Comment

Comment by José Balido on August 27, 2009 at 1:59pm

Hi Michelle,
Nice little gem! Translating and keeping subtlety and beauty alive is truly a conundrum, especially in this kind of context. The first problem with translating this particular piece, as I see it, is the fact that it involves a play on the different meanings of 天: as seasons, days, times of the day.... in Chinese, it works because it's always the same word; but in English, you'd have to say "seasons," "days," etc., and then it might not make sense.

Am I making sense? Bernie? Am I totally off base?

Comment by Michelle Lin on August 27, 2009 at 1:44pm

Benard and Jose,
Help with translation... It's truly lovely in Chinese, but I don't know how to work it into English without losing the subtlety..

我對佛說...

我對佛說:讓我所有朋友永遠健康快樂~!
佛說:只能四天~!
我說:好,春天、夏天、秋天、冬天。
佛說:三天。
我說:好,昨天、今天、明天。
佛說:不行,兩天。!
我說:好,白天、黑天。
佛說:不行,就一天~!
我說:好~!

佛茫然問到:哪一天？
我說:在我所有朋友活著的每一天 ~! ?

佛....笑了.

Comment by David Paul Appell on August 12, 2009 at 10:10am

We're seeing lots of people using parasols in Miami, too, even men. The sun here is a killer too!

Comment by Bernard Cleary on August 12, 2009 at 8:08am

Parasol is陽傘 (太陽的陽, 雨傘的傘). And you'll see lots of people carrying them if you go there. Smart, really: The tropical sun can wilt.

Comment by José Balido on August 11, 2009 at 10:46pm

Strange minds think alike, Bernie! I too immediately thought of 余太太's "一双白皮鞋“ when I saw that video! The only thing missing was a frilly matching parasol. So um... what's the word for "parasol" in 中文？

Comment by José Balido on August 11, 2009 at 10:43pm

Thanks, Michelle, those are very enlightening. I have not been to Taiwan (I was scheduled to go in 1993 as part of a cruise, but severe weather kept us from docking... and made me very seasick!). So I don't have Bernie's perspective to compare. But it's good to know that the old romantic ballads are still going strong!

Comment by Bernard Cleary on August 9, 2009 at 5:31pm

Well there you go. The Yahoo article is interesting. Images of CKS having his head chopped off and the KMT flag burning? Political discourse was starting to open up by the time I left Taiwan in 1990, but those band members would probably not have escaped imprisonment if they tried to produce a video like that back in 1987 or earlier. It's amazing how much has changed. I really wish I could go back and stay a while.

Comment by Michelle Lin on August 9, 2009 at 5:10pm

This may provide some additional insight to your discussions -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66YNWi_nDL0

http://tw.news.yahoo.com/article/url/d/a/090802/8/1o7wh.html

The Website of the band: http://www.chthonic.org/2009/

I can't say they represent Taiwan, but they stands out in their own way and have gained a lot of global media attention. I guess music and will always be the best ways to express oneself and to reflect a true feeling.

Gee, I spent too much time at your site!

Comment by Bernard Cleary on August 9, 2009 at 4:14pm

By the way, while I was translating this, José, the sweetness of it reminded me of Mrs.Yu's green-dress-white-shoes story. :)

Comment by Bernard Cleary on August 9, 2009 at 4:12pm

There are all kinds of groups for all kinds of tastes, but a lot of the dark/weird stuff is still very fringe-y/alternative. It seems to me that most of what is truly popular and mainstream is still sweet and relatively innocent. But I've been away for quite a while, so this sense might be off.

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