Comments | little_details: Language Barrier -- English to Cantonese

andromeda3116 in little_details

Language Barrier -- English to Cantonese

Feb 20, 2011 21:09

Time Period: The story takes place about 500 years into the future -- the character is a good 3000 years out-of-time, however, and the other characters he interacts with speak English and pidgin Mandarin (yes, we're in the Firefly 'Verse) and I need him to be speaking a language that one of the characters will be able to recognize but not ( Read more... )

~languages: chinese

Comments 24

subluxate February 21 2011, 08:12:29 UTC

You might also try linguaphiles.

systemaurora February 21 2011, 08:17:55 UTC

I don't speak Cantonese, but YAY FIREFLY!!!! I'm sure your story will be very shiny. :D ( ... )

systemaurora February 21 2011, 08:19:06 UTC

Hong Kong*

svz_insanity February 21 2011, 08:39:41 UTC

They use Mandarin in Firefly. (I've only seen half of the pilot, and that was what the actors were trying to speak anyway...)

Also, Mandarin in Hong Kong tends to be pretty bad, haha. It's easier for Cantonese speakers to understand and learn to speak Mandarin than vice-versa but most people in Hong Kong can't speak Mandarin very well. Or even if you speak Mandarin to them, they'll reply back to you in Cantonese - which can be frustrating.

systemaurora February 21 2011, 08:46:30 UTC

lol, that's what I was thinking.

In that case, OP, you're probably in luck, because it is MUCH easier to find information online for Mandarin!

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oraien February 21 2011, 08:28:59 UTC

Try looking up "cantonese travel phrases", since they have a lot of hits.

http://wikitravel.org/en/Cantonese_phrasebook

Scroll down there and I see some things that might be in line with what you need, also.

andromeda3116 February 21 2011, 08:50:42 UTC

Thank you so much for the link! It didn't occur to me to look for travel phrases.

systemaurora February 21 2011, 08:29:28 UTC

PS, it's likely not your word processor unless you use something really old or obscure. It may be an issue with your computer. I had to do a lot of finagling to get mine to type in Chinese!

andromeda3116 February 21 2011, 08:50:03 UTC

Well, I am using WordPad, so maybe that's it? Hmm. It wouldn't surprise me if I had some issue with this computer -- it's kind of old. D:

systemaurora February 21 2011, 08:51:21 UTC

hm, are you able to upgrade to open office or microsoft office? That might help. I'm typing in Chinese on a laptop built in '05 or '06, so I'm not sure how old is "kind of old" to you.

svz_insanity February 21 2011, 08:36:27 UTC

I don't know much about Firefly, so I can't really help you on the logistics...

Here are the translated phrases (without the accent marks because I'm not sure how to do them on the computer). You can look up the different tone marks corresponding to the numbers online - I'm using Jyutping.

Hello = nei5 hou2
Where am I? = ngo5 hai2 bin1 dou6?
Who are you? = nei5 hai2 bin1 go2
I don't understand = ngo5 m4 ming4 (baak6)

All of them should be pretty accurate; my Cantonese is conversational (first language, then learned English in elementary school and stopped speaking it for some time, but I've studied in Hong Kong for a semester).

Edited for clarification.

andromeda3116 February 21 2011, 08:49:23 UTC

Oh, thank you so much! Conversational is exactly what this character would be speaking, not formal, so that's perfect!

svz_insanity February 21 2011, 08:51:56 UTC

No problem! I'm always thrilled when my Cantonese skills comes in handy since it's less common. :)

akuma_no_kage February 21 2011, 13:07:28 UTC

Errr... actually for the line "Where am I?" wouldn't they be more likely to ask "lei5 dou6 haih4 bin1 dou6 (lei4 ga4)?" if they're speaking in a casual tone? Or if in a slightly more formal/less rude tone, "lei5 dou6 haih4 me3 dei6 fong1?". (The "lei4 ga4" in the first example is kinda like a suffix to the phrase and it would denote a sense of exasperation/frustration at the situation. But it is a very casual expression, probably not something that would be used in a more formal setting ( ... )

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