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Firefly–Serenity Chinese Pinyinary
Chinese translations with standard Hanyu Pinyin romanization and Chinese characters for Firefly the TV series and Serenity the movie and comic books

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Chinese Dialog

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da4 bian4hua4

Simplified characters: 大变化 / Traditional characters: 大變化
Back-translation of Mandarin: big change
Script Mandarin translation (Hanyu Pinyin romanization): da bianhua [phonetic for English speakers: da byen-hua]
Translated from script English: big change
Context: “Safe,” Young Simon, about getting a dedicated source box

da4

to be big, to be great

bian4hua4

a change, a transformation

bian4: to change, to be transformed
hua4: to change, to transform

Da4jia1 zuo4xia5!

Simplified/Traditional characters: 大家坐下！
Back-translation of Mandarin: Everybody sit down!
Script Mandarin translation (phonetic for English speakers): [(Not in script) Da jah tzuo sha!]
Translated from script English: [Not in script]
Context: Serenity (movie), Zoe, to fellow hovercraft occupants before U-turn

da4jia1

everyone; [literally: an influential family]

da4: to be big, to be great
jia1: a family, a household

zuo4xia5

to sit down

zuo4: to sit
xia4: down, downward

Note:

Translation suggestion from tmhsiao’s blog.

Da4xiang4 bao4zha4shi4 de5 la1 du4zi5

Simplified/Traditional characters: 大象爆炸式的拉肚子
Back-translation of Mandarin: To have the explosive-type diarrhea of an elephant
Script Mandarin translation (phonetic for English speakers): Da-shiang bao-tza shr duh lah doo-tze [Taiwan Mandarin pronunciation (FAQ: Variety of Chinese)]
Translated from script English: The explosive diarrhea of an elephant
Context: “Our Mrs. Reynolds,” Mal, response to Jayne’s Vera-for-Saffron offer

da4xiang4 [de5]

an elephant’s, of an elephant

da4xiang4: an elephant
1. da4: to be big, to be great
2. xiang4: an elephant
[understood: de5 的 : [noun-modifier marker] [here: possessive (genitive), ’s, of]]

bao4zha4shi4 de5

explosive-type

bao4zha4: to explode (like a bomb)
1. bao4: to explode
2. zha4: to explode
shi4 [for this meaning, used only in compound words]: a style, a type
de5: [noun-modifier marker] [here: possessive (genitive), ’s, of]

la1 du4zi5

[colloquial] to have diarrhea

la1: to move the bowels
du4zi5: the belly
1. du4 [used only in compound words]: the belly
2. zi5: [suffix to make noun two syllables]

Notes:

Mal sounds like “Da-shiang bao tse shr la duh too-tze” instead of the Da-shiang bao-tza shr duh lah doo-tze of the script.
When asked for her favorite Chinese line on Firefly, Chinese translator Jenny Lynn responded:

I still get a big kick out of “explosive diarrhea of an elephant.” It’s one where I knew how to translate it word for word, but didn’t know how to retain the syntax from English to Chinese. Just translating it from word-to-word didn’t get me anything that sounded like anything in Chinese. This turned out to be indicative of the kind of problems I would run into—trying to make a fun, wacky English sentence sound like a reasonable Chinese sentence all the while trying to retain its funny, wacky quality. Anyway, I called a few people for help on this particular one, only to receive guffaws at the other end of the telephone.

(Jenny Lynn, questionnaire answer in E-mail attachment to author, November 11, 2004; emphasis added)

Jenny Lynn also said that the line makes about as much sense in Chinese as it does in English (E-mail to author, November 15, 2004). Also, thank you to Jenny Lynn for the shi4 and its English meaning (and for confirming the other Hanyu Pinyin romanization in this entry) before the script was published.
Also: fu4xie4 腹泻 (traditional: 腹瀉 ): diarrhea; fu4 [used only in compound words]: a belly, a stomach; xie4: to have diarrhea

damp lung [Not Chinese]

Simplified/Traditional characters: [None]
Back-translation of Mandarin: [Not Chinese]
Script Mandarin translation (phonetic for English speakers): [Not Chinese]
Script English: the Damplung
Context: “The Message,” Jayne (off-screen), reading aloud letter from mother [Jayne’s brother Matty is sick with it.]

English

damp lung

[name of a lung disease, perhaps tuberculosis (TB)]

Note:

Jayne sounds like “the damp long” instead of the the Damplung of the script. The captions (region 1 DVD) incorrectly say it’s Chinese.

Dang1ran2.

Simplified characters: 当然。 / Traditional characters: 當然。
Back-translation of Mandarin: Of course.
Script Mandarin translation (phonetic for English speakers): Dahng ran.
Translated from script English: Of course.
Context: “Our Mrs. Reynolds,” Simon, about having an encyclopedia

dang1ran2

of course, as it should be

dang1: should
ran2: [adverb suffix], -ly

Note:

Simon sounds like “Dahng nang” instead of Dahng ran.

