My translations of some ancient Chinese folk songs

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Warning: All my translations are highly inaccurate and somewhat politically incorrect.
Note: This WEBSITE provides excellent Chinese-to-English translations of every song recorded in the Book of Odes. (Click WEBSITE for the link.)

Translation #1: “Oh, God!” (Source: Han Dynasty folk song)

Oh, God!
I want to love you, my lord, may our love last forever and ever.
I will leave you only when moutaintops disappear from mountains, water disappears from rivers, rain falls in winter whereas snow falls in summer and Heaven merges with Earth.

Translation #2: “Guan, guan, the birds cry…” (Source: Book of Odes) (Random tidbit: This is the very first song recorded in the Book of Odes.)

Guan, guan, the birds cry…
In the river there is an isle, on the isle there is a beautiful girl, she will be a good companion for me.
There are veggies growing on both sides of the river, I think of the beautiful girl even when I am asleep.
I want to have her but I cannot have her, so I end up rolling here and rolling there on my bed.
My thoughts wander here, my thoughts wander there, I end up rolling here, I end up rolling there, I just cannot fall asleep!
I collect and collect veggies, I collect and collect veggies, if I ever marry this beautiful girl, I will commission musicians to pluck stringed instruments for her.
I collect and collect veggies, I collect and collect veggies, if I ever marry this beautiful girl, I will commission musicians to play percussion instruments for her.

Translation #3: “Plums are falling…” (Source: Book of Odes)

Plums are falling; seven out of ten plums are still on the tree. Guys, if you want me, pick an auspicious date for our wedding now!
Plums are falling; three out of ten plums are still on the tree. Guys, if you want me, today is the auspicious date for our wedding!
Plums are falling; every basket is full of plums now. Guys, if you want me, propose marriage to me now!

Translation #4: “Quails are hopping…” (Source: Book of Odes)

Quails are hopping, magpies are flying. He is scum among humans, yet I call him “my ruler”.
Magpies are hopping, quails are flying. He is scum among humans, yet I call him “my brother”.

Translation #5: “You give me mugua fruit…” (Source: Book of Odes)

You give me mugua fruit, I give you qiongqu jade, not to repay you, but to show you that I want to love you forever.
You give me mutao fruit, I give you qiongyao jade, not to repay you, but to show you that I want to love you forever.
You give me muli fruit, I give you qiongjiu jade, not to repay you, but to show you that I want to love you forever.

Translation #6: “There is a girl in the same carriage as me…” (Source: Book of Odes)

There is a girl in the same carriage as me; she is as pretty as a flower. The carriage is flying down the street now. The girl’s jade accessory is so lovely. But there is another girl who is even prettier than this girl.
There is a girl in the same carriage as me; she is as pretty as a flower. The carriage is flying down the street now. The girl’s jade accessory is making such lovely tinkling noises. But the other girl is not only pretty but also virtuous.

Translation #7: “Crazy dick” (Source: Book of Odes)

Mountains have trees, ponds have lotuses. I thought that I would meet a hunk; I met a crazy dick instead.
Mountains have trees, ponds have reeds. I thought that I would meet a hunk; I met a crazy prev instead.

Translation #8: “I see plants growing in a swamp…” (Source: Book of Odes)

I see plants growing in a swamp. Their stems are so soft and attractive. I envy these plants because they don’t have any knowledge.
I see plants growing in a swamp. Their flowers are so soft and attractive. I envy these plants because they don’t have any family.
I see plants growing in a swamp. Their fruits are so soft and attractive. I envy these plants because they don’t have any wife!

Translation #9: “We will meet outside the White Gate…” (Source: Southern and Northern Dynasties folk song)

We will meet outside the White Gate, look for the crows that hide among poplars and willows. You shall be the incense and I shall be the incense burner.

Cool effort, icy fire. I have to admit I'm giggling like an 8-year-old about the 7th song. I think I may use 'Mountains have trees, ponds have lotuses' as an alternative to 'roses are red' to apply to certain situations in the future.

hello,

have you fallen from heaven or what ! !

I explore Mandarin every day, have been doing so since 2003, no kid!!

And still can hardly string a sentence together. Hanzi fascinate me...

I can recite from menory half a dozen poems ie 'Kong shan bu jian ren,' etc....

can we be friends?




ps .. how are you with HSK wordlists??

I assume you are aware of Pounds work on this, often decried by scholars but its what got me into things Hanyu a decade ago.

To all: Thank you.
To ablomov: I learnt Mandarin Chinese as a first language. I first saw an Ezra Pound poem in a cousin's textbook. After some Googling, I found out that the poem is "The river merchant's wife". By the way, what led to your interest in Chinese? I'm happy whenever I hear that people appreciate Chinese.
To CyclopsSummer: Hi, I remember you! You posted before that languages fascinate you, right? And you told me that Indonesians use "one" to mean "a" and "that" to mean "the", interesting indeed.

Wo hen gaoxing renshi ni ....

I was given some Chinese newspaper pages when I was about six years old in the early 1960's and fr many years the memory remained, then in 2003 I got down my copy of Pounds translations of the Confucian Odes pub by Faber (which includes some hanzi as margin decoration) and the character zhong (middle, centre, balanced) as applied to 'the unwobbling pivot' fascinated me ... I am into many things inc retro design, technology and ancient trades and craft technique ie mechanical time-keeping so that night it was the reference library for me and i set to work with pen and paper to explore Hanzi.

Nowadays I get soooo sidetracked with poems, vintage Zhongguo dianying etc .. but I love it all and I read books too re Chinas history of the last sixty years.

I use google translate for simple little sentences and bits of text but I realise its craziness when it has to handle sentences and several lines of text.

Pound made lots of mistakes and another book he co-wrote with Fenellosa is the only book I've ever torn up, garbage. Yet he could capture something worthwhile at times etc etc. it was a good career move for him to get himself involved with Chinese poetry, I am quite cynical re his motives (as much as I at times value him) and people must realise that for many years he used a native born teacher one to one; so he wasn't exactly the isolated lonely scholar.

zaijian ....