催眠曲

bababardwan

January 24, 2011, 01:41 AM

Thought I'd leave such a lovely 催眠曲 alone and pristine in the original post before I botch it with my attempted translation here:

爸爸妈妈的话[dad and mum's talk; parental speech]

成龙演唱 [sung by Jackie Chan]

到天明不敢去睡

Till dawn I don't dare to go to sleep [ meaning the singer in this case Jackie Chan doesn't dare to sleep as he's watching over the young child keeping her[in this case] safe]

担心你汗流浃背

worrying about you makes my back soaked with sweat

看着你可爱到流泪

watching [watching over/guarding] your loveliness brings me to tears

忘记了自己疲惫

and makes me forget my own tiredness

宝贝宝贝

baby[treasure] baby

爱你一辈

I'll love you my whole life

不求你有什么作为

I won't be demanding you have any particular achievement [ hmm, interesting, esp in light of the recent past about Chinese mothers....really want to know the origin of this lullaby now]

健康快乐给你栽培

health and happiness will make you grow [ or is it saying that the singer wants to give the young child health and happiness to make it grow..in every sense of the word...I guess the overall meaning will remain the same....either the health and happiness will "give" the growing or the parent will give health and happiness in order to facilitate growth...the sentiment is the same ...the parent wants health and happiness for the child...this is seen as paramount and will lead to growth]

只求你问心无愧

only ask that you have a clear conscience

将骄儿抱在怀

and will cherish holding on to your pride [not too sure of this line...is "son" in there...if so interesting on a couple of fronts including that he was singing to a girl in the movie and maybe that indicates it wasn't Jackie's song for the movie. Instead could this line be talkiing about a son keeping his parent proud? ]

心酸难了

if you have a broken heart

为娘我有话对你云

..because of a young lady [thus implying it is a lullaby to a son] I have something to say to you

宝贝宝贝走出堡垒

treasure, darling, walk away from the fort [ let your defences down, open up....don't be a rock/ an island]

你要自己小心防备

you must be carefully guard against yourself [ or I think I prefer....you must guard against your own caution....go out and give life a shot even if you get hurt]

赚的钱给你花费

earning money just leads to having expenses to pay

担心你念书太累

I'm worried you'll wear your little self out studying too hard

到一天你走出社会

..to the point that one day you'll leave {?our} society [ or drop out is probaby a more likely meaning here I think]

担心你有否机会

I'm worried then that you'll have no opportunities

宝贝宝贝

treasure, treasure

爱你一辈

I'll love you my whole life [looks like the next few lines are repeats of above]

不求你有什么作为健康快乐给你栽培只求你问心无愧

将骄儿抱在怀

心酸难了为娘我有话对你云

这世界如此颠沛

the world is full hardships like this

千万别半途而废

whatever you do, don't give up halfway [never say die, don't throw in the towel]

千辛万苦把你栽培

..because a million hardships will make you grow stronger [what doesn't kill you makes you stronger...jiayou; ..千辛万苦...cool little set phrase]

爸妈的苦知道没

you don't know of your parents hardships [think monty python four yorkshiremen]

xiaophil

May 10, 2011, 05:00 AM

Hey Baba,

I looked through, and from what I saw, looks like a pretty good translation.  I take it you thought of me as I am a new parent.  The lyrics are quite nice.  Thanks for pointing this out to me.