Comments | mollyringle: Translator needed

mollyringle

Translator needed

Aug 29, 2011 16:51

Some linguist I am. I have *no* idea what this says. Anyone help?

( Read more... )

linguistics, food, pictures

Comments 13

dustthouart August 30 2011, 00:18:23 UTC

sweetfires asked me for help.

風正一帆懸 is a quote from a Tang poem and (IMHO) it has a rather inauspicious context.

"Under blue mountains we wound our way,
My boat and 1, along green water;
Until the banks at low tide widened,
With no wind stirring my lone sail.
...Night now yields to a sea of sun,
And the old year melts in freshets.
At last I can send my messengers -
Wildgeese, homing to Loyang."

Not my translation, I found that on the interwho. The bold bit is your line, in the original.

sweetfires August 30 2011, 01:06:23 UTC

Thanks for that. It's a lovely poem.

mollyringle August 30 2011, 05:43:54 UTC

Lovely! Thank you. Yes, it does seem an odd choice to highlight for the cup. Perhaps they mean, "Now, at the slack tide when there's no wind and thus no sailing to be done, I'll rest for a quiet and peaceful cup of tea." :)

extrajoker August 30 2011, 03:54:31 UTC

And my guess was gonna be: "Hey, dummy, the pretty picture's on the other side!"

mollyringle August 30 2011, 05:47:59 UTC

One of my friends suggested "Stupid gai-jin use this cup."
:D

wildecate August 30 2011, 08:27:39 UTC

"The paint on this cup was made from powdered donkey balls"

mollyringle August 30 2011, 23:11:15 UTC

Bhahaha... well, it's good to hear everyone's theories. :)

wildecate August 31 2011, 07:56:18 UTC

I think mine is the best.

Thanks for adding me to your friends. ruth_sims September 2 2011, 10:52:24 UTC

Thanks for adding me to your friends list, Molly. I don't get on LJ very often these days, due to some vision problems that make it hard to read (getting better, though!)so new friends are few and far between! I think I've even lost all my old ones.

Asking for a translator on LJ is a good idea. I have a review on Goodreads, of Counterpoint: Dylan's Story, that is in French. I think it's a good one, but I don't understand a word of it. Maybe I'll post it here and see if someone can tell me what it says.

Have a great weekend.

Do I have to do anything else to accept the friendship? I can't remember.

Re: Thanks for adding me to your friends. mollyringle September 4 2011, 01:15:18 UTC

Thanks for adding me back! I think that's all one has to do around here. LJ is getting less active all around, it seems (blame Facebook?), so it's not just you.

Definitely, ask for an online translator--people love to volunteer with their strengths. I bet I have French speakers among my friends who might be able to help!

Good luck with the vision. That can be important to a writer, though I suppose not crucial...