静夜思 Jìng yè sī

床前明月光， Chuáng qián míng yuè，
疑是地上霜。 Yí shì dì shàng shuāng.
举头望明月， Jŭ tóu wàng míng yuè,
低头思故乡。 Dī tóu sī gù xiāng.

Night Thoughts (by Libai - 李白)

I wake and moonbeams play around my bed,
Glittering like hoar froast to my wondering eyes.
Upwards the glorious moon I raise my head,
Then lay me down and thoughts of home arise.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/08/2009 11:08AM by Olive.

I didn't like the translation... There are too many ideas that are not in the original poem.

hehe,even kindergarten kids know libai and his jingyesi poem~~

Yeah, even a 样鬼子 like me has known this poem since losing her liking for lollipops.
I agree with Enrico and want to add that the English is quite horrible. As translated, it’s the bed that’s glittering instead of the moonbeams. The third sentence is awkward. The “thoughts of home arise” in the fourth sentence is bloated and violates the basic premise of the poem in which strong emotions are expressed in simple language. Hence, “I think of home” would have done the job better.

Well, unlike me, Tangerine, being a native English speaker, could express what I wanted to say in a better way... Specially with this sentence:

"the basic premise of the poem in which strong emotions are expressed in simple language"

I think the translator tried to rhyme head/bed, eyes/arise. Which suck, anyway...

Sometimes you wish threads didn't get moved because it took me forever to come back here.
I found a much better translation that seems the prevailing one in the US.
Please note as well the change in title. The one in the original translation here isn't really English either. I hope you'll agree the translation is simpler and, as a result, more powerful. It's also closer to the original in Chinese:

Thoughts on a Still Night
Before my bed, the moon is shining bright,
I think that it is frost upon the ground.
I raise my head and look at the bright moon,
I lower my head and think of home.

Bright moonlight before my bed
Seems like frost upon the floor;
I raise my head and watch the moon,
Then lower it down and think of home.
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This is by far the best translation I could find (made by Christopher Evans)

WHO TARANSLATE IT ? ITS TERRIBLE .

Hi Jaspersue,

do you refer to the translation I posted? Your comment is a little .... hm, shall I say "terrible"? Or "unqualified"?

There are different approaches for translating Chinese lyrics and it is always the question, which level of meaning you want to keep in the translated version. Most translations of the poem focus on the very surface emotions and try to put this "common sense" into a new form. As for the translation above the social aspects of the Chinese culture and the ways of expressing feelings are still present. It is also close to the reduced and frugal form of the poem. I like that.

Jaspersue, checked your profile, you are Chinese, right? Interesting, for many Chinese this poem is so overloaded with concepts, that is is hard for them to see behind and track back to its roots. And in today's education in China there is very little space for serious dispute of Classical Chinese literature (probably still more then in Europe, but not much).