Dej jim za to plátek masa. [Not Chinese]

Simplified/Traditional characters: [None]
Back-translation of Czech: Give them a slice of meat for it.
Script Czech translation (phonetic for English speakers): [(Not in script) Day yim za to plahteck mahsah.]
Translated from script English: They have enough for a slice. [in Czech]
Context: “War Stories,” Niska, to torturer about hostage refund

Czech

dej jim

give them

dej: give [imperative mood [command] form of dát]
jim: them, to them [dative case [indirect object] form of oni]

za to

for it

za: for
to: it [accusative case [direct object] form of to]

plátek masa

a slice of meat

plátek: a slice
masa: meat, of meat [genitive case [possessive] form of maso]

Note:

Thank you to native-Czech-speaker fan kernel32 for the Czech information.

Deng3 yi1huir4…

Simplified characters: 等一会儿…… / Traditional characters: 等一會兒……
Back-translation of Mandarin: Wait a little while...
Script Mandarin translation (phonetic for English speakers): Dung ee hwar... [see Note 1 below]
Translated from script English: Hold on a second...
Context: “Our Mrs. Reynolds,” Wash, to Mal as checks if Saffron signaled anyone

deng3 yi1huir4

wait a little while

deng3: to wait
yi1hui4/yi1huir4: a little while, a short moment (-r: [non-syllabic colloquial suffix])
1. yi1 [pronounced “yi2” before a 4th-tone syllable]: one, a
2. hui4/huir4 [for this meaning, used only in compound words]: [colloquial] a little while (-r: [non-syllabic colloquial suffix])

Notes:

Pronunciation: Wash sounds like “Duh-ning mah...” instead of the Dung ee hwar... of the script. He might have been saying deng3 yi1 miao3 等一秒 : wait a second; deng3: to wait; yi1 miao3: a second (yi1 [pronounced “yi4” before a 3rd-tone syllable]: one, a; miao3: a second).
Also: yi1hui3 一会 (traditional: 一會 ) / yi1huir3 一会儿 (traditional: 一會兒 ): a little while, a short moment; yi1 [pronounced “yi4” before a 3rd-tone syllable]: one, a; hui3 [used only in compound words]: a brief period of time (-r: [non-syllabic colloquial suffix])

dong3 le5 ma5?

Simplified characters: 懂了吗？ / Traditional characters: 懂了嗎？
Back-translation of Mandarin: Understood?
Novelization Mandarin translation (Hanyu Pinyin romanization): dong le ma? [Serenity (movie) script (phonetic for English speakers): DONG-luh-MAH?]
Translated from script English: Are we clear here? [from Serenity (movie) script]
Context: Serenity (novelization), Mal, p. 52, to Simon to end argument

dong3 le5 ma5

understood?

dong3: to understand
le5: [completion marker]
ma5: [marker for questions]

Dong3 le5 ma5? Ni3 chou2lian3, you3 mei2you3?

Simplified characters: 懂了吗？你愁脸，有没有？ / Traditional characters: 懂了嗎？你愁臉，有沒有？
Back-translation of Mandarin: Understood? Do you have a worried face?
Script Mandarin translation (phonetic for English speakers): DONG-luh-MAH? [Ni cho lyen, yo may yo?] [see note below]
Translated from script English: Are we clear here?
Context: Serenity (movie), Mal, to Simon to end argument then more to self

dong3 le5 ma5

understood?

dong3: to understand
le5: [completion marker]
ma5: [marker for questions]

ni3 chou2lian3, you3 mei2you3?

do you have a worried face?

ni3: you
chou2lian3: a worried face

chou2: to worry
lian3: a face, a facial expression

you3 mei2you3: to have (or not)?, is there (or not)?

you3: to have, there is
mei2you3: to not have, there is not
1. mei2: not
2. you3: to have, there is

Note:

Pronunciation: Mal sounds like “Dong-luh-mah? Ni chow len, yo may yo?” instead of “Dong-luh-mah? Ni cho lyen, yo may yo?” The second, “worried face,” line isn’t in the published script (nor in the Serenity [novelization], p. 52). It seems to be a callback to Simon’s explanation of showing fear versus anger at the beginning of their conversation.

dong3 ma5

Simplified characters: 懂吗？ / Traditional characters: 懂嗎？
Back-translation of Mandarin: understand?
1. Script Mandarin translation (phonetic for English speakers): dong ma
Translated from script English: understand
Context: “The Train Job,” Jayne, to Simon about his unimportance
2. Script Mandarin translation (phonetic for English speakers): Dong-ma?
Translated from script English: Understand?
Context: “Out of Gas,” Mal, to Kaylee about fixing over fretting
3. Script Mandarin translation (phonetic for English speakers): Dong ma?
Translated from script English: Understand?
Context: “The Message,” Womack, to Amnon about keeping quiet
4. Script Mandarin translation (phonetic for English speakers): dong-MA?
Translated from script English: you understand?
Context: “Heart of Gold,” Jayne (off-screen), to prostitutes after revealing penalty for missing the target

dong3 ma5

understand?

dong3: to understand
ma5: [marker for questions]

Dui4bu5qi3?

Script Mandarin translation (Hanyu Pinyin romanization): Duibuqi?
Changed to: Shen2me5? (1) (S, Sh)