Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Bibi Zhou Bichang - Yu Guantou (Canned Fish) translation

The music video for this song is a rip-off of Nuit Blanche, an award-winning short film. Like, a blatant shot for shot rip-off. Not even a little bit subtle about it. And yes, it was plagiarism, because the director didn't give any credit for the idea. Why people think they can get away with this sort of thing in the era of the internet is beyond me.

The song isn't a plagiarism of anybody, though.



魚罐頭一樣 在平躺lying flat, like canned fishyu guantou yiyang zai ping tang
困在濃稠的思念 仰望surrounded by dense nostalgia, looking upkun zai nongchou de sinian, yangwang
星空空轉 the starry sky idly spinsxingkong kongzhuan
念頭像水母的飄蕩thoughts floating like jellyfishniantou xiang shuimu de piaodang
我並不孤單 I don't feel alone at allwo bing bu gudan
想你 才孤單but when I think of you I feel alonexiang ni cai gudan
在瀰漫 防腐的哀傷soaking in a preservative sorrowzai miman fangfu de aishang
   
*被淹沒一樣 不作響*not making a sound, like being drowned*bei yanmo yiyang bu zuo xiang
四季就是那四面 白牆the four seasons are just the four white wallssiji jiu shi na mian si bai qiang
唱盤在空轉 the turntable is idly spinningchangpan zai kongzhuan
寂寞是濃霧的暗光loneliness is a dark light in thick fogjimo shi nongwu de an'guang
空心磚發燙 a hollow brick burningkongxing zhuang fatang
胸膛 正中央in the center of my chestxiongtang zheng zhongyang
那是我 真空的地方that's me, a vacuumna shi wo, zhenkong de difang
   
#缺氧 #no oxygen#que yang
魚失去海洋the fish lost the seayu shiqu haiyang
我失去心臟I lost my heartwo shiqu xinzang
要用什麼補償 都一樣what can make up for it? it's all the sameyao yong shenme buchang, dou yiyang
魚罐頭一樣like a can of fishyu guantou yi yang
慢慢的被蓋上 slowly covered up by a lidmanman de bei gai shang
不透光no light enteringbu tou guang
   
repeat *repeat *repeat *
   
repeat #repeat #repeat #
   
缺氧no oxygenque yang
魚失去海洋the fish lost the seayu shiqu haiyang
我失去立場I lost my placewo shiqu lichang
我以為不一樣 都一樣I thought it was different, but it's all the samewo yiwei bu yiyang, dou yiyang
倔強得牽強stubborn beyond reasonjuejiang de qianqiang
慢慢的被風乾 slowly air-driedmanman de bei feng gan
我說謊I tell lieswo shuo huang
我說謊I tell lieswo shuo huang

Monday, September 6, 2010

Landy Wen Lan - Fatang (Burning) translation 溫嵐- 發燙

A few hilarious notes about the video: Miami is conspicuously lacking in black and Hispanic people. Hmm. And the street signs are clearly from Hawaii. This is like when people ask me to translate something for them and I'm like "Um, that's Japanese."

"Whatever, that's all the same right? What does it mean?"

People always seem to treat "the exotic" as more or less interchangeable... you could also say this extends to the music. Penned by Jay Chou, it has a strong Middle Eastern vibe. So, Middle Eastern Miami Hawaii. In Chinese. Woo!



邁阿密海邊 棕欄的樹叢Miami beach, clusters of palm treesMaiami haibian, zonglang de shucong
微熱的南風 微熱的南風warm southern wind, warm southern windweire de nan feng, weire de nan feng
手牽著手 還在 曖眛中摸索hand in hand, but still fumbling in ambiguityshou qianzhe shou, hai zai aimei zhong mosuo
街上人群猜不透我們算是什麼the people on the street can't figure out what we are to each otherjieshang renqun caibuxiu women suanshi shenme
一路沉默 緊閉嘴角the entire way silent, mouth shut tightyi lu chenmo, jinbi zuijiao
突然說出 愛我then suddenly you say you love meturan shuo chu ai wo
   
腳底 髮梢 from the soles of my feet to the tips of my hairjiaodi, fashao
全被不安情緒給籠罩 I'm enveloped by a mood of disturbancequan bei bu an qingxu gei longzhao
關於耳邊呢喃 已經聽不到as for the murmur in my ears, I already can't hear itguanyu erbian ninan, yijing tingbudao
安靜已久心臟 左邊暈眩狂跳 my once peaceful heart is jumping giddily and madly in my left sideanjing yijiu xinzang zuobian yunxuan kuangtiao
邁阿密的下午 誰知道an afternoon in Miami, who knows?Maiami de xiawu, shei zhidao?
   
我感到臉頰一直在 發燙I feel like my cheeks are constantly burningwo gandao lianjia yizhi zai fatang
我感到胸膛 小鹿在亂撞I feel like there's a little deer running around crazily in my chestwo gandao xiongtang xiao lu zai luanzhuang
濕潤的嘴唇 被你覆蓋說不出話 不出話my moist lips overlaid by yours can't say a word, not a wordshirun de zuichun bei ni fugai shuo bu chu hua, bu chu hua
   
我感到臉頰一直在 發燙I feel like my cheeks are constantly burningwo gandao lianjia yizhi zai fatang
溫柔從髮稍 一路在擴張tenderness is extending from the tips of my hair the entire waywenrou cong fashao yi lu zai kuozhang
曖昧的感覺逐漸蛻變成 the feeling of ambiguity is gradually shed and changed intoaimei de ganjue zhujian tui biancheng
一種愛情的模樣a romantic styleyi zhong aiqing de moyang