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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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Kan4 wo3men5 zen3me5 si3 ba5!

Comics Mandarin translation (simplified characters): 看我们怎么死吧！ / Traditional characters: 看我們怎麼死吧！
Back-translation of Mandarin: Watch how we die!
Phonetic for English speakers: Kan wuh-mun tzun-muh ss bah!
Context: Serenity: Those Left Behind #1, Wash, p. 17, as prepares to topple water tower

kan4

to look at, to watch

wo3men5 zen3me5 si3

how we die

wo3men5: we
1. wo3: I
2. men5: [suffix for human plural words]
zen3me5: how, why
1. zen3: how, why
2. me5: [suffix for question words]
si3: to die

ba5

[mild-exclamation marker], let’s

kao4

Back-translation of Mandarin: f***
1. Comics Mandarin translation (simplified/traditional characters): 靠！
Phonetic for English speakers: Kao!
Context: Serenity: Those Left Behind #1, Mal, p. 10, after Ott and Ott’s crew escape
2. Comics Mandarin translation (simplified/traditional characters): 靠
Phonetic for English speakers: kao
Context: Serenity: Those Left Behind #2, Mal, p. 15, to Book referring to a tough situation

kao4

[offensive] to f*** [see note below]

Note:

Kao: Kao4 靠 (‘to get near’) is here a regional variant for cao4 肏 ([offensive] ‘to f***’). Thank you to Don for his comment on KernelM’s Serenity #1 translations, which first pointed out this other meaning.

The character 操 (cao1 ‘to speak (a language)’ and less commonly cao4 [for this meaning, used only in compound words] ‘to make trouble’) is used as a replacement character for the offensive character 肏. The character 肏 (cao4 [offensive] ‘to f***’) is often not used because the combination of its parts is visually explicit: 入 ru4 [used only in compound words] ‘to enter’ and 肉 rou4 ‘flesh’ [noun].

Ke3wu4 de5 lao3 bao4jun1…

Simplified characters: 可恶的老暴君…… / Traditional characters: 可惡的老暴君……
Back-translation of Mandarin: Wicked old tyrant...
Script Mandarin translation (phonetic for English speakers): Kuh-ooh duh lao bao jurn...
Translated from script English: Horrible old tyrant...
Context: “The Train Job,” Kaylee, referring to Mal, who had told her to get back to work

ke3wu4 de5

to be wicked, to be detestable

ke3: [prefix turning verb to adjective meaning ‘capable of’, ‘-able’/‘-ible’]
wu4 [used only in compound words]: to hate, to loathe
de5: [noun-modifier marker] [here: integrated adjectival clause (restrictive relative clause)]

lao3

to be old

bao4jun1

a tyrant

bao4: to be tyrannical, to be violent
jun1: [written] a monarch, a lord

Note:

Also: Ke3wu4!: Damn it!

Kuai4 qu4 hen3 yuan3 de5 di4fang1.

Simplified characters: 快去很远的地方。 / Traditional characters: 快去很遠的地方。
Back-translation of Mandarin: Go fast to a very far away place.
Script Mandarin translation (phonetic for English speakers): KWAI chur hun-rien duh di fahng.
Translated from script English: Go far away very fast.
Context: “Trash” [Cut], Simon, to the crude Jayne, as he hides the Tams from Saffron

kuai4 qu4

go quickly to

kuai4: fast, quick
qu4: to go to, to leave

hen3 yuan3 de5

very distant

hen3: very
yuan3: to be far, to be remote
de5: [adverb marker] [required when adverb modifies one-syllable adjective]

di4fang1

a place, a locality

di4 [for this meaning, used only in compound words]: a place
fang1: a place, a locality

kuang2zhe3 de5

Simplified/Traditional characters: 狂者的
Back-translation of Mandarin: like crazy people
Script Mandarin translation (phonetic for English speakers): kwong-juh duh
Translated from script English: nuts
Context: “Serenity, Part 2,” Wash, about flying without core containment

kuang2zhe3 de5

like crazy people

kuang2zhe3: a crazy person, the insane
1. kuang2: to be crazy, to be insane
2. zhe3: [suffix to make doer nouns from verbs/adjectives], -er/-or
de5: [noun-modifier marker] [here: possessive (genitive), ’s, of (modified noun is understood or generic)]

Note:

Wash sounds like “kwing chuh duh” instead of the kwong-juh duh of the script.