The translation of the Chinese poems

The translation of the Chinese poems

The topic of this week is poetry. Since my topic of my blog has never been the topic of the week, I decided to write something about poetry. And the translation of the Chinese poems is what I found interesting.

As is known to all, Chinese poems are very complex and difficult to understand, which makes us suffer a lot in Chinese classes. Anyhow, Chinese poems are the marrow of the Chinese culture. To introduce Chinese poems to foreigners, we have to let them understand these poems. Then we need someone to translate these poems into Chinese, which is very difficult since Chinese poems contain too many things with only fewer Chinese characters and it is difficult to do it with English. Moreover, it is impossible to translate some poems into English. For instance, the famous sentence written by  Li Bai: “飞湍瀑流争喧豗，砯崖转石万壑雷”，can you translate it into English with its rhyme and content? Don’t laugh; sometimes non-chinese speakers really want to figure out the meaning of this seemingly profound sentence. So the translation is very difficult.

  At the same time as chair Mao said, “the wisdom of chinese is unlimited”, there are indeed some good English poems translated form chinese. For example, can you guess the chinese version of the following English poems?

The shimmering ripples delight the eye on sunny days;
The dimming hills present a rare view in rainy haze.
West Lake may be compared to Beauty Xi Zi at her best,
It becomes her to be richly adorned or plainly dressed.

Yeah, this poem is translated from 《饮湖上初晴后雨》 by a tour guide named Chen Gang. Quite vivid, isn’t it? And here is another example:

The sun beyond the mountain glows

The Yellow River seawards flows

You can enjoy a grander sight

By climbing a greater height

It is translated from 《登鹳雀楼》 by prof. Xv Yuanchong. It is also a good translation. From these two translations, we can find something in common. The first point is that both two poems have rhymes. These rhymes not only existed at the end of the sentence, but also in the middle and sometimes in the beginning of the sentence. Another point is that they are both concise and “looked beautiful”. You will understand what I am talking after reading the following two sentences:

The greater the height，
The grander the sight.

(欲穷千里目，更上一层楼)

Men the world over，
Brothers each other.

（四海之内，皆兄弟也）

They look very concise and people are willing to read them. At the same time they sound nice. Besides, the most important point, the meaning of the translated poems should be as same as possible with the original poem. This is the fundamental requirement. Here are also some examples:

No man but dies,
My name ever shines

(人生自古谁无死，留取丹心照汗青)

A bosom friend far from here,
Brings a distant land near!

（海内存知己，天涯若比邻）

It is more to talk this time with you
Than to go to school for years in value.

（与君一席话，胜读十年书）

No matter how the forms the sentence changes, the meaning would not change. The meanings are the most important factor to a poem, so does the translation of poems. All the translations should not change the original meanings.

After reading those translations above, do you want a try? Here are more translations I found interesting. Can you figure out what is the original version of these poems?

Reduce a major issue to a minor one,

And turn a minor one to none.

Of the trying long march the Red Army makes light，
Thousands of rivers and mountains are barriers slight.

Most Chinese daughters have desire so strong
To face the powder and not powder the face.

Pay obeisance every morn, pay adoration every morn, and every morn pay the both,
Keep veg diets all together, keep ablution all together, and all together keep the both.

Sea waters tide, day-to-day tide, everyday tide and everyday ebb,
Floating clouds appear, often appear, often appear and often go.

References: Wu Weixiong. 悦耳悦目，现场见效——漫谈涉外活动诗词佳句汉英翻译的现场效果(527300)

         From www.baidu.com