Saturday, February 28, 2015

Introduction

Hi there, it's Speck here. I decided to write the introduction after publishing 3 entries because I think if I spent all that time with an intro without any actual content on my blog yet that’ll be pretty, well, underwhelming. As the name of the blog implies, this is a blog dedicated to translate classical style modern Chinese songs. These songs are not main stream, even in the international Chinese-speaking communities at present, especially outside mainland China. But my hopes are that my effort is able to bring light to people who don't understand the language but happens to be interested in this part of Chinese popular culture.

I am in no way a linguistic expert, but a mere enthusiast. My command of both English and Chinese is, I hope, enough to make decent translations. (At least then people can understand what the songs are about.) To note, Google and Baidu are my best friends on this matter. 

Many classical themed Chinese songs have rather elaborate and eloquent lyrics, hence increasing the difficulty of translation. Many concepts in Chinese culture and language cannot be translated into English wholesomely

My main goal is to bring out the original meaning of the lyrics as much as possible, whilst trying to make it flow smoothly in English (with rhymes and all). The loss of meaning in translation however, to an extent, is inevitable. But I will do my best within my abilities to minimize that. 

Discussions are welcomed, as I am only an amateur, and I may misunderstand the lyrics, use unsuitable phrases, make grammatical errors etc. If there are any mistakes, do point them out. I won't bite ;)

As for updates... You see, this idea of mine is sort of a one-fine-day-suddenly-feel-like-doing-fun-stuff thing. The big problem is that my semester is starting soon, and I can expect a really, REALLY tight schedule. I don't know if I am able to squeeze much time out. At the moment I am aiming to publish at least one song per month. [It's quite a bit of work; don't even know if thats achievable...] *cross fingers* 

I MAY take requests, but it is VERY tentative, due to aforementioned reasons.

Also, a disclaimer: I don’t claim to own anything regarding to the songs I post on this blog except the pinyin annotations and translations. If there happens to be any violation on copyright or anything of that sort, do let me know.

Once again, thank you for visiting my blog. Even if the translations are useful for just one person, I'd be very happy about that. Hope you enjoy the content put forth!


大家好,我是尘埃。[请放过我的中文,太久没写有些生疏了,求见谅。] 我就简单地介绍这部落格好了。我是古风音乐爱好者,常常苦于身边找不到同好,因为这实在太冷门了(至少在我这里)。偶尔在 Youtube 见一些不谙中文的网民也留言表示喜欢,于是萌生翻译歌词的念头,好让这些有兴趣的网友能较深入理解。我特别喜欢有故事性的古风故事与歌曲的搭配好带感,于是想分享分享。
                                            
文化人、翻译家什么的我都不是,纯粹是古风歌曲爱好者,语文造诣也不是特别高,可能翻错会戳伤各位眼睛(尤其语文能力高的),就请多多包涵。如果我真写错,欢迎多加指点。


谢谢各位抽空光临这个部落格。顺便在此声明:此部落格的歌与歌词都不属于我,我只是打了翻译与拼音。如真有任何版权问题敬请相告。

6 comments:

  1. good karmas for you! thanks for everything. do you open request ?

    ReplyDelete
  2. please (begging) translate 胭脂雪 by Assen捷

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey there daemul! I do accept requests, but my posting schedule is pretty erratic, so I can't definitely say when it will be ready. Though, it'll be on my waiting list. Thanks for the recommendation!

      Delete