to be old, kinda stocky, wears a red sash crossways.
KAYLEE: Why does he do that?
MAL: Maybe he won the Miss Persephone Pageant.
JAYNE: I could get naked.
Ariel
MAL: Pupils were fixed and dilapidated --
SIMON: Dilated.
SIMON: For this to work, River and I will have to be dead.
JAYNE: Huh. I'm starting to like this plan.
________________
So I'm an idiot. What are you? Perfect?
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
thanks. but I think that's the biggest problem one could have. if your english is that bad and everyone knows from the first line that you're an 'alien', no one would think twice about anything peculiar or insulting or un-understandable you write. but if your internet-english is good enough to pass as a native speaker most of the time and you happen to make a mistake that could be interpreted as rude or insulting or something all the guys will think you did it on purpose. and I'm a bit affraid that may happen here or elsewhere on the net sometime.
I'm german actually and I learned my english at school (quite some years ago), on the net and from reading english books and watching english TV (american, english, australian, canadian...).
one more funny little thing about being a non native speaker and watching firefly:
in short: you get confused with all the chinese words in the middle of english sentences.
and with a bit of an explanation: the frontier slang on firefly is something one has to get used to and I find it with every new movie or series I watch that you have to get used to the different speakers and different accents for a while before you can watch and understand all they say on the first run. and so when I (and some friends of mine) first saw Firefly we would have to watch an EP twice or more to understand most of it. and then there were chinese sentences and we knew - that's not english, so we won't have to understand it, the americans it's made for wouldn't understand it, too. but the short chinese words mixed up in english sentences got us confused quite a while. I watched some scenes 5 times and still couln't make out that one word. and then I read some transcripts from the page mentioned above and it all became clear. it's chinese - I wouln't understand it if I watched it 20 times.
hope the wasn't too off topic...
I'll go get a quote to 'pay' for it.
MAL (to Jayne): Cattle on the ship three weeks, she don't go near 'em. Suddenly we're on Jiangyin and she's got a driving need to commune with the beast?
RIVER: They weren't cows inside. They were waiting to be, but they forgot. Now they see the sky and they remember what they are.
MAL (to Jayne): Is it bad that what she said made perfect sense to me?
...isn't a funny one but Firefly is not all about funny stuff.
Idefix
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Idefix, I know exactly what you mean, being German myself. I usually don't have too much trouble understanding American movies/TV, but Firefly is really hard. The actors speak very fast. Like that "Copper for a Kiss" line from River - that was just way too fast for me to understand.
Even now knowing what she is saying, I almost cannot "hear" it...
However, it will be interesting how they synchronize Firefly to German. German has in general more syllables than English, so the german voice actors have to speak even faster. But on the other hand I don't really want to know - since I got used to the original voices, I cannot bear german synch anymore ;-)
Merl
NOTIFY: N | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
I almost always cannot bear german sync. most of it is badly translated. not the movies, they are ok most of the time but the series are made cheap and they just don't get the feel of it. jokes are lost, the meaning of conversations are changed.
and don't let me start on the "du" and "sie" issue. I was so relieved when John Sheridan and Delenn (Babylon 5) startet to say "du" instead of the very formal "sie" about the EP they were engaged.
seems they make a point of all people saying "sie" up to the day they get married. to kiss someone and say "sie" would very much be considered an insult by me and all the germans I know. it's just stupid. if you call someone John instead of Mr Smith you'd also call him "du" instead of "sie". but they get it wrong all the time and it gives the people an unnecessary distance. a distance friends (or friendly colleagues) shouldn't have, let alone lovers.
...and the list goes on and on.
better to watch the english one three times and in case of very fast talking, very thick accents, very unusual words or - in this case - chinese mixed with the english, read transcripts to understand everything, then to watch the german sync of it.
I'm quite used to watching everything in english. and once I get used to the people and their way of talking I understand about 99% of it. ok - to understand 99% I have to watch it twice but I'd watch it twice or three times anyway, I like watching good shows more than once. and since I know that the mostly not so youth-friendly (how do you call it?) words are chinese anyway I'm quite happy watching Firefly.
River is a problem sometimes but I guess she is a problem for most people sometimes. she says things one would not expect and she does it quite fast and not too clearly.
PS: so there is more than one german here? I like to tell everyone where I come from just so they know I'm no native english speaker and when I say something weired they may ask me what I meant and not think I was being rude or out of my mind. I think it's almost an obsession of mine but I can't shake it.
so sorry for off topic again. sometimes one gets carried away easily.
so I'm going to hunt for another quote. let's see, how about this one:
MAL (to Jayne at the end of Jaynestown): It's my estimation that...every man ever got a statue made of him, was one kind of sumbitch or another. Ain't about you, Jayne. About what they need.
...again not one of the funny ones. but maybe it's true and all of us should think about it for a minute.
Idefix
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by Idefix:
and don't let me start on the "du" and "sie" issue. I was so relieved when John Sheridan and Delenn (Babylon 5) startet to say "du" instead of the very formal "sie" about the EP they were engaged.
Idefix
It is really funny that you mention this, because this was actually the reason for me NOT to watch B5. First of all the voice of one of those guys (don't know the name) in German was so slimy it practically crawled down my back and secondly they would still say "Sie" to each other even when they were in bed! This was sooo ridiculous.
