BBC Olympics Ad

This ad is so cool!  What a work of art.  And I love the music.  After searching the internet, found that the music was done by Damon Albarn, lead singer of Blur (one of my all-time favorite British bands!).  Thanks for sharing Bazza.

I searched high and low for the lyrics to this song, but could only find the Chinese.  Can any natives (or brave non-natives) please translate?

悟空恭喜，取经来了~
为了希望荣耀，
燃起梦想，生死与共
穿越世界毫无阻碍
艰难困苦勇往直前
冲破恐惧 为了追求 为了希望与荣耀
璀璨绚丽的梦想 把灵魂融为一体
为了希望为了希望为了希望

Brent,谢谢你的解释， I can understand them better now!^_^

And

as xiaohu had mentioned that As far as I know, in song the pronunciation of 了 is always liao3.

I should say that it is a little complicated that when 了 in songs' lyrics! In the most of time, it depends on the meanings! But the pronunciation is somehow depends on the singer!(like the ad one that bazza posted!) I don't know how to explain it. But i can show you some songs' video, and then you will find out 了in different songs have different pronunciations.

 橄榄树gan3lan3shu4=olive tree, which is very classical song! 了here pronounces le.

And according to the meaning of the lyrics,了in this song pronounces liao3.新不了情is an oldie but a goodie!^_^Hope you guys will like it!

A new album from Damon Albarn, Monkey:  Journey To The West, is being released August 18th.  Check that link and listen to a few tracks from the album.  It's really interesting music...like traditional Beijing Opera with a modern twist.

The album is based on the stage production of the same name, in England.

Thanks RJ!

Ill wait for Changye to do it right but I think I got the general idea.

Hi rjberki,

I think that it's a nice translation! For the record, the original meaning of 取经 (qu3 jing1) was 'to go on a pilgrimage for Buddhist scriptures', and it later got other figurative meaning, i.e. 'to learn something from someone.' In this lyrics, 取经 is used in the sense of the former one, since it's a song of Journey to the West!

So, 取经来了 should be translated as 'you've come here for Buddhist scriptures' or something like that. And, of course, it's up to you to translate (or feel) it more freely. Anyway, all of us come to Chinesepod to learn Mandarin, and Chinese people will also learn a lot of things through hosting the Beijing Olympics this year.

Thanks Changye. That is very helpful actually. I have been quietly watching with awe as you and the group translate 红楼梦. The depth of your knowledge never ceases to amaze me. I am enjoying your work (and the others) on that one very much. Thanks.

-RJ

Are all the 了's in those lyrics 'liao3'?

I think it might be liào, but I can't quite figure out it's use.

了 liào = look afar from a high place

来了 lái liào = to arrive from the heavens ???
为了希望 wèiliào xīwàng = to desire to serve the heavens ???

These are complete guesses of course.  Would love a proper translation from a native.

Here's the entire pinyin (if liào is the correct 了):

wùkòng gōngxǐ ，qǔjīng lái liào ~
wèiliào xīwàng róngyào ，
rán qǐ mèngxiǎng ，shēngsǐ yǔ gòng
chuānyuè shìjiè háowú zǔài
jiānnán kùnkǔ yǒngwàng zhíqián
chōngpò kǒngjù  wèiliào zhuīqiú  wèiliào xīwàng yǔ róngyào
cuǐcàn xuànlí de mèngxiǎng  bà línghún róngwèiyītǐ
wèiliào xīwàng wèiliào xīwàng wèiliào xīwàng wèiliào xīwàng

If you prefer tone numbers:

wu4kong4 gong1xi3 ，qu3jing1 lai2 liao4 ~
wei4liao4 xi1wang4 rong2yao4 ，
ran2 qi3 meng4xiang3 ，sheng1si3 yu3 gong4
chuan1yue4 shi4jie4 hao2wu2 zuai43
jian1nan2 kun4ku3 yong3wang4 zhi2qian2
chong1po4 kong3ju4  wei4liao4 zhui1qiu2  wei4liao4 xi1wang4 yu3 rong2yao4
cui3can4 xuan4li2 de meng4xiang3  ba4 ling2hun2 rong2wei4yi1ti3
wei4liao4 xi1wang4 wei4liao4 xi1wang4 wei4liao4 xi1wang4 wei4liao4 xi1wang4

this is roughly it. Im sure someone can do it better justice. Sun Wukong was the monkey king.

