LangWanderer Diglot Pro Member Australia digintoenglish.com Joined 4537 days ago 74 posts - 97 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: Korean, French, Mandarin Personal Language Map
| Message 201 of 266 01 March 2014 at 1:23am | IP Logged |
Here is my entry for the February challenge. Being a beginner, I had to make a lot of guesses, and I kept my translations very literal so that I could focus on the language. I hope that I'll be able to look back on this at the end of the TAC and smile at my ridiculous mis-translations!
Despite the quality of my translation, this was a fun challenge. I'd never really listened to any Mandarin music before, and while searching for a suitable song I discovered a few songs worth listening to.
Here goes!
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伍佰 & China Blue
單程車票
Wu Bai & China Blue
"One-Way Ticket"
朋友 為何悲傷
那陽光 早已經灑落身上
前方的道路 天氣晴朗
濃霧啊 也已經煙消雲散
My friend, why are you so sad?
The morning sunshine is already shining upon your body
On the road ahead, not a cloud in the sky
The fog is already clearing too
可是你時常 還是低頭向下望
望向那空氣裡的一點茫然 我知道你怎麼想
But you still often gaze downwards
Staring blankly at a spot in the air, I know what you're thinking
你說做個轟轟烈烈的事不是不能夠
但是你就會離開父母家人還有你的老朋友
你說人生匆匆 你也知道不要想太多
可是那距離越來越遠 夜深時候空虛不好受
The big things that you say you'll do aren't impossible
But you just have to be able to leave your family and old friends
You say life is a race, you also know not to want too much
But that's becoming further and further away, late at night the emptiness is hard to take
人生是一張 單程的車票
只需珍惜現在擁有的 它會一直往前跑
Life is a one-way ticket
You just need to treasure the present that you have, or it can escape before your eyes
朋友 不要悲傷
那陽光 燃燒著無窮希望
My friend, don't be sad
That sunshine, your endless burning desires
你說做個轟轟烈烈的事不是不能夠
但是你就會離開父母家人還有你的老朋友
你說人生匆匆 你也知道不要想太多
可是那距離越來越遠 夜深時候空虛不好受
The big things that you say you'll do aren't impossible
But you just have to be able to leave your family and old friends
You say life is a race, you also know not to want too much
But that's becoming further and further away, late at night the emptiness is hard to take
人生是一張 單程的車票
只需珍惜現在擁有的 他會一直往前跑
Life is a one-way ticket
You just need to treasure the present that you have, or it can escape before your eyes
就像花開又謝雨水又來沒有人停留
失去那花瓣枯萎乾燥河流世界變得好普通
那張人生旅程單程車票人人都擁有
何不放膽的唱盡情的走還在等什麼
It's just like flowers bloom and wilt, the rains come, no one stops
When the petals wilt and the rivers dry, the world can become ordinary
Everyone has a one-way ticket through life
Why not act boldly, sing as much as you like, or are you still waiting for something? (not sure what 走 means here)
朋友 盡情歌唱
那陽光 早已經灑落身上
My friend, sing as much as you like
The morning sunshine is already shining upon your body
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Crush Tetraglot Senior Member ChinaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5864 days ago 1622 posts - 2299 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Mandarin, Esperanto Studies: Basque
| Message 202 of 266 01 March 2014 at 2:28am | IP Logged |
I think 大卫 is the standard way to write it, at least when i tried writing 大为 people told me it was wrong.
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PointsDotsLines Diglot Groupie United States Joined 4005 days ago 76 posts - 110 votes Speaks: Mandarin*, English Studies: Spanish
| Message 203 of 266 01 March 2014 at 4:31am | IP Logged |
Both 大卫 and 戴维 are used interchangeably in Mainland China. While in Hong Kong, you may see slightly different translation.
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Ninibo Diglot Groupie Germany Joined 4015 days ago 88 posts - 116 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: Mandarin
| Message 204 of 266 01 March 2014 at 10:24pm | IP Logged |
Is this "do 100 things" the March challenge? If it is, i decided to learn 100 Chengyu. That's about three a day and should be manageable. Some will come from my reading and some from a Chengyu handbook i have.
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yuhakko Tetraglot Senior Member FranceRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4631 days ago 414 posts - 582 votes Speaks: French*, EnglishB2, EnglishC2, Spanish, Japanese Studies: Korean, Norwegian, Mandarin
| Message 205 of 266 02 March 2014 at 1:07am | IP Logged |
I think it is! But even if it's not, I'm making it a point to read 100 pages in Chinese
this month! Even though I'll certainly read more since it's easy stuff that I'll be
reading.
As for the February challenge, I tried translating the very first song I like in Mandarin
and turns out that even though I do understand it, when I translate it, it just doesn't
make any sense.. I think the chinese characters make me translate in half-jap/half-eng so
in the end it looks like nothing. The 45min I just spent on it felt useful nonetheless!
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js6426 Diglot Senior Member Cambodia Joined 4519 days ago 277 posts - 349 votes Speaks: English*, Khmer Studies: Mandarin
| Message 206 of 266 02 March 2014 at 2:44am | IP Logged |
I think it would be good to write what our monthly goal for this challenge is in this thread to give us all some
accountability for the challenge. For me I am going to watch 10+ hours of anything Chinese over this month in
order to keep my listening improving.
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Crush Tetraglot Senior Member ChinaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5864 days ago 1622 posts - 2299 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Mandarin, Esperanto Studies: Basque
| Message 207 of 266 02 March 2014 at 6:14am | IP Logged |
I think this month we're going with the 100 of anything idea. I'll be (trying) to read 100 pages of Mandarin at Lingocracy.
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Sunja Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6084 days ago 2020 posts - 2295 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English*, German Studies: French, Mandarin
| Message 208 of 266 02 March 2014 at 10:39am | IP Logged |
I'm updating the first post a bit this morning. David, I added your name, and I added names of all who have completed the Jan. challenge. Please check to make sure your name is there -- I hope I haven't missed anyone's intro!
Good luck with the March challenge everyone! It will be fun to see what great ideas come out of it!
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