Dusting Off my Chinese Skills for Faye~

November 6, 2014 — 7 Comments

… or dusting off my lacking Chinese skills xP, so I ask anyone reading this to 1. Take these with a big grain of salt… and 2. If you’ve got a better translation/tips/corrections/etc. let me know. But… in the age of the internet, where fandoms translate songs en masse, I felt a little “left hanging” with Faye Wong lyrics.

So here are my tries. My mother tried to help, but she gave up. LOL

After much deliberation, I think I like Cong Cong Na Nian (匆匆那年) a bit more, though I didn’t like Ai Bu Ke Ji (爱不可及) on the first go, it’s really grown on me as a song.

Common courtesy for credits and/or link-ups, please.


爱不可及

几步之遥 一生距离
风欲静 而心不息
后会有期 却无爱可纪
相濡以沫 空留一口气

一辈子三个字听来熟悉
没说然后就在一起
来不及也走不及
死而有憾 因得一知己
2x

反正死别 不如生离 *
命在这 运在哪里
灵魂有意 而肉身麻痹
唇离齿太远 触不可及

可爱可爱不可及
命和运太远 爱不可及

One Love Away (Love Cannot Reach)

A few steps away from life,
the wind’s desire is still, (but) the heart continues.
Hope to see you again, but no love allows order,
sharing what little we had, retaining one last breath.

One lifetime listening to three familiar words,
never to be said together again.
it’s really too late to get away,
extreme regret because one must get to know oneself.
2x

(In the case of) Being parted by death doesn’t compare to being born apart. *
/To come together from opposite sides and be separated by death doesn’t compare to being born and parting./
Where in life is this fortune?
The soul has intent while the corporeal body is numb.
The lips and teeth are too far apart to touch,

The ability to love cannot be reached.
Life and fortune are too far apart, love cannot reach.

NOTE:

* I found this line extremely difficult to translate, taking into consideration the movie montage of the song that shows Sun Honglei and Kwai Lun Mei as sort of opposites… and MDBG has also this as meaning: “to come over from the enemy’s side.

匆匆那年

匆匆那年我们 究竟说了几遍 再见之后再拖延
可惜谁有没有 爱过不是一场 七情上面的雄辩 **
匆匆那年我们 一时匆忙撂下 难以承受的诺言
只有等别人兑现

不怪那吻痕还 没积累成茧 ***
拥抱着冬眠也没能 羽化再成仙 ****
不怪这一段情 没空反复再排练
是岁月宽容恩赐 反悔的时间

Chorus
如果再见不能红着眼 是否还能红着脸
就像那年匆促 刻下永远一起 那样美丽的谣言
如果过去还值得眷恋 别太快冰释前嫌
谁甘心就这样 彼此无挂也无牵

我们要互相亏欠 要不然凭何怀缅

匆匆那年我们 见过太少世面 只爱看同一张脸
那么莫名其妙 那么讨人欢喜 闹起来又太讨厌
相爱那年活该 匆匆因为我们 不懂顽固的诺言
只是分手的前言

不怪那天太冷 泪滴水成冰
春风也一样没 吹进凝固的照片
不怪每一个人 没能完整爱一遍
是岁月善意落下 残缺的悬念 *****

Chorus 2x

我们要互相亏欠
我们要藕断丝连 ******

Fleet of Time (Those Years Gone By)

Those years gone by when we said goodbye after putting it off.
Unfortunately, those who have or haven’t loved aren’t persuasive in the seven emotional stages. **
Those years gone by when we hastily left that hard-to-keep promise behind,
waiting for someone else to honor it.

Don’t blame the love bite for not becoming a scar ***
Embracing through hibernation failed, levitating once again to become immortal ****
Don’t blame the stage of passion for not having  time left to try over and over again
It’s time to forgive, to back out of the promise of time.

Chorus
If goodbye can’t be solely red eyes, it’s also a blushing face
like that hasty year in which we forever carved together that beautiful rumor.
If the past is still worth yearning for, don’t be too hasty- let bygones be bygones.
Who would willingly not have someone to have and to hold?

We want to owe each other, otherwise how do we rely on the images of the past?

Those years gone by when we saw the extremely young world and only saw the same faces.
Just like that, the unfathomable mystery. Just like that, the lovable disturbance became troublesome.
Loving each other deservedly, hastily because we didn’t understand the stubborn promise
Had simply been broken since it began.

Don’t blame the cold day for the frozen tears dripping from your eyes,
the breeze of springtime isn’t the same, blowing to freeze these photographs
Don’t blame every person for not loving once in their lives
It’s benevolent time falling, the suspense of damage *****

Chorus 2x

We want to owe each other,
We want lovers to part, but still long for one another. ******

NOTE:

** I can’t never EVER translate negatives 不错 or 是不是 questions properly.

** 七情 (qi qing) refers to the seven stages of emotion: joy, anger, anxiety, thought, grief, fear, fright.

*** 茧 actually shows up as cocoon, callus or blister, but preferred using scaring as an image, even though hickeys bruise… right?

**** 拥抱着冬眠也没能 羽化再成仙, this just didn’t made much sense altogether LOL

***** As 是岁月善意落下 残缺的悬念 did.

****** I really REALLY liked this saying 藕断丝连 which literally means lotus roots may break but the fine fibers still connect to each other.

Wahhhhhh, one can really learn a lot translating lyrics. xD I recently bought a small book on Chinese proverbs and sayings, but it would be more useful if you could look it up by the character that starts it up instead of the translated saying. Nonetheless… still useful. 读不尽的书,走不完的路。

7 responses to Dusting Off my Chinese Skills for Faye~

  1. thanks i’ve been looking for a translation of the song as I’m too inept at understanding the proverbs!

  2. I made a version of “Congcong Na Nian” for recorder ensemble, with an English translation of the lyrics that rhymes and fits the music, as well as word-grouped pinyin and hanzi. (As a courtesy to the recorder players, I transposed the music down a semitone to make the key signature easier.) I did it with the help of Wenlin software for learning Chinese, the ABC Dictionary, and the GNU Lilypond music typesetting system. Unfortunately I don’t think copyright law would allow me to publish my version, unless you know how to ask permission. But I suppose I could let just you see it. My email is on my website. (For 拥抱着冬眠也没能羽化再成仙 I put “Win-ter long em-brace does not im-mor-tal life ac-cord” but like you I struggled with that line. It’s even harder when you want the translation to fit the music as well.)

    • In theory, a translation of the song is/should be permitted under fair use of copyright, as long as it’s not for commercial gain. I know there are a bunch of fan-made translations of many Kpop songs, so it shouldn’t be a problem with Faye’s. I’ll email you, though :D

      Thank you for the comments!

  3. Can someone write the lyrics in English transcript so I can read & sing it?
    Thank you.
    AP

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