Another comment regarding non-native speaker: It is true that if somebody speaks a foreign language well, the natives will automatically assume that he/she also understands the cultural subcontext equally well. So any mistake he makes there will be interpreted as rude and not as he-did-not-know. And those little cultural differences can be very dangerous!
For instance is surprisingly Online-gaming not a big hit in Japan. Surprisingly on first glance, because japanese people really like computer games and all kind of gadgets, as everybody knows. But they don't like Online games. Why not? Answer of one not-customer: I don't play with somebody I've never seen and I never shaked hands with!
Also off-thread ;-), but I find cultural differences very interesting...
Merl
NOTIFY: N | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
so if you have a chance watch B5 in english. it's so much better. not as good as Farscape or Firefly - in my opinion - but worth watching. the first season is out on DVD now, the others will follow. maybe you can borrow them to try it out. tell me where in germany you live and maybe you can get a few copies from me, to get you hooked.
and I think you may think about John Sheridan, when you say slimy. he comes across like something between a used-car-salesman and a whiny little boy. but the original voice is quite different. I thought of him as a joke for being the captain and sounding like that.
but some of the other voices are bad as well.
there are some good ones too, I think the Narn G'Kar was synced very well. but you can't just listen to one character, when all the rest is so bad.
with the cultural differences that's one part of what I meant. maybe it's all of it. I'm just scared that I misuse a word I read somewhere and use it in a slightly wrong context and people will freak out because they think I've insulted them or something.
sometimes it's about things like sarcasm and irony or a weird sense of humour. every group of people seems to have their own kind of humour and sometimes you say something as a joke or as something close to a joke and it get's across all too seriously and people take offence. I come from a people or a group or something that likes to mock itself and each other and that's something the brittish can easily understand and the australiens seem to live for it but it's not the american way of humour. so I sometimes step on american toes without wanting to, just because I say something with a bit of earnest and a bit of a twinkle in the eye and it comes across as an attack to someone.
I try to be polite so it doesn't happen much but sometimes things get too cozy and I start talking like I would to my friends here and most of the time there's at least someone to take offence.
ahh and if some of the native speakers sees some faults or errors in my english and would like to tell me, I'd much appreciate it. is there something like a "Personal Message" arround here? or can one send an email to a user? something like that would be ok. I've only registered today so I'm a newby here (have been reading quietly for quite a while though). I don't like my personal or work email to show on a board openly, so I won't post them here. if there's no other way you can use my 'anonym' email Idefix@post.com but I don't read it very often, there's too much spam in there.
ohh my god, is there a penalty around here for spamming a thread with off topic babbling? I plead guilty as charged.
Idefix
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by Idefix:
MAL (to Jayne at the end of Jaynestown): It's my estimation that...every man ever got a statue made of him, was one kind of sumbitch or another. Ain't about you, Jayne. About what they need.
...again not one of the funny ones. but maybe it's true and all of us should think about it for a minute.
Idefix, I love that quote. And I have to say, your English is great. It's true about the differences in American humor. They are easy to offend and sometimes don't seem to understand sarcasm. I'm American but I swear I'm not like that. I love mocking.
I have trouble understanding River too. I couldn't tell what she said ("copper for a kiss") until I read it on the message boards.
Warrick: You didn't have to wound that man.
Mal: Yeah, I know. It was just funny.
NOTIFY: N | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
German/English dubbing - tell me about it!
Yes, I'm American. However, I run a site for Galaxy Rangers (an animated "Space Western" which I've gushed all over this board about). For some odd reason, GR seems to have plenty of fans in Germany. Fortunately, I know enough not to make a total fool of myself when reading/writing e-mail.
I got the opportunity to download episodes of the series in German, and BOY was it a shocker. The opening intro had a good match for the narration, switching abruptly to the English theme song.
One character just was too "American" to translate. In the original English, he's a fast-on-his-feet, jive-talking, wise-ass hacker with the best lines on the show. In German...the character just wasn't sarcastic. The voice actor had NO sense of the character's flamboyance.
Most of the other three leads translated just fine. I dare say that Goose sounds better in the German version - Doug Pries had a barely-disguised New York accent, and was layering a Clint Eastwood impersonation on it. The match for Niko was perfect. As for Zachary...well, it was passable, but not Jerry Orbach. The main villianness actually sounded menacing though, rather than a leftover from Speed Racer (apologies to Corrine Orr).
I have to wonder what Mal, Zoe, Jayne, et. al. would translate to in a German dub. Better, would I want to know.
Co-founder of the Evil Writing Crew - causing hell, one hero at a time!
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by Idefix:
and don't let me start on the "du" and "sie" issue. I was so relieved when John Sheridan and Delenn (Babylon 5) startet to say "du" instead of the very formal "sie" about the EP they were engaged.
After reading your posts I was gonna ask if you have watched B5. This really is a great show.
Your English writing skills are very commendable and was hoping you could explain what "du" and "sie" mean in a relationship.
Also, you have to realize that some of the quotes you say aren't funny actually are in a weird American sense of humor.
Thanks
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME