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Post by Deleted on Jan 31, 2017 20:53:48 GMT -5
I can speak a little French and Spanish, wish I was fluent. But I'd really love to be fluent in the language of my Irish ancestors. Complete with that beautiful lilt of course.
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Post by Paper Crane Song on Jun 14, 2017 0:24:42 GMT -5
Do you think Murdock really can read and speak Chinese, or did he just make up what he said? After all, couldn't he just have surmised that the message written on that mirror very likely was something like what he said (which I think was along the lines of "death to all enemies of the Lun Chin")? By happy chance I have been learning Mandarin for the past three years and I am delighted to confirm that Murdock is actually reading the Chinese characters So here is a screen cap of the characters - unfortunately Face obscured them with his shoulder so I couldn't read all of them, and the quality is a bit rubbish too, but the bottom character is part of the name of Lun Chin 秦 (actually the pinyin is 'qin'). The top left character looks like part of the word for "die" 亡 (wang), as in siwang (死亡) which is a bit stronger than the word "die", it kind of means "perish", or "doomed". There's a character for "day" underneath the death character, 日 (ri). No idea what the character on the right is. So maybe a more accurate translation is - "today the enemies of Lun Qin will perish / are doomed." Also fun fact - the name of the baddie Lun Chin is taken from one of the cornerstones of Chinese literature, a novel called "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" (except it's written "Qin Lun"). So yeah, in conclusion, Murdock is just that awesome!
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amyk
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Post by amyk on Jun 14, 2017 19:00:00 GMT -5
Oh wow! Thanks for this. There's an episode in season 5 where they go to Hong Kong, but I believe that the characters should be speaking Cantonese there, not Mandarin, right? So then we should be writing "Lun Qin"? So is Lun Qin actually a name for a person? And do you think that whoever wrote this episode knew some Chinese literature, or maybe they had consulted with someone about some of the Chinese stuff?
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Post by Paper Crane Song on Jun 15, 2017 18:13:18 GMT -5
You're welcome. Yes you're right, they do speak Cantonese in Hong Kong, I'm pretty sure the guys were speaking Cantonese in this episode too. It wasn't Mandarin.... either that, or my language listening ability is way worse than I think!! Maybe I'll show the episode to one of my Chinese friends and see what they think.
RE Qin versus Chin - well the pinyin is a way for foreigners to understand how to pronounce the characters, but even the pinyin system requires that you know how to say the letters in the Chinese way, cause they use sounds that we don't have. So I guess there's a risk people might pronounce Qin as Quinn, whereas it is closer to the "Chin" sound. But yeah strictly speaking, it is written as Qin. Chinese doesn't have the word "Chin" if you use a pinyin dictionary.
Yeah I think Lun Qin is a minor character in the 3 kingdoms story, I don't know how recognisable it is from that novel. Like we would associate Charlotte Lucas with Pride and Prejudice, but not sure if it's the same - I'll have to ask a Chinese friend who has read it to see if she recognises it. The novel is massively famous though, like our version of Shakespeare.
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amyk
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Post by amyk on Jun 15, 2017 23:37:58 GMT -5
How do they account for the tones when writing in pinyin?
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Post by Paper Crane Song on Jun 16, 2017 3:11:06 GMT -5
They put numbers next to the word, like Qin(2). Or they put an accent over the word like this: qín to show that it's second tone. The direction the accent points is how your voice should go, so second tone is like an upwards inflection as if you're asking a question.
If you get the tone wrong it can change the meaning of the word quite dramatically. The Chinese word for mum is "mā" (1) that's first tone so your voice is flat, and the word for horse is also "mǎ" (3) except it's third tone so your voice bends low in the middle.
Cantonese has something crazy like 6 tones!!!
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amyk
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Post by amyk on Jun 16, 2017 22:23:01 GMT -5
I thought Mandarin had more tones than Cantonese. And I even lived with a lady from Hong Kong for quite a while. Obviously, she was unable to teach me much of anything in speaking her language. All I think I ever learned was chosun or however you would write it (some kind of greeting...maybe "good morning?") And doubtful if I ever even got the tone right.
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Post by Paper Crane Song on Jun 17, 2017 2:06:02 GMT -5
Oh cool that must have been a great experience. I can't understand any Cantonese whatsoever. (I think if you can speak Cantonese then you can understand Mandarin, but I don't think it works the other way). Mandarin only has 4 tones, thank goodness
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Post by robinredoe on Jul 23, 2019 16:24:00 GMT -5
I watched it last week and noticed a sort of inside joke that I never noticed before.
The bad guy is called "Lung Chin" if I'm writing that down correctly. There is this funny scene where Face and Murdock enter a motel room that's been raided.
I'm not sure if Dwight Schultz is just doing some improv. comic relief here, or if it was all planned. But if it was improvised, I think it's brilliant.
First Murdock and Face stand in front of the motel-room door. Dwight actually bumps into Benedicts rifle and looks like he tries to prevent to smile and whispers something at him (seemed like it was accidental). Face then opens the door and raises his hand to beckon Murdock to follow. Murdock copies the motion even though nobody is standing behind him (very cartoonish which I think must've been part of the script). However, when they get inside, Face says: "It's gotta be the Lung Chin," And you see Murdock touch his chin. It does sound like Face says 'long' chin' and I wondered if this movement of touching the chin was improvised. To me it seems he's almost smiling again, though it could be the cigaret causing the corners of his mouth to twitch. I just have this impression that Dwight was enjoying playing this scene (and also this version of Murdock) a whole lot.
Anyway, I never noticed it before and it made me laugh. Did anyone else notice?
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Post by HoudiniDerek on Jul 24, 2019 9:21:43 GMT -5
I've always noticed Murdock motioning to no one, but I have never seen him touch his chin after that comment. I'll have to look for it and see how it plays to me. Good eye!
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amyk
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Post by amyk on Jul 24, 2019 22:09:51 GMT -5
I've never noticed him touching his chin either!
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Post by scott on Mar 9, 2020 2:40:25 GMT -5
One of my favorites from the 2nd season, what could be better than B.A. saying "Hiya that sucka!"
Some great Murdock lines in this episode, James Hong guest starring, good fights, the name Bud Pillsbury, and the police station scene alone is priceless. Although the end with the fireworks was a bit of a letdown. I was expecting something a little more exciting.
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Post by HoudiniDerek on Mar 9, 2020 10:53:13 GMT -5
This has never been one of my favorites. It feels a little forced to me. I'm much more into the third season THE BIG SQUEEZE, which feels very similar to me in a lot of ways.
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Post by scott on Mar 10, 2020 4:39:28 GMT -5
This has never been one of my favorites. It feels a little forced to me. I'm much more into the third season THE BIG SQUEEZE, which feels very similar to me in a lot of ways. The Big Squeeze is very good too! It actually has a much better ending than The Maltese Cow.
On the original NBC broadcast during the end credits, there was a disclaimer saying something about how the National Linen Company has nothing to do with the company portrayed in this episode. I would need to pull my original tape to see what it says word for word. I believe that was removed after that first broadcast, and is no longer found on the end credits.
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amyk
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Post by amyk on Mar 10, 2020 22:05:58 GMT -5
That disclaimer is on the end credits during BOUNTY on all my DVDs (but the disclaimer is about THE BIG SQUEEZE's use of the linen company). And I think that the word "National" is dubbed over in THE BIG SQUEEZE with something like "Nicholas" or something else. As I recall, they also misspelled "apology" or "apologize" but right now I can't remember exactly the details on that.....
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