T Campbell's Blog

I've got... a bunch of question marks on my screen. Literally.
 

Well, the Systran translator says:
- - - -
"Sapphire document
? the night sets off firecrackers thousand, blows falls, the star like rain.
? carves ? the fragrant ? road.
? ? , jade ? light ? , a night of ? ? dance.
The moth fontanesia ? gold ? , smiles gracefully ? dark fragrant goes.
in ? his 1,100.
however looks back on, that person ? in, ? fire ? ?."
- - - -

Question marks indicate non-translated chars.


I don't know if it's the poem itself that loses coherence in the translation or if it's the translator itself that produces such random gibberish... :P
 

Babelfish at least has more luck translating the words, even if it doesn't make a lot more sense:

Sapphire document
The east wind night sets off firecrackers thousand trees, blows falls, the star like rain.
Valuable Ma Diaoche fragrant Man Lu.
The phoenix Xiao sound moves, jade pot light extension, a night of fish dragon dance.
Moth fontanesia gold wisp, the joke graceful dark fragrant goes.
In the audiences seeks his 1,100.
Suddenly looks back on, that person in, the lights is actually waning place.
 

Thanks to those who've tried so far. This'll probably require some human knowledge of Chinese. It's a 900-year-old poem about a man searching through a crowd for his lady love. (It's also the inspiration for the name of the search engine Baidu. I'm looking forward to contrasting the name with the experience of actually searching for things in China.)
 

(Oops, I meant the POEM, not the name.)
 

Do you know who wrote it? I can't read Chinese, but I can decipher the pronunciations and maybe find an existing translation if it's well-known.
 

Scratch that. No translation yet, but some information. The poet was 辛棄疾, which is "Qin Qiji" in pinyin or "Hsin Ch'i-chi" in Wade-Giles. Googling those will get you some information on the guy himself and some translations of his other poems.

A translation might be in a 1971 book, a biography I think, titled "Hsin Ch'i-chi", by Irving Yucheng Lo -- if you can find it. A site purports to show library availability based on your zip code.

Here's a character-by-character translation. I know Japanese but not Chinese, so this gets the sense better than Babelfish, but isn't really a translation.

Sapphire worry - first night

east wind night emit flower thousand trees, again blow fall, star like rain.
treasure horse carve cart scent full road, phoenix flute voice move, jewel jar light reflect, one night fish dragon dance.
moth child snow willow gold thread, laugh speak full full dark scent leave.
? inside inquire other thousand hundred times, straight-forward silent around neck, what person rather exist, burn flame rise loneliness place.

This jumble of words makes some sense in light of a Japanese commentary: it's effulsively describing the urban bustle and decoration of the new year, and then in the last couple of lines comes back to the narrator who despite this is sad and lonely inside.
 

Thanks, guys. I had more luck once I learned the title. Here's a translation into an old-school English poem, don't know who from:

The Lantern Festival
--A Lyric Verse by Xin Qiji (1140-1207)

Lanterns look like thousands of flowers aglow;
Later like stars, from the skies, fallen below.
On main streets, horses and carriages ply.
There, ladies shed perfume, as they pass by.
Orchestral music and song greet our ears,
As the moon, slow and steady, eastward veers.
Of the Spring Festival, this night marks the end.
The whole night, capering, carps and dragons spend.
Adorned with ribbons or paper flowers on their head,
Clad in their best raiment, something bright or red,
Women squeeze their way among the festive crowd,
As they talk and laugh; even giggle aloud.
Rouged and powdered; perfumed to their heart's content,
They cannot but leave behind a subtle scent.
Up and down the main streets, I must have run—
A thousand times or more in quest of one,
Who I have concluded, cannot be found;
For, everywhere, no trace of her can be seen,
When, all of a sudden, I turned about,
That's her, where lanterns are few and far between.

This poem has inspired the name of the search engine "Baidu," the Chinese Google wannabe. No word yet on how they'll deal with searches for "democracy," "freedom" or "a fair trial."
 

Ohhhhh. "Baidu" in the text (百度) means "hundred times," in the line translated "a thousand times or more in quest of one," so it evokes the pain of fruitless searching. Or, y'know, just searching.

And that's a seriously old-school translation. I mean, rhyming? It's a little puffy. But it works, certainly.
 

It's in classical, and I'm mostly a speaker of modern, but I could give it a shot if you'd like.
 

And is this about baidu.com? I assume so?
 

An effort - not particularly good, but I gave it a try. I searched for a translation myself, but could not find one.

Night, the east wind blows a thousand trees, the stars like rain.
The precious horse leads the cart, fragrance fills the street.
A phoenix flute sounds, a jadeite lantern flickers, nocturnal fish dance like dragons.

Moth in a golden-pavillion willow, a laugh rises like dark incense.
Restlessly, I sought her a million times in the crowd.
Suddenly I turned. She was there, in the receding light.
 

Can anyone out there translate this into pinyin.

thanks,
poetrylover