Poetry, written in Cantonese, for young people.

Carrie Gaye · Joined: 01 Jun 2008 Posts: 14

Hello Chunxueping,
My partner is very grateful for the link, and agrees completely with your comments about those aspects which get lost when poetry is translated. (Plus the time-in-history factor.) Your Shakespeare analogy is so appropriate.
We like the Beethoven example too!
Yes, it seems a fitting ending to a poet's life, the way you tell of Li-Po's death.
My partner says to mention that he is also a long term enthusiast of Wang-Wei as an artist and a poet; do you also like his work?
Can you advise how I'd pronounce Nai Hao and Zhu Hao? (I guess the first is a greeting and the latter a parting comment?)
The following is utterly phonetic but I have -
* 'Layho' as Hello
* 'Joyging' as Goodbye.
Are these more informal?
Carrie

chunxueping · Joined: 24 Jun 2007 Posts: 763 Location: Beijing, PRC

你好 Carrie,

Not for nothing was Li-Po known as one of the “Eight Immortals of the Wine Cup.” Never let it be said that Chinese cannot drink!

I think you use Cantonese when I use Mandarin. My Canto is extremely rusty but I interpret what you say as “Nice to see you” and “See you later”. I am say “Hello” and “Good/best wishes”. Mandarin uses four tones whilst Cantonese uses at least nine so pronunciations are extreme different although written language is generally the same. The big problem with all Chinese languages is they vary so much. People often ask “Do you speak Chinese?” To which the answer I give is “Yes, of course, which one?” My version is “Beijing Standard” commonly referred to as “Rolled-Tongue Mandarin.” This is absolutely the “People’s Tongue.” Everybody understand except once you are fifty miles from Tian’an men you end up waving your hands around, draw invisible character on your palm and grinning like an idiot. “How do you communicate in a land of 2 Billion people, 56 nationalities and 1000 languages and dialects?” “With smiles, gesture and the human heart.”

Wang-Wei is very good but I did not think any of his painting survived?

Again the difficulty of translating Chinese poetry can be explored on this page:

http://www.chinapage.com/poem/wangwei/wangwei-trs.html

“Deer Park” a simple quatrain by Wang-Wei is translated 16 different way. But which is correct? Which convey the true meaning? One translate comes out in seven lines and sounds awful.

祝好,

CX-P

Edwina Lee · Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 8:13 pm Post subject:

Dear Carrie,

You wouldn't believe the quantity of tears which flowed as I translated this song Very Happy

Et voilà !

帝女花: 香天 (主題曲)
Format:
Part { 女=female, 男=male, 合=group or together }
Cantonese
English translation

(This looks like a dialogue, but it isn't exactly.
Each person is narrating their own part in this love story at times breaking into dialog.
The detailed acts are not in straight logical sequence.)

(In the 1st paragraph, the princess is talking about herself.)

女
落花滿天蔽月光,
Falling petals fill the sky obliterating the moonlight,

借一杯附薦鳳台上,
Take a cup of offering on the ceremonial stage,

帝女花帶淚上香,
Emperor's strayed daughter carries her tears as she ascends to pay homage with incense,

願喪生回謝爹娘,
Willing to die to repay a debt of gratitude towards her father & mother,

偷偷看, 偷偷望,
Stealing a glance, stealing to watch,

佢帶淚帶淚暗悲傷。
She carries her tears, carries her tears silencing her sorrow

女
我半帶驚惶 ,
I am half startled,

怕駙馬惜鸞鳳配,
Fearing (my) prince may not part with our fabulous pairing

不甘殉愛伴我臨泉壤。
Sacrifices himself to die with me.

男
寸心盼望能同合葬
Every inch of my heart longing to be buried together

鴛鴦侶相偎傍
Like a pair of matching Mandarins laid side by side

泉台上再設新房
In the fountain of after life rebuild our wedding room

地府陰司裏
In the dark kingdom of the god of after life,

再覓那平陽門巷
Look again for the doorway of peace & light

女
唉惜花者甘殉葬
Aye What a waste of our blossoming love to be buried for our cause

花燭夜難為駙馬飲纰霜
On our candle lit wedding night, I implore your highness to drink the powder (the poison)

男
江山悲災劫
The sorrows of flood and earthquake is forced upon us,

感先帝恩千丈
Feelings for the Emperors before us with gratitude of thousand fathoms

與要與妻雙雙叩問帝安
With my wife together enquire about the well being of our Emperors

女
唉盼得花燭共偕白髮
Aye Wishful thinking to be together till our hair are white

誰個願看花燭翻血浪
Who would want to see a wedding night with waves of blood?

唉我誤君累你同埋孽網
Aye Me, a mis-guided nobility involved you to be buried within a network of intrique

好應盡禮揖花燭深深拜
I should show my deepest respect in an act of worship over the candles

再合卺交杯墓穴作新房
Once again, we pair up and exchange our nuptial wine cup, and use our tomb as our wedding chamber

待千秋歌讚註
Entertain for a thousand autumns with a remembrance song to praise

駙差馬在靈牌上
Enscribe “Nearly a Prince” on the placard for souls.

