User Comments - blackjacksadie
blackjacksadie
Posted on: Drinking Alone Under the Moon 月下独酌
February 13, 2009, 05:45 AMI cannot find a copy of the English translation that I'm used to anywhere on the internet! It's part of The Shambhala Anthology of Chinese Poetry translated by J. P. Seaton. I'm not a poetry connoisseur, but I enjoy the elegant rhythm he chooses.
His version of that last bit (I'm not sure how I feel about it now ;p):
Forever bound, to ramble free,
to meet again, in the River of Stars.
Ooo, one more thing: do you take requests? There's another poem from that same anthology that has meant a great deal to me: Du Fu's Facing Snow (756, not 770). Seaton's take on the last line of that one grabs my heart every time: Sadness sits, to draft a letter/into emptiness. Other versions I've seen have a really different translation, so I'm confused.
Posted on: Thoughts on Returning Home 回乡偶书
February 13, 2009, 05:25 AMConnie, you did a beautiful job reading this poem. 谢谢！Pete, thanks for all the interesting tidbits about internal parallels and sounds and so on.
Posted on: Slang-ular Momentum
February 13, 2009, 04:38 AMSo, I've been listening to Chinese pop music and was wondering why they were singing about somebody's little sister all the time...哈哈! 我现在懂。
Posted on: Farewell, Son 游子吟
February 11, 2009, 07:35 AM
I just want to say that I was ecstatic to learn that there would be a new poetry show. I absolutely love Chinese poetry! 谢谢！
Posted on: Which country are you from?
December 09, 2008, 07:54 PMFunny...I did this lesson as I had the song “不想长大” by S.H.E stuck in my head. I love the way my current vocab tends to pop up all over my life all at once.
Posted on: University Major: Part 1
December 09, 2008, 07:29 PMI have been a part-time 大学生 for six years now, so 我想毕业！I have two years left...
Posted on: The Traffic Jam
December 07, 2008, 08:27 PMI've been doing tons of newbie lessons but have been slightly intimidated by the random elementary lessons that I've gotten into. However, this was a very good "bridge" lesson into the elementary level for me. Thank you!
Posted on: To bag or not to bag?
December 04, 2008, 02:06 AMMy last job was working in a grocery store in Seattle, where we were going to have to charge 20 cents per plastic bag. However, they got enough signatures from the plastic bag companies that they decided they'd have us vote on it first.
Customers shared a mix of "Oh, it's great they're doing that!" and "I can't believe that $&%@! mayor!" Some would get really angry and start yelling, and we hadn't even started charging.
Anyhoo, I think it's a fantastic idea. Go China! 我没有塑料袋。
Posted on: You First
February 14, 2009, 05:52 AMI really appreciate having overlap in the newbie lessons. I find that I really don't master the vocab from one lesson for long, but encountering it in multiple lessons over time reinforces it very well, especially since I don't get to hear very much Chinese in my life. So, I try to do more lessons rather than spend loads of time on each one. Of course, I appreciate new stuff all the time, too--you guys do a great job of mixing it up.