Watching the Sea
I was first xīyǐn to this song’s peppy beat and funky accordion accompaniment. This is the first song by Zhōu Xùn 周迅 I’ve translated. I called it “Watching the Sea,” but “Kàn hǎi” 看海 could be translated “Looking at the Sea” too (not that it matters).
The lyrics, while providing useful examples of many uses of the “de” particles (two different ones, if you look at the hanzi), have the typical Chinese pop song vagueness problem. Ironically, the singer herself complains of vagueness in the chorus. To be honest, it was the spunky “nàme, nàme zhòngyào” in the chorus that made me want to translate this.
If you go to mp3.baidu.com, I’m sure you can download the MP3 for this song by putting in the hanzi title and/or singer.
watching-the-sea.pdf (English, pinyin, 汉字)
(requires Adobe Reader, which is available here).
NOTE: To download the document directly to your computer without viewing it in your internet browser, right-click on the link and select “Save link/target as…”
If you like learning Chinese pop songs, check out the other song translation I’ve done.
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4 Responses to “Watching the Sea”
Tom
said:
Very bad translation because the translator didn’t truly understand the context of each sentence in the song.
Comment date: Feb 14, 2008
Albert
said:
Tom,
I did most of the translation myself, and I’m sure I don’t understand the context very well. Can you offer some better translation suggestions?
Comment date: Feb 14, 2008
Helen
said:
A coconut palm frond enjoying its state of leisure along the road
It owns a whole free day
Lifting the red face which was dried by the sea breeze
Quietly flew to the southeast
Because of our most romantic picture
I have an intuition that I’ve been given the cold shoulder
Originally the impulsive wish
Was just to watch the sea with you
When lying on the shore, the seashells are lonely
I appeared to be happy but not naturally
Leaving the tranquil life at the bottom of the sea
And then truly understanding the bitterness
Fearing the ocean spray’ revelry which happened after noon
The air suddenly becomes sensitive
Actually the idea is really simple
It’s just to watch the sea with you
After I left you, then I realized
(That) you’re so, so important to me
Who knew what you wanted was so vague
I found no place to run away
You’re not here, you always want to escape
I only want to accompany you, accompany you to go search
I know it’s not that you don’t want it
Comment date: Feb 16, 2008
Albert
said:
Helen,
Thanks for the corrected translation. It seems that there are a lot of nuances in the language that I wasn’t aware of. For example, “rang wo kuaile de bu ziran” you translated as “I appeared to be happy but not naturally.” That’s quite different from my translation, “(the seashells) made me unnaturally happy.”
Your insights are very interesting. Do you mind if I ask whether you’re Chinese?
Comment date: Feb 16, 2008