望春風 / yearning for the spring breeze
i'd actually wanted to use bi yi niao for the scene in chapter four where venti sings his little song, but it proved to be too difficult for me to manage to my own standards. so i went to lyricstranslate.com and just started digging around the taiwanese singers.
i mentioned this in the chapter notes, but i was honestly really hesitant to use a song that only really exists in taiwanese hokkien ("taiyu" bc i'm lazy) bc i already have such elaborate goddamn headcanons regarding the exact dialectic nuances in liyue in order to keep my heart happy, and i just really don't know how i'd fit taiyu into that. shame on me i know lol.
eventually, i managed to talk myself into it bc 1. oh my god who gives a shit who is going to give you shit for this; and 2. it's a really cute song!! i can't not use it, esp when it's about the wind!!!!
anyway, conventional translation from wikipedia~
|
original chinese |
conventional english |
Fit to English |
|---|---|---|
|
獨夜無伴守燈下 |
At night waiting alone under a dim lamp, |
alone beneath a lamp at night alone beneath the lantern’s glow |
|
清風對面吹 |
with the spring breeze blowing on my cheeks, |
Spring~ breeze blowing by my cheeks |
|
十七八，未出嫁 |
I, an unmarried maiden of seventeen going on eighteen, |
I~, unmarried, and going on eighteen seventeen, eighteen, still unmarried(?) |
|
見著少年家 |
see a young man. |
spy a fine young man |
|
果然標致面肉白， |
I see he has a handsome face and a pale complexion; |
of course he is pretty, and pale of face oh~ he’s pretty, and pale as the moon |
|
誰家人子弟 |
I wonder which family he is from? |
what’s his name, thought i. |
|
想欲問伊驚歹勢， |
Wanting to ask him yet fearing embarrassment, |
maybe i’ll ask— ahh, i’m much too shy! wishing to ask, but i’m much too shy |
|
心內彈琵琶。 |
my heart flutters as if it were a pipa being strummed. |
heart, like a pipa played |
|
想欲郎君做翁婿， |
Wishing him to be the groom of mine, |
wishing he’d be the groom of mine |
|
意愛在心內； |
with love inside my heart. |
heart, intent on love |
|
待何時，君來採， |
Waiting, wondering when my beau might come to gather |
wondering when that fine young man |
|
青春花當開； |
my blooming flowers of youth. |
might pick these flowers in bloom |
|
忽聽外頭有人來， |
Suddenly I hear someone outside, |
suddenly, outside, someone arrives |
|
開門(共伊)看覓； |
and I open the door to see, |
i open the door to see |
|
月老笑阮戇大呆， |
The moon laughs at my foolishness, |
the man in the moon, laughing at me |
|
予風騙毋知 |
for I did not realize it was just the wind. |
as i fell for the wind |
the song actually pretty much rhymes all the way through in taiyu (i say "pretty much" bc the pe̍h-ōe-jī spelling seems to imply that the first n second parts have slightly different endings, but they all sound like they end in -ai to me TTwTT), but, like, obviously i didn't do too much to preserve that in english.
also, i'm pretty sure i mentioned this in the ch 4 notes, but i did indeed intentionally word the final line as "as i fell for the wind" to give the impression in the fic of venti falling in love w/smth associated w/anemo (in this case xiao hehe)