Serenity: The Official Visual Companion

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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Visible Chinese

[Image: logo]

An1ning2

Simplified characters: 安宁 / Traditional characters: 安寧
Back-translation of Mandarin: Tranquil
Translated from the English: Serenity
Context: Serenity: The Official Visual Companion, Visible Chinese, front cover, near Mal’s chin

an1ning2

to be peaceful, to be tranquil

an1: to be peaceful, to be tranquil
ning2 [used only in compound words (or as a place name)]: peaceful, tranquil

See also:

Ning2jing4 (Serenity [movie], Serenity [novelization], Serenity comic books, Serenity: The Official Visual Companion, Serenity DVD Official Site)
Ping2an1 (Serenity Official Site)

Ning2jing4

Simplified characters: 宁静 / Traditional characters: 寧靜
Back-translation of Mandarin: Tranquil
Translated from the English: Serenity [Serenity (movie) version (“Serenity” translation comparison)]
Context: Serenity: The Official Visual Companion, Visible Chinese, half title [page] and throughout book, in logo

ning2jing4

to be peaceful, to be tranquil

ning2 [used only in compound words (or as a place name)]: peaceful, tranquil
jing4: to be calm, to be still

See also:

An1ning2 (Serenity: The Official Visual Companion)
Jing4 (Serenity [movie])
Jing3wei4; Ping2jing4 (Firefly Props and Merchandise)
Ning2jing4 (Serenity [movie], Serenity [novelization], Serenity comic books, Serenity DVD Official Site)
Ping2jing4 (“Serenity, Part 1,” “The Train Job,” “Safe,” “The Message,” Firefly Press Kit)

Nai3 Jiu3 Tuo1 Me5 Yi4 Wu1 Zha4 Hu1 Fa2 Le4; Pi1 Bu4 Shi4 Qiu1; Zhong1 Feng1 Chuan4 Lin2 Wan2 Dan1 Wei2; Wan2 Dan1 Wei2 Zhu3 Li4 Ju3 Pie3 Nai3 Jiu3 Tuo1 Me5 Yi4 Zhi1 Wu1 Zha4 Hu1 Fa2 Le4 Ping1 Pang1 Qiao2; San1 Shang4 Xia4 Qi2 Bu4 Yu3 Gai4 Chou3 Zhuan1 Qie3 Pi1 Shi4 Qiu1 Bing3 Ye4 Cong2 Dong1 Si1 Cheng2 Diu1 Liang3 [Not meaningful Chinese]

Simplified characters: 乃久乇么义乌乍乎乏乐、丕不世丘、中丰串临丸丹为、丸丹为主丽举丿乃久乇么义之乌乍乎乏乐乒乓乔、三上下丌不与丐丑专且丕世丘丙业丛东丝丞丢两
Traditional characters: 乃久乇麼義烏乍乎乏樂、丕不世丘、中豐串臨丸丹為、丸丹為主麗舉丿乃久乇麼義之烏乍乎乏樂乒乓喬、三上下丌不與丐丑專且丕世丘丙業從東絲丞丟兩
Decryption of Chinese cipher: [substitution code (Chinese code details): m n o p q s t u v w; p j q r; a b c d f g h; f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z; f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z]
Context: Serenity: The Official Visual Companion, Visible Chinese, p. 12, on The Worlds of the Alliance chart (top then left then right) [not used in movie]

Chinese Code 2 ↓

nai3 jiu3 tuo1 me5 yi4 wu1 zha4 hu1 fa2 le4

[substitution code (Chinese code details): m n o p q s t u v w]

Chinese Code 1 ↓

pi1 bu4 shi4 qiu1

[substitution code (Chinese code details): P J Q R]

Chinese Code 2 ↓

zhong1 feng1 chuan4 lin2 wan2 dan1 wei2; wan2 dan1 wei2 zhu3 li4 ju3 pie3 nai3 jiu3 tuo1 me5 yi4 zhi1 wu1 zha4 hu1 fa2 le4 ping1 pang1 qiao2

[substitution code (Chinese code details): a b c d f g h; f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z]

Chinese Code 1 ↓

san1 shang4 xia4 qi2 bu4 yu3 gai4 chou3 zhuan1 qie3 pi1 shi4 qiu1 bing3 ye4 cong2 dong1 si1 cheng2 diu1 liang3

[substitution code (Chinese code details): f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z]

Note:

Also, coincidentally:
- Ping1pang1 乒乓 : ping-pong (from Ping-Pong® brand) / table tennis
- ping1pang1 乒乓 : [onomatopoeia for “rattle” sound]

