The form of adress debate:
"Nicola Mody-Nikoloff" mody-nikoloffn@axis-intermodal.co.nz wrote:
What do native speakers of such a language think?
As a German, I feel qualified. (And incidentally am amazed anyone felt insulted about "Trimm Dich" - I never met any German in my entire life who was, and certainly never cared about just which form of adress ads use one way or another myself.)
Now, how to translate B7 characters adressing each other: considering that our heroes meet in prison where everyone uses the familiar "Du" form (well, they do in prison movies and tv shows, which is all I have to go by, honestly) instead of the formal "Sie", I'd say it would be "Du" between Avon and every member of the original Liberator crew from the start. Blake & Co. would use "Sie" for any member of the Federation hierarchy (from the Commissar in "Horizon" to Servalan), and definitely for Travis. Not out of respect, but out of distance and dislike. Avon, however, would switch to "Du" for Servalan in "Aftermath" since it's really ridiculous to adress someone with "Sie" after you've kissed. With Dayna, "Du" for similar reasons, and a respectful "Sie" for her father. "Sie" for Tarrant for the first few episodes; depending on how one sees their relationship improving, a switch after Tarrant's brother dies might be appropriate, but I'd also go with "Sie" for the entire run of the show. "Soolin" would be "Sie" as well, I think. And yes, "did you betray me" would definitely translate into "hast DU mich verraten?"
Tanja