black & white - gaaaaaaaaaaa
This is kind of funny. I really like this show. The story slowly unwinds, showing you pieces and connections, while the characters themselves unfurl and learn and find their way. The acting, the characters, it's really good. Most recently, Chen Zai Tian discovering who he really is, his father in trouble, his loyalties (what little he had before) completely messed up now, as he and Chen Lin find out who they are to each other and what they can possibly do to salvage things.
But as good as it is, I just can't watch it like a normal person. No, the part of my brain that is an obsessive student of Mandarin is sitting there going "oh, sweetly phrased" or "so that's how you would say that"... and then I reach for my small notebook and start trying to write down an interesting line of dialog, both the traditional Chinese and the English from subtitles (though when I'm writing, the Chinese ends up in pinyin except those characters I have to look up later).
Two and a half pages of notebook in the first sixteen minutes of episode 16. Hopeless. But I'm learning a lot. And it's both shocking and gratifying how well I am reading some of these lines. In my final notes, they end up in simplified characters...though I'm probably making lots of mistakes along the way. Here are some recent lines I wanted to study more closely.
我不是把你们当警察，才来求你们的
Wǒ bùshì bǎ nǐmen dāng jǐngchá, cái lái qiú nǐmen de
I'm not treating you as police when I'm begging you for this
我当你们是朋友，所以我才求你们
Wǒ dāng nǐmen shì péngyǒu, suǒyǐ wǒ cái qiú nǐmen
I see you as friends, and that's why I'm begging you
(interesting use of 当 in both of those... that character's been giving me trouble)
小时候每当我哭的时候, 我妈她都会唱这首歌
Xiǎoshíhou měi dāng wǒ kū de shíhou, wǒ mā tā dou huì chàng zhè shǒu gē
When I was little, every time I cried, my mom would sing this song
原来你妈就是我爸一直忘不了的那个女人
Yuánlái nǐ mā jiùshì wǒ bà yīzhí wàngbuliǎo de nàgè nǚrén
So your mom is the woman that my dad can never forget
我要怎么讲你才可以明白呢？
Wǒ yào zěnme jiǎng nǐ cái kěyǐ míngbái ne?
How do I explain this so you would understand?
这个世界上所有事情不是只有像一枚钱币一样, 只有正反两面
Zhège shìjiè shàng suǒyǒu shìqíng bùshì zhǐyǒu xiàng yī méi qiánbì yīyàng
Nothing in this world is just like a coin, with only two sides.
That last one is interesting because 正反两面 seems to be one of the usual four-character phrases, this one meaning "both sides of a coin"... while just 正反 can mean "pros and cons" or "positive and negative". I love how this line gets into the title as well, and the shades of gray that every character holds within.
Now I'm off to watch the rest of the episode, and maybe I won't get bogged down in note-taking this time. Small chance...
But as good as it is, I just can't watch it like a normal person. No, the part of my brain that is an obsessive student of Mandarin is sitting there going "oh, sweetly phrased" or "so that's how you would say that"... and then I reach for my small notebook and start trying to write down an interesting line of dialog, both the traditional Chinese and the English from subtitles (though when I'm writing, the Chinese ends up in pinyin except those characters I have to look up later).
Two and a half pages of notebook in the first sixteen minutes of episode 16. Hopeless. But I'm learning a lot. And it's both shocking and gratifying how well I am reading some of these lines. In my final notes, they end up in simplified characters...though I'm probably making lots of mistakes along the way. Here are some recent lines I wanted to study more closely.
我不是把你们当警察，才来求你们的
Wǒ bùshì bǎ nǐmen dāng jǐngchá, cái lái qiú nǐmen de
I'm not treating you as police when I'm begging you for this
我当你们是朋友，所以我才求你们
Wǒ dāng nǐmen shì péngyǒu, suǒyǐ wǒ cái qiú nǐmen
I see you as friends, and that's why I'm begging you
(interesting use of 当 in both of those... that character's been giving me trouble)
小时候每当我哭的时候, 我妈她都会唱这首歌
Xiǎoshíhou měi dāng wǒ kū de shíhou, wǒ mā tā dou huì chàng zhè shǒu gē
When I was little, every time I cried, my mom would sing this song
原来你妈就是我爸一直忘不了的那个女人
Yuánlái nǐ mā jiùshì wǒ bà yīzhí wàngbuliǎo de nàgè nǚrén
So your mom is the woman that my dad can never forget
我要怎么讲你才可以明白呢？
Wǒ yào zěnme jiǎng nǐ cái kěyǐ míngbái ne?
How do I explain this so you would understand?
这个世界上所有事情不是只有像一枚钱币一样, 只有正反两面
Zhège shìjiè shàng suǒyǒu shìqíng bùshì zhǐyǒu xiàng yī méi qiánbì yīyàng
Nothing in this world is just like a coin, with only two sides.
That last one is interesting because 正反两面 seems to be one of the usual four-character phrases, this one meaning "both sides of a coin"... while just 正反 can mean "pros and cons" or "positive and negative". I love how this line gets into the title as well, and the shades of gray that every character holds within.
Now I'm off to watch the rest of the episode, and maybe I won't get bogged down in note-taking this time. Small chance...