ShaunoftheDead

I've only watched "Serenity" and the pilot to the series thus far and have heard the foreign language and thought maybe Japanese with all the references I see, but it doesn't sound like it.

Will I find out in later episodes? If so, you could hold off on the explanation...

Kevin M. Dean

They don't really explain it within the show that I recall. It's Chinese.

das Monkey

The basic concept is that China and the US were the two superpowers when Earth-that-was began to colonize other planets. The two cultures blended together over time. It's never really explained in the show itself, just part of the atmosphere of the 'verse.

das

nemein

This will probably help... http://fireflychinese.home.att.net/

Groucho

The real reason? To allow the characters to swear without bleeping it out.

jomalley2001

I believe it's Mandarin.

ShaunoftheDead

That's cool. I was looking for the meaning, glad to know there isn't one that we as viewers can comprehend. I was even turning on the commentary by Joss but don't think he explained it either. Very cool.

Mr. Thames

There is a little featurette on one of the Firefly DVDs that talks all about it. They interview the staff translator and talk about how the actors had to learn the lines phonetically. I'm not sure if Joss mentions anything about it in the Serenity commentary, but I'm almost positive he says something in one of the several Firefly ones concerning the English/Chinese dialog.

valkyrie

Yes, Thames is right. I recall that it was discussed on the extras on the DVD's. They talked about the need for language coaches, and even had a few pretty funny outtakes as they tried to pronounce the words.

Snowmaker

Anyone know what's the worst thing they said in Chinese?

Strafe

I liked it in Farscape and liked it in Firefly. Add's a great touch to the shows universe.

McHawkson

Possible: fuck or shit.

JuryDuty

Visit that website above and you'll see there were all kinds of colorful things said.

runner001

Just so its clear, "Chinese" is not a language. Mandarin is a language/dialect (the main one that Chinese people speak).

mrhan

Mainland China but when I go to HK it's Cantonese. The odd thing is that the written characters/language are the same.

Ovid

That's a little frakking preposterious.

kenbuzz

Geez, next thing you'll tell me is that Chinese food, isn't.

Jay G.

My wife likes to say that it's not a real Chinese restaurant unless they can say what region their food's from.

Whether or not Chinese is a language with many spoken dialects, or whether the spoken versions are different languages under the larger language family of "Chinese" is a subject of debate, even among academic circles. The spoken varients can be as different as French is from English, yet as mrhan pointed out, they all use the same written language. However, the spoken varients are distinct enough that some level of specification is needed. So while saying they speak "Chinese" on Firefly may be technically correct, it's probably not specific enough.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoken_Chinese
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese...inese_language

runner001

I'll agree with mrhan and Jay G.

As for "Chinese food", I would classify the typical food sold at take out restaurants as "Americanized Chinese food".

mrhan

Actually, we call it "party food". Stuff like chow mein, egg rolls or sweet and sour aren't what Chinese eat on a regular basis. It's basically crap that is accepted as Chinese food here in the U.S.