Yin2hang2; Pang1 Lin2 Jiu3 Gai4 Qi2 Zhuan1 Wu1 Zhang4 [Mostly not meaningful Chinese]

Simplified characters: 银行、乓临久丐丌专乌丈 / Traditional characters: 銀行、乓臨久丐丌臨烏丈
Back-translation of Mandarin: Bank; [substitution code (Chinese code details): y d n l i n s e]
Context: Serenity: The Official Visual Companion, Visible Chinese, pp. 13 and 14, on Alliance paper money with decorative gibberish Hebrew letters (the middle four characters are forms only used at the end of a word: הדךםךםקע [right to left, vowels not marked] h-d-kh-m-kh-m-k‘ [left to right; also see note below]) and (presumably decorative gibberish) Arabic letters [also in image by fan/movie-extra Girlie on Haken’s Firefly Fans.net]

yin2hang2

a bank (financial institution)

yin2 [for this meaning, used only in compound words]: money-related; [literally: silver]
hang2 [for this meaning, used only in compound words]: a business, a firm

Chinese Codes 1 and 2 ↓

Pang1 Lin2 Jiu3 Gai4 Qi2 Zhuan1 Wu1 Zhang4

[substitution code (Chinese code details): y[2] d[2] n[2] l[1] i[1] n[1] s[2] e[1]]

Note:

Hebrew substitution code: The Firefly press kit used English and a cipher of Japanese phonetic characters for the English letters as decorative gibberish (Japanese code details). If the Hebrew characters here, like those Japanese characters, are a cipher based on the ordering of foreign characters on the Latin-alphabet keyboard, then the right-to-left Hebrew characters הדךםךםקע would be a code for left-to-right geololsv.

The first three letters, GEO, could be representing the beginning of the first name of Serenity (movie) graphic designer Geoffrey Mandel, whose full surname appears in Chinese code on the label of a green bottle from Beaumonde’s The Maidenhead bar (see: Yin2; Lan2; Jiu3 Tuo1 Le4 Zhu3 Wu1 Zha4 Wei2 Zha4 Zhu3 Nai3 Wan2 Tuo1 Zhi1 Zhong1; Jiu3 Pie3 Nai3; Chou3 Yi1 Zhuan1 Wan4 Zhang4 Gai4; Bing3; 750 Zhu3 Tuo1 Wan2, Serenity Props and Merchandise).

Wan2 Lin2 [Not meaningful Chinese]

Simplified characters: 丸临 / Traditional characters: 丸臨
Decryption of Chinese cipher: [substitution code (Chinese code details): F D (see note below)]
Context: Serenity: The Official Visual Companion, Visible Chinese, pp. 57–59, on hovercraft mule

Chinese Code 2 ↓

wan2 lin2

[substitution code (Chinese code details): F D (see note below)]

Note:

D: The code for F D is probably just the keyboard left index-finger and middle-finger letters. But the D might be for “danger” because the Chinese characters often appear with or near words for that: aapadaaM आपदां : [Sanskrit] dangers, and للخطر [?lelkhetr]: [Arabic] danger. In Firefly they used the character wei1 危 [for this meaning, used only in compound words]: danger.

See also:

Wan2 Lin2 (Serenity [movie])
Yin2; Bing3; Wan2 Lin2 (Serenity Official Site)
Yin2; Wan2 Lin2 (Serenity Official Site)

Zhu3 Wei2 Zhong1 Zha4 Zhang4 Me5 Zhong1 Pang1 Feng1 Zhong1 Chuan4 Ju3; Zhong1 Feng1 [Not meaningful Chinese]

Simplified characters: 主为中乍丈么中乓丰中串举中丰 / Traditional characters: 主為中乍丈麼中乓豐中串舉中豐
Decryption of Chinese cipher: [substitution code (Chinese code details): I Hate Payback A B (see note below)]
Context (1): Serenity: The Official Visual Companion, Visible Chinese, p. 29 (last 3 characters cut off) and p. 116, somewhat visible on Cortex screen by River
Context (2): Serenity: The Official Visual Companion, Visible Chinese, p. 157, somewhat visible on Cortex screens above Mal

Chinese Codes 1 and 2 ↓

zhu3 wei2 zhong1 zha4 zhang4 me5 zhong1 pang1 feng1 zhong1 chuan4 ju3

[substitution code (Chinese code details): [only E in code 1] I hate payback (see note below)]

Chinese Code 2 ↓

zhong1 feng1

[substitution code (Chinese code details): A B (see note below)]

Note:

Payback: Perhaps coincidently, there was a character named Payback in the 1987 American movie Full Metal Jacket, which included Jayne-portrayer Adam Baldwin (A.B.) as the character Animal Mother. Even so, the code for A B here is probably just the first two letters of the alphabet used to lengthen the line.

