春風の
花を散らすと
見る夢は
さめても胸の
騒ぐなりけり
-- 西行
the Spring wind
scattering blossoms
I saw it in a dream
but when I awoke the sound
was still rustling in my breast
-- Saigyō, translator unknown
ねがはくは
花の下にて
春死なむ
そのきさらぎの
もち月のころ
-- 西行
Let me die in spring
under the blossoming trees,
let it be around
that full moon
of Kisaragi month
-- Saigyō, translator Burton Watson
Welcome to my salon pour une. Enjoy the cherry blossoms.
Still procrastinating, thesis write up this time. I’ve translated all the easy songs off IT, I think, except this one.
(And even this one’s not that easy: how to fully express the meaning of “watershed” both as the geological feature and the idiomatic meaning of “turning point”? I don’t think I can.)
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I love the word “antebellum”, although I was always thrown by how the “-bellum” part made it about war, instead of beauty; we have so few other words with that root (“belligerent” is the only one that springs to mind) that it’s actually quite striking.
(As an aside: I love “antediluvian” too. Is there an “ante-” word for before the Fall of Adam and Eve? I seem to remember running across it once.)
I also think this is my favourite song off the new album.
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Got another one for you. I think this song from IT sounds the most like Vienna’s old stuff.
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Vienna’s new album was released in Europe last week. Here’s a quick translation of a song (“the emo sad song”) off it.
(And in other news: I miss my translation class terribly. I think the prof who taught it has retired now; he’s no longer listed on the department website anywhere, nor do I see his name on the French faculty list posted in BuTo. Pity. He was quick and witty and cutting, equally at ease in English and French, and made me want to do well. Not that I ever don’t want to do well. But I’m not as motivated in some classes.)
One of those (rare) cases where an English word is so much prettier than a French word:
“harbour” >>> “port (m.)”
Okay, I’m doing it again. Here’s “Gravity”.
Translating into your native language is easy. Translating out of it generally presents more of a problem. That being said, it can be a good way to increase vocabulary… or just to procrastinate. What follows is a translation of one of my favourite Vienna Teng songs into French.
It’s clumsy, and literal, and in no way captures the beauty of the English lyrics. But it was still fun.
7 April 2009 can’t come soon enough.
Actually, on second thought, I should be gearing up for the last of my undergrad exams at that time–maybe it can. 😛 Then again, I’ll only have three, so maybe it won’t be so bad. But–then I also have to defend my thesis, which is going to be incredibly draining.
The one and only webcomic I read regularly is xkcd. (There’s a reason why I keep going back: it’s just that good. Most of the time.)
So when Vienna posts this tweet, I’m strangely pleased to find that we have something in common.
I wonder, though, what she thinks of the title-text in the latest installment: ‘I’m nothing without you’ is a fucked-up sentiment.
too busy to write anything about the trip or the concert and in any case I’d like to do it in French which will take a little bit of time time that I don’t have although time is money but hey I don’t have much of that either at the moment I’m dreading my credit card bill anyway I really should get back to my assignment I can’t very well write a letter to Joe Schmo the customer service representative can I?
Actually, the rumours are true: Vienna Teng is an incredibly lovely, gracious, and talented person.