Mandarin Help for a TV Show

[Jon from FOX TV]

Hello. I work for the FOX TV show Bones and we're having some Mandarin in an upcoming episode. We'd like to make sure we're as accurate as possible. Would someone here be able to help us out? We'd truly appreciate it.

Wei shime ta wen ze ge wenti? (WHY IS HE ASKING THAT?)

Wo bu zi dao. (I DON’T KNOW.)

Cao ni zuzong shiba dai. (SCREW YOUR FAMILY FOR 18 GENERATIONS.)

Ni hen cong ming. (YOU'RE VERY CLEVER)

shisi dai (FOURTEENTH GENERATION)

Again, our sincere thanks for any help here.

Best

Jon

[renzhe]

I've never heard the "screwing" one, but they seem to be correct.

Some strange pinyin though, were they written by someone from Taiwan or is this using some other romanisation scheme?

shime = shenme

ze ge = zhe ge

zi dao = zhidao

[Jon from FOX TV]

Thank you so much! I'm actually not sure where the writer got the original wording. I imagine we'll hire Chinese speaking actors to play the roles so hopefully they can help with pronunciation. But you have saved the day here!

Thank you,

jon

[daofeishi]

I like to include the tones in the romanization. I've also written down the characters, if that is to any help.

Why is she asking that: 她为什么问这个问题 - tā wèishénme wèn zhègè wèntí

(To me, that word order seems more natural, but better get a second opinion on that.)

Original word order: 为什么她问这个问题 - wèishénme tā wèn zhègè wèntí

I don't know: 我不知道 - wǒ bù zhīdào

Screw your family for 18 generations: 肏你祖宗十八代 - cào nǐ zǔzōng shíbā dài

You're very clever: 你很聪明 - nǐ hěn cōngmíng.

Fourteen generations: 十四代 - shísì dài

(The) fourteenth generation: 第十四代 - dì shísì dài

[imron]

Cao ni zuzong shiba dai. (SCREW YOUR FAMILY FOR 18 GENERATIONS.)

You should be aware that the Chinese you have written is far more offensive than the English. It's more like - f*ck 18 generations of your ancestors.

@daofeishi:

(WHY IS HE ASKING THAT?)

她为什么问这个问题

[daofeishi]

Why is she[/color'] asking that: 她为什么问这个问题

Ooops... For some reason I read the first post wrongly

Well, well:

Why is he asking that: 他为什么问这个问题 (same pronunciation as above)

There!

[davidj]

The best approach is probably to leave the translation loose and discuss with the actors the best translation. It is probably going to depend on the context and maybe the nature of the character. However....

她为什么问这个问题 - tā wèishénme wèn zhègè wèntí

I agree with the revised word order, although wonder if there might be an alternative structure based on 这么. Is there a measure word for questions? If so would the character use it?

我不知道 - wǒ bù zhīdào

Depending on the context, I think the "wǒ" might be dropped or one might prefix it with an apology.

你很聪明 - nǐ hěn cōngmíng

This only means clever. I would have thought at least 你非常聪明- ni feichang congming.

As to the curse, I'd be surprised if a literal translation of the most vulgar meaning of the words was correct. This is flowery language and probably needs translating as a whole. On the other hand, in English, "screw" is used as a vulgar euphemism (if that isn't a contradiction in terms) for the F word and I think it is used here based on that association, although no more in the literal sense than if the F word had been used directly.

[Lu]

I imagine we'll hire Chinese speaking actors to play the roles so hopefully they can help with pronunciation.

Please do that, anyone who doesn't know Chinese will read the romanisation wrongly and you're even worse off. There must be loads of actors in the US who know some Chinese.

Good that you checked the translation, and good luck with the show!

[caoczlq]

为什么他问这个问题？

wei shen me ta wen zhe ge wen ti?

我不知道。

wo bu zhi dao.

肏你祖宗十八代。

cao ni zu zong shi ba dai.

你很聪明。

ni hen cong ming

十四代。

shi si dai.