See also:

Zhu3 Wei2 Zhong1 Zha4 Zhang4 Me5 Zhong1 Pang1 Feng1 Zhong1 Chuan4 Ju3; Zhong1 Feng1 (Serenity [movie])

Ko Ha Ku Ma Ra Se Ta Su Ka Te Sa! Ma Ra Se Ta! [Not Chinese]

Japanese characters: コハクマラセタスカテサ！・マラセタ！
Back-translation of Japanese: [decorative gibberish (see note below)]
Context: Serenity: The Official Visual Companion, Visible Chinese, p. 88, in Fruity Oaty Bar ad

Japanese characters used as decorative gibberish

ko ha ku ma ra se ta su ka te sa; ma ra se ta

[see note below]

Note:

Japanese substitution code: The Firefly press kit used English and a cipher of Japanese phonetic characters for the English letters as decorative gibberish (Japanese code details), but コハクマラセタスカテサ！ would just be b f h j o p q r t w x j o p q (the English alphabet in order, especially keyboard index-finger letters b f h j r t, but skipping some letters in between).

Ru2guo3 ni3 bu4 mai3 zhe4 ben3 shu1 ni3 de5 peng3you5men5 yao4 jue2de5 ni3 shi4 yi1 ge5 ben4 tian1sheng1 de5 yi1 dui1 rou4

Simplified characters: 如果你不买这本书你的朋友们要觉得你是一个笨天生的一堆肉 / Traditional characters: 如果你不買這本書你的朋友們要覺得你是一個笨天生的一堆肉
Back-translation of Mandarin: If you don’t buy this book, your friends will think you’re a stupid, inbred (deep-seated) stack of meat. [see note below]
Context: Serenity: The Official Visual Companion, Visible Chinese, back cover

ru2guo3 ni3 bu4 mai3 zhe4 ben3 shu1

if you don’t buy this book

ru2guo3: if
1. ru2: if
2. guo3: if
ni3: you (singular)
bu4 mai3: don’t buy
1. bu4: not
2. mai3: to buy
zhe4 ben3 shu1: this book
1. zhe4: this
2. ben3: [classifier for printed matter]
3. shu1: a book

ni3 de5 peng3you5men5

your friends

ni3 de5: your (singular)
1. ni3: you (singular)
2. de5: [noun-modifier marker] [here: possessive (genitive), ’s, of]
peng3you5men5: friends
1. peng3you5: a friend
  1. peng2 [used only in compound words]: a friend
  2. you3 [used only in compound words]: a friend
2. men5: [suffix for human plural words]

yao4 jue2de5

will think (that)

yao4: will [auxiliary verb]
jue2de5: to think, to feel
1. jue2: to feel
2. de5: [marker on verbs meaning ‘to succeed in’]

ni3 shi4

you are

ni3: you (singular)
shi4: to be

yi1 ge5 ben4 tian1sheng1 de5 yi1 dui1 rou4

a stupid, inbred stack of meat [see note below]

yi1 ge5: a
1. yi1 [pronounced “yi2” before a 4th-tone syllable, even when ge4 is pronounced “ge5,” with the neutral 5th tone]: one, a
2. ge5: [general classifier for nouns]
ben4: to be stupid
tian1sheng1 de5: innate, inbred (deep-seated), a born / a natural (something) [see note below]
1. tian1: nature-given, heaven, God
2. sheng1: to give birth to, to be born
3. de5: [noun-modifier marker] [here: integrated adjectival clause (restrictive relative clause)]
yi1 dui1 rou4: a stack of meat
1. yi1 dui1: a stack of, a pile of
  1. yi1 [pronounced “yi4” before a 1st-tone syllable]: one, a
  2. dui1: [classifier for stacks/piles]
2. rou4: meat, flesh

Note:

Inbred biologically: jin4qin1 fan2zhi2 de5 近亲繁殖的 (traditional: 近親繁殖的 ): inbred (due to sexual intercourse between close relatives); jin4qin1 fan2zhi2: inbreeding (in humans) (jin4qin1: a close relative [jin4: to be closely related; qin1 [for this meaning, used only in compound words]: a relative]; fan2zhi2: to breed, to reproduce (offspring) [fan2 [used only in compound words]: to reproduce (offspring), to multiply (with offspring); zhi2 [used only in compound words]: to reproduce (offspring)]); de5: [noun-modifier marker] [here: possessive (genitive), ’s, of]