| Blogs > swallowtsui > Hopping Swallow 鍋爐焰焰 |
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Shake on - my small poem "Void" 空白 Without poetry, we die; without music, we die. We are ugly,but we have our music; we are shallow, but we have our poems. 空白 CLICK開的文件 空白 猛力敲開的腦層 空白 飄動的樂韻 空白 心中的詩句 空白 是甚麼令一切空白 令天空烏雲密布雷雨不停 令人們哀哀的期等天晴 -燕子,2006- Void The click-to-open document, void The strike-to-open cortex , void The floating melody, void The hearted lyric, void What makes the voids What makes the cloudiness and ceaseless thunder rain What makes people mournfully expect a sunny day -Swlw, 2006- p.s. 1) VOID. A coincedence to one of the word we endeavored to find on my yesterday's post. 2) davinci, i dont very much agree on a translator is a re-writer. But I also agree in some degree. The translating of my own things is also kind of re-writing in another language. 3) I will have another Dai Wangshu poem abt Void. Chinese"空白",is it equal to English "void"? |
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5/6/2006 4:29 am |
Hi Swallowtsui, "空白" by itself without context means "empty" or "blank", though it can be translated as "void". In this case in your poem, "empty" would be the better choice. I agree with Davinci2rinpoche in that with any translation there is going to be some re-writing; it's inevitable. In simple sentences, or a few words a literal translation is acheivable, but when dealing with long documents or treatises it becomes an issue of interpreting the original author's intent. What makes a good translator or translation, is keeping the spirit of the original work as much intact as possible. Translation is definitely not an easy task. -Q
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5/7/2006 3:29 am |
Hi [blog davinci2rinpoche], In regards, to your question, yes, I did for a short stint work professionally as a translator, several years ago. I'm bilingual with respect to Chinese and English, but currently learning other languages as a hobby. I find knowing multiple languages is useful in fully understanding things that may not be conveyed when translated. Also, I agree technical documents are not as difficult, if not straight forward, but poetry is totally at another level. -Q
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dear friends, davinci, qianz, heartdesire & gourmet I wrote long reponse to every of you, some were funny and creative, but then the words just lost into the Chinese FriendFinder record piles. Let them be. I cant scratch out fm my mind now. E. dickinson tell us "a word is dead/when it is said/some say." But he also notes, "it just begins to live that day." Blab, we cant reach both ends.
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