男
將枊柳蔭當做芙蓉帳
Through using the shade of a willow as a hibiscus screen

明朝駙馬看新娘
A Ming Dynasty Prince looks at his new wive

夜半挑燈有沁作窺粧
By night half the lanterns seeps in to peep at the wedding night

女
地老天荒
The earth is showing its age, the sky is expressing horror,

情鳳永配痴凰
A loving male phoenix forever bonded with a foolish female

願與夫婿共拜相交杯舉案
Willing, together with my husband , to submit our case

男
遞過金杯慢嚥輕嚐
Pass over the golden cup and slowly swallowing lightly

將砒霜帶淚放落葡萄上
In tears, sprinkle arsenic powder onto the grapes
女
合歡與君醉夢鄉
Let's be merry together and dream with you my noble one
男
碰杯共到夜台上
Let's cling our glasses and together go on the late night stage
女
百花冠替代殮妝
White flower tiara to take the place of burial dress
男
駙馬珈墳墓收藏
Princely jewelry to suit our burial
女
相擁抱
Together we cuddle
男
相偎傍
Together we embrace
合
雙枝有樹透露帝女香
Between 2 branches, a tree disclose the fragrance of the princess
男
帝女花
Emperor's beautiful daughter
女
長伴有心郎
Forever be the companion of one who has a heart for me.
合
夫妻死去樹也同模樣
Husband & wife dies and even the trees look the same.

Carrie Gaye · Joined: 01 Jun 2008 Posts: 14

Dear Edwina,
I'm absolutely amazed at how you translated it. Even though I don't know the original because I'm not a native speaker, I can tell you've captured the elegance of the poetry in the song; it's really luscious - so expressive and eloquent. You should be employed as a translator of such works!
Carrie X (If you come to Devon, please visit and be spoiled!)

chunxueping · Joined: 24 Jun 2007 Posts: 763 Location: Beijing, PRC

Ahh pure Shakespeare in his original Chinese. Laughing

Nice translate Edwina, I think you accurately caught poetry and spirit very nicely.

Edwina Lee · Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2008 6:41 pm Post subject:

Wow, accolades from a teacher and a scholar!

Does this mean I have 2 confirmed fans? One more and I would have a crowd making me a star Rolling Eyes

Carrie & XuePing,

This seems like a meeting of our paths.

I will be coming down to a Go (Weiqi) tournament in Penzance, Cornwall for the weekend of the 13th-14th Sep 2008. If XuePing would like to come along, I could spend a day in Devon, drop her off on Saturday, and return on Sunday night to collect her.

What say you two?

Edwina xx

Carrie Gaye · Joined: 01 Jun 2008 Posts: 14

Dear Edwina,
That would be so nice!
Carrie X
PS - Why is it necessary that the man and woman in the opera end their lives? I guess we'd need to know the story from the beginning?

Edwina Lee · Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 9:39 am Post subject:

Dear Carrie,

The song is the finale of a 2 hour long opera.

I found this lady's description by searching for " 帝女花 plot ":-

http://jenniferyq.blogspot.com/2007/06/perish-in-name-of-love.html

This boy from Canada gave a description of the characters:-

http://www.spcnet.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=1416

A Darwinian viewpoint of Cantonese Operas:-
http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/oge/chi/links/c_paper/death/chansauyan.doc

Carrie Gaye · Joined: 01 Jun 2008 Posts: 14

Thanks to you all for such great info!
I am reading every contribution very thoroughly and really enjoying it!
Carrie Very Happy

Edwina Lee · Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2009 11:18 pm Post subject:

Hi Jeanette, Have a read.

Jeanette · Joined: 16 Feb 2009 Posts: 32 Location: Hong Kong

Hi, Carrie Gaye,
I found this amusing website for Hong Kong children.
http://www.yipsir.com.hk/iq_main.htm

It has a lot of Cantonese tongue-twisters and riddles, good for fine-tuning the six tones in Cantonese.
Look in 急口令 tab.

You will be surprised to know that over 90% of HK’s children and teenagers have a tonal problem and require speech therapy. Our government is doing some workshops to help this generation overcome their “lazy-tongue” syndrome as our population is comprised of mainly Chinese from other provinces other than Guangdong, native Cantonese speakers are a minority now.
I have heard more perfect Cantonese outside China than in Hong Kong itself!

If you find some interesting verses in the website and would like to have them in Cantonese tones, please give me a shout.
I have been working as a Cantonese teacher to Japanese native speakers and have the resources to do so.

May the Cantonese dialect live long and prosper (outside China)!

Carrie Gaye · Joined: 01 Jun 2008 Posts: 14

Dear Jeanette,
Thank you very much for the link and for the interesting information! I have located the site with the link and have saved the activities. I'll get them printed off. It's great - plus, the animal riddles in English will be very useful for many of our students who are native English speakers.
From Carrie.

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