gunamura Posted January 12, 2009 at 02:00 PM Report Posted January 12, 2009 at 02:00 PM i am new to mandarin language and i wan to learn every thing about it:D so there is a song Jia ren qu (beauty song) i can t read well in chinese so i found the pinyin lyrics but the translation from eglish doesnt fells right pinyin lyrics goes like this bei fang you jia ren jue shi er du li yi gu qing ren cheng zai gu qing ren guo ning bu zhi qing cheng yu qing guo jia ren nan zai de and english translation is like this A rare beauty in the North... She's the finest lady on earth One glance from her, the city falls A second glance leaves the whole nation in ruins There is no city or nation that has been More cherished than a beauty like this i mean i can understand some parts but word by word it doesnt match in that way i cant learn much.... can someone help me pls Quote
renzhe Posted January 12, 2009 at 02:36 PM Report Posted January 12, 2009 at 02:36 PM Here is the Chinese text (pinyin like this is notoriously difficult to translate, especially in poetry): 北方有佳人， 绝世而独立。 一顾倾人城， 再顾倾人国。 宁不知倾城与倾国？ 佳人难再得！ I cannot give you a good translation myself, because I don't fully understand it. But the translation you have is quite liberal, and doesn't follow the original closely. Definitely can't learn Mandarin from that. I'd really appreciate a good translation myself, I'm hoping someone can shed some light for me. Quote
erhanisguzar Posted January 12, 2009 at 02:51 PM Report Posted January 12, 2009 at 02:51 PM and by the way don't forget that poem translate is very difficult in every language because it looses it's rhyme... so a very good poem in chinese can be nothing in english rhyme but just the meaning...have a good day everyone, zaijian 再见 Quote
winter hui Posted January 13, 2009 at 06:36 AM Report Posted January 13, 2009 at 06:36 AM English isn't my mother tongue, so although I can understand this poem, I can't translate it into English very smoothly and properly. I just try my best. This poem is a song of 李延年, a famous court musician in Han Dynasty. The beautiful lady described in this song is 李延年's younger sister, who later became Wu-ti 's(Emperor Wu of Han 汉武帝) favorite concubine. haha,I found a translation version on the Internet. Hope you will enjoy it. A dazzling beauty in the north country, The most peerless and graceful is she. A glance of her eyes can cause the fall of a city, While the second can cause the fall of a country. If only I know not the harsh fact,but I don't care, For such a devastating lady can be found nowhere! Quote
SongTitle Posted January 13, 2009 at 08:22 AM Report Posted January 13, 2009 at 08:22 AM Translation is a tricky business. Here's a translation of the English version without a reading of the Chinese. May a Chinese reader check this please. Dazzling beauty in the north Peerless and graceful is she A glance into her eyes could fell a city A second glance and the country could fall If only I didn’t know the harsh fact of it all I don’t care For such a devastating lady can be found nowhere Quote
gunamura Posted January 16, 2009 at 11:06 AM Author Report Posted January 16, 2009 at 11:06 AM thnk you every one xiexie know i can understand most of it easly Quote
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