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Posted

Hi,

I'm still on the business of trying to make some sense out of songs I'm listening to, and I've got some questions concerning the first line of the following:

让我怎么说我不知道

太多的语言消失在胸口

头顶的蓝天沉默高远

有你在身边让我感到安祥

1. Does "让我怎么说我不知道" mean the same as "让我不知道怎么说" ?

2. I think the subject of the last sentence (有你在身边让我感到安祥) is 有你在身边. What then is the subject of the first sentence? Is it the second sentence?

3. Can anyone attempt at a translation into English of the above lines (just to illuminate what I want to know in questions 1 and 2)

Many thanks,

HK

Posted

Ah, I know this song :D

1) I've always thought of it as 'I don't know what you want me to say', so I guess it wouldn't the the same as 让我不知道怎么说

2)I think the subject of 有你在身边让我感到安祥 is 我 - the first '有你 . . .' bit is a conditional clause - if you are by my side, I feel . . .

3) Attempt:

I don't know what you want me to say

Too many words get lost in my chest

Blue sky above is distant and silent

When you're by my side, I feel at peace

Thinking about it though, I think the first line as I've translated it is a bit confrontational - it's like they're having a fight, which doesn't match with the rest. Perhaps it's more a case of 'if you tried to make me speak, I still wouldn't have anything to say' - but that's not going to scan too well . . .

Roddy

Posted

讓我怎麼說,我不知道

= 你叫我怎麼說,我不知道

= How do you want me to say it? I have no idea (how to say it).

有你在身邊讓我感到安詳

= Your being by my side (subject) makes me feel peaceful

= With you by my side, I (subject) feel peaceful

Posted
1) I've always thought of it as 'I don't know what you want me to say', so I guess it wouldn't the the same as 让我不知道怎么说

I think it's as the same as 让我不知道怎么说,but for the numbers of charaters and rhyming, the lyrics have to be massaged to fit.

2)Agree with Skylee.

By the way,I don't think there're any grammar rules in lyrics, it just has to feel right.

Posted

Thank you all for responding, and Roddy in particular for the nice translation at such a short notice! I'm pleased that I've asked because I had a slightly different interpretation and needed to see alternative interpretations.

Structurally (and therefore clumsily), this was what I originally thought and therefore phrased my questions accordingly:

(2nd & 1st lines) Too many words get lost in my chest, which makes me not knowing what to say

(4th) Having you by my side makes me feel at peace.

The italic is what I considered to be the subject of 让 (makes) in the above 2 sentences.

By the way,I don't think there're any grammar rules in lyrics, it just has to feel right.

I understand what you're saying (I therefore wouldn't analyse the lyrics in my native language the same way), but without making sense of the grammar of a language I'm less familiar with, I have no sure way of accessing what is meant. This may be just my habit :D

Thanks again,

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