Hi guys,
The word 了here in the lyric pronounce(s) liao3.
This chinese character了has two pronunciations, one is 了le and the other is 了liao3.
I am not sure if i can explain it to you very well and clear, but i will give it a try!
了 as a auxiliary word, pronounces le. It is used after the verb or adj. to indicate completion. eg:他跑了。He ran away! 她哭了。She cried.
这房间太小了！This room is too small!  爸爸的头发变白了。 Dad's hair had turned grey!

了 as mood, tone, modality or manner of speaking, it pronounces le. Indicates future certainty. eg:明天又是星期六了。Tomorrow is saturday again!
新年来了，人们都很高兴。The new year is coming, people are very happy!(People are very happy because the new year is coming!)
Indicates the speeding up or stopping. eg:别哭了。stop crying! 别吵了。Stop arguing!
Indicates interjection.  eg:好了！Alright! 

了 as adverb, it pronounces liao3。When it used before verb or adj. to indicate entirely.  eg: 了解=understand/know  了结=to settle/finish/end
When it used after a verb as acomplement with 得 or 不 to indicate possibility or finality.  eg:你来得了吗？will you come? 办得了。It can be done!

I should go now and hope that can help you. Maybe we can talk about it later!

As far as I know, in song the pronunciation of 了 is always liao3.

据我所知在歌曲里，这个“了” 的发音就是 liao.

Thanks so much for your help Cassie!  Bazza, you were right...how could I doubt you?  :)

So how exactly would you translate:

来了 lái liǎo
为了 wèiliǎo

I can't figure them out.

Brent,

了 liào = look afar from a high place

I think what you were trying to say is瞭liao4.

瞭望liao4wang4 means look afar from a high place.

About the translation, I think rjberki did quite good! I learned from his translation. According to my understanding of the chinese lyric, the first sentence that i will translate it into “Congratulations Wukong, time for you to learn something new” （time for you to learn from the scripture) is the literally meaning. But as it is talking about the Olympic in this ad, as the  host, China can learn a lot of things from the other countries whiling holding the 29th Beijing Olympic Games!

can i ask a question about english?

I think rjberki's translation is nice, I learned a new phrase for 为了. It is "for the sake of". So what is the difference between "for the sake of" and "in order to"? 

 rjberki, congratulations, your chinese really made a big progress！ look at you, you can translate  it very well. Guess I need to read a lot of classical English works! That might help me to improve my english!

cassielin says
5 hours ago

Brent,

了 liào = look afar from a high place

I think what you were trying to say is瞭liao4.

瞭望liao4wang4 means look afar from a high place.

Most dictionaries seem to show 瞭 simplified to 了, is that one simplification that's generally not used in practice?

Excellent explanation of 了 Cassie. :)

Cassie, these two phrases are very similar, but I'll try to explain the difference.

for the sake of

sake = purpose; intention; motive

for the sake of something = for the purpose of obtaining or achieving something; a reason for wanting something done.

Example:  She studied Chinese for the sake of her family heritage.

in order to

in order to = with the objective of achieving something.

Example:  In order to become fluent in Chinese, you must study very hard for many years.

It's difficult to explain the differences.  I think the main difference is that for the sake of describes why someone did or is doing something...in order to usually describes what needs to be done "in order to achieve" something.

I hope I haven't confused you more!

Bazza, thx. I am not quite sure about your last question. As for me, I always use 瞭望when I want to mean look afar from a high place. That's what we learned from our chinese course in school time!

Btw, there is a very famous and professional chinese magazine named《瞭望》. It is about Chinese current affairs of politics and economy!

Way cool ad.  and thanks also for everybody's contribution to the understanding and pronunciation of it.  A very impressive collective feat.  R.J., Your Chinese is coming along very nicely!  I remember you fretting about the difficulty of it all a way back, but you weren't going to give up.  You have stuck with it...and it shows.