(no subject)
”回鄉偶書“ 賀知章
少小離家老大回。
鄉音無改鬢毛衰。
兒童相見不相識。
笑問客從何處來。
"On Returning Home" He Zhizhang, (Tang, 659-744)
I left my home in my youth and return an old man.
My accent has not faded, but my temples have.
Children greet me, but do not recognize me;
Smiling, they ask where the visitor has come from.
---
Today, after we finished reviewing our lesson in wenyan, my laoshi asked if we'd rather review for our final tomorrow or 看詩, read poetry. "Kan shi!" I cried, and another classmate concurred - leaving the third, who said "Whatever they want to do is fine with me." I need to go bookshopping next week, I think I may try and get one of the anthologies of Chinese poetry. Tang, real 詩, not 詞 though I so wish I was ready for Xu Can.
I love my wenyanwen class. Every time I start getting really discouraged with my Chinese, I think about how much I enjoy wenyan & how much fun it is (even when I really feel as though I'm bumbling and will never remember the intricacies) - and how much I look forward to reading & translating it into the future. I didn't realize how much I missed devouring fairly ancient texts until now: my early education in Latin spoiled me on most languages, but I have to say I find Chinese poetry rather enchanting at times. Most of the time. As much as Latin, just in a different way.
Even if it's going to be years (if ever) before I can give it a skillful and smooth translation... it gives me hope.
少小離家老大回。
鄉音無改鬢毛衰。
兒童相見不相識。
笑問客從何處來。
"On Returning Home" He Zhizhang, (Tang, 659-744)
I left my home in my youth and return an old man.
My accent has not faded, but my temples have.
Children greet me, but do not recognize me;
Smiling, they ask where the visitor has come from.
---
Today, after we finished reviewing our lesson in wenyan, my laoshi asked if we'd rather review for our final tomorrow or 看詩, read poetry. "Kan shi!" I cried, and another classmate concurred - leaving the third, who said "Whatever they want to do is fine with me." I need to go bookshopping next week, I think I may try and get one of the anthologies of Chinese poetry. Tang, real 詩, not 詞 though I so wish I was ready for Xu Can.
I love my wenyanwen class. Every time I start getting really discouraged with my Chinese, I think about how much I enjoy wenyan & how much fun it is (even when I really feel as though I'm bumbling and will never remember the intricacies) - and how much I look forward to reading & translating it into the future. I didn't realize how much I missed devouring fairly ancient texts until now: my early education in Latin spoiled me on most languages, but I have to say I find Chinese poetry rather enchanting at times. Most of the time. As much as Latin, just in a different way.
Even if it's going to be years (if ever) before I can give it a skillful and smooth translation... it gives me hope.