Thursday, March 4, 2010

Mrs. This - I See Many People



我看到很多人 他們也正在看著我I see many people, and they're looking at me right now too
我看到很多人 他們好像心事重重I see many people, it looks like they've got heavy things on their minds
我看到很多人 為秘密找一個樹洞I see many people, searching a hole in a tree for a secret
我看到很多人 喔喔I see many people, oh
我看到很多人I see many people
  
我看到很多人 他們也正在看著我I see many people, and they're looking at me right now too
我看到很多人 他說他傷口在發膿I see many people, one says his wound is leaking pus1
我看到很多人 還說那沒有人能懂I see many people, and he says that no one can understand
我看到很多人 喔喔I see many people, oh
我看到很多人 I see many people
  
沒有別的輪廓 全世界只有我there aren't any other silhouettes, in the whole world there's only me
你想要說什麼 請不要說出口what do you want to say? please don't say anything
彷彿自我嘲諷 才能繼續生活it's like I can only continue living by mocking myself
狠狠擁抱心痛 妝點自私面孔holding fast to heartache, and putting make-up on my selfish face
我是你 是你 是你 的夢 I am you, am you, am your dream2
我是你 是你 是你 的I am you, am you, am yours
我是你 是你 是你 的夢 I am you, am you, am your dream
我是你 是你 是你 的I am you, am you, am yours
  
沒有別的輪廓 全世界只有我there aren't any other silhouettes, in the whole world there's only me
你想要說什麼 請不要說出口what do you want to say? please don't say anything
彷彿自我嘲諷 才能繼續生活it's like I can only continue living by mocking myself
狠狠擁抱心痛holding fast to heartache
  
歌如果寫一首 是不是就停留if I write a song, will it stop by?
停留在這時候 不能偷偷跑走it's stopping by now, and one can't sneak off and run away
彷彿自我嘲諷 才能繼續生活it's like I can only continue living by mocking myself
狠狠擁抱心痛 妝點自私面孔holding fast to heartache, and making-up my selfish face
我是你 是你 是你 的夢 I am you, am you, am your dream
我是你 是你 是你 的I am you, am you, am yours
我是你 是你 是你 的夢 I am you, am you, am your dream
我是你 是你 是你 的I am you, am you, am yours
  
你是我 是我 是我 的夢you are me, are me, are my dream
你是我 是我 是我 的you are me, are me, are mine
你是我 是我 是我 的夢you are me, are me, are my dream
你是我 是我 是我 的you are me, are me, are mine
1. Chinese... mmm, how do I put this... Chinese culture is squeamish about different things than Western cultures. Blowing your nose at the dinner table, pointing at people, snapping your fingers at people: gross/rude. Talking about diarrhea or pus, spitting (although this last one is changing because of public health): normal. When I lived in Taiwan, if my roommates noticed I was eating plain food, or seemed to be uncomfortable, they would straight up ask me "Do you have diarrhea?" Or if I invited a friend to go get ice cream, she might say "No, I can't, I have diarrhea." To me as an American this was extreme culture shock lol. So... I know that to Americans like me, talking about a wound emitting pus is really, really, REALLY gross. But to Taiwanese like Mrs. This it's not really a big deal.

Like I said, it works the other way around too... I've inadvertently made people grossed out by taking out a tissue and blowing my nose while eating with people. It's really hard for me to remember not to do. To me as an American, blowing one's nose discreetly into a tissue is good hygiene. In Taiwan, you might make someone lose their appetite!
2. Knowledge of two grammatical aspects of Chinese will enhance your appreciation of the chorus. The first is that Chinese uses a relationship marker de. While not entirely describing all its uses, you can think of it like the English possessive marker "'s". The second thing is that Chinese has no conjugation at all. To compare, in English it's "I am, you are, he is, etc; I am, is me, he is, is him, etc; I, my, mine, you, your, yours, etc." In Chinese, to give an idea of how it is when a language has no conjugation, it's "I is, you is, he is, they is; I is, is I, he is, is he, etc; I, I/'s, I/'s, you, you/'s, you/'s, etc."
So in this section, one might translate it character by character as "I/is/you, is/you, /is/you/'s/dream, I/is/you, is/you, is/you/'s."
So you can see that there isn't the same changing pronoun and verb forms as the English translation requires. If you invert the order of "I am you" in English, you get "you are me", in which only the word "you" is used in both sentences. But to invert it in Chinese, it's just taking "wo shi ni" and flipping it to "ni shi wo". Same exact three syllables in a different order.

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