A Taiwanese Song--春天佇陀位 (春天在哪裡 )

[semantic nuance]

Just finished translations of a Taiwanese lyrics. The lyrics are lovely to me. Here are my translations into Chinese and English, and its music link. Any comments are welcomed.

試聽 Listen: 春天佇陀位(春天在哪裡)--風潮唱片

歌詞 Lyrics:

春天佇陀位 (春天在哪裡)

我去問花蕊 (我去問花朵)

花蕊講伊才睏醒 (花朵說他才剛睡醒)

叫我去問露水 (叫我去問露水)

"Where is Spring?"

I asked Flower.

Flower said she just woke up

And told me to ask Dew

春天佇陀位 (春天在哪裡)

我去問露水 (我去問露水)

露水講伊咧曝日 (露水說他在曬太陽)

叫我問白翎鷥 (叫我去問白鷺鷥)

Where is Spring?”

I went to ask Dew

Dew said she’s basking in the sun.

She told me to ask Egret.

春天佇陀位 (春天在哪裡)

我問白翎鷥 (我去問白鷺鷥)

白翎鷥講水牛咧等伊 (白鷺鷥說水牛在等他)

叫我去問貓咪 (叫我去問貓咪)

Where is Spring?”

I went to ask Egret.

He said Bufflo’s waiting for him.

He told me to ask Cat.

春天佇陀位 (春天在哪裡)

我去問貓咪 (我去問貓咪)

貓咪一直哈唏 (貓咪直打哈欠)

續咧擱洗臉 (接著又洗臉)

叫我去問阿弟 (叫我去問弟弟)

Where is Spring?”

I went to ask Cat.

She kept yawning

And then washed her face

And told me to ask my little brother.

春天佇陀位 (春天在哪裡)

我去問阿弟 (我去問弟弟)

阿弟目睭笑微微 (弟弟眼睛在微笑)

原來春天佇遮覕 (原來春天躲在這裡)

"Where is Spring?"

I went to ask my little brother

His eyes sparkled with smile

For that moment I realized:

"Ah! Here Spring hides!"

[skylee]

I think the structure of the lyrics looks like poems in 詩經 to me.

[semantic nuance]

How so? Do you mean refrain?

[skylee]

No, I meant pure and simple. And likeable.

[semantic nuance]

Wow! I've never found 詩經 simple. I studied it when I was a teenager. I was confounded so much by a lot of Mandarin characters that were unknown to me! Quite a time-consuming job to decifer words way back then !

[xiaocai]

Well I think I can kind of match skylee's description with our ancestors. Not the poems from 诗经 is simple to read, but rather the motivations behind writing them. Things they loved, things they hated, romantic things, mundane things, things they did everyday, things that they could only see in dreams, they just wrote them down, read them out, and sang them with melody. How pure and simple they were.