Simple poem - Spring at Dawn

Thanks Changye

Hi dennis,

Thank you for showing 春晓(白话).

Modern Japanese versions are as follows,

春の眠りは心地良く、

haru no nemuri wa kokochi yoku,

夜が明けた事にも気が付かない。

yo ga aketa koto nimo kigatsukanai

あちらこちらで鳥の声が聞こえている。

achira kochira de tori no ko-e ga kiko-ete iru

昨夜は風雨の音がしていたが、

sakuya wa hu-u-u no oto ga shite ita ga

庭の花はどれほど散っただろうか。

niwa no hana wa dorehodo chitta daro-u ka

Spring Dawn was the first poem that i learned.

春晓 文言

春眠不觉晓，

处处闻啼鸟。

夜来风雨声，

花落知多少？

春晓 白话

春天睡觉，往往连天亮了都不知道，

醒来时，只听见到处都有鸟儿在叫。

夜里窗外忽然传来一阵阵风雨声，

真不知庭中的鲜花被打落了多少？

Thw original poem and one of the many translation in modern chinese.

Changye could you give a translation of poem in modern japanese both in Kanji and Romaji?

Hi mayalarara,

The character “啼” mainly has two meanings. One is “cry, weep aloud (human beings)”, and another is “chirp, twitter, crow, bellow, neigh, grunt, bark, meow, and etc. ” Gee, I can’t remember all those verbs. Anyway, you need to select a right word when translating “啼” into English.

As for “提”, its primary meaning should be “lift, submit”, and secondary “bring about, refer, mention” and so on. And this character is used both abstractly and concretely. For example, 提醒, 提示, 提高, 提意见 belong to the former usage, and 提款, 提包, 提琴, 提供原料 to the latter.

That's a cute video! The narrator really cracked me up...:-)

Wow, I must have caused quite a confusion with that ti2. I apologise. I just wonder - the big fat dictionary at the library gives 啼 as "cry,weep, caw, mourn,crow".

Changye wrote: "I should have selected “chirp, twitter, or sing” for “啼”." This seems to contrast the translation given in the dictionary, is this a common meaning?

提 means "bring up, put forward, draw out, mention, refer, carry, lift, call". There is an expression meaning roughly "bring to attention", literally "call (提) awake". So could 提 theoretically indeed be used to express "call" in the literal sense, not just is the figurative?

Changye, thanks for the clarification and the additional poem. I think I'm going to join Henning's movement and agitate for a Cpod column called Changye's corner or something like that.

Dear changye, thank you so much for supplying the Japanese reading of this poem! I really enjoyed that.

tvan -- I think that 啼 (not 提) is the original word used in the poem? I wasn't aware that 提 can be used to refer to sounds made by birds, so I guess I was shielded from confusion!

CORRECTION!!!

"I suppose that singing birds are much more romantic than crowing roosters in the poem! Don’t you think so?"

Hi tvan,

I am sorry that ”crow” is not an appropriate translation. I should have selected “chirp, twitter, or sing” for “啼”. I suppose that crowing roosters are much more romantic than singing birds in the poem! Don’t you think so?

The line “花落知多少” in “春晓” dose not imply “安史之乱”, since the rebellion took place 15 years after 孟浩然, the author of the poem, died in 740. The following poem “春望” clearly refers to the rebellion during Tang dynasty.

春望　(by 杜甫, 712-770)

国破山河在，城春草木深。

感时花溅泪，恨别鸟惊心。

烽火连三月，家书抵万金。

白头搔更短，浑欲不胜簪。

Quite a number of videos at youtube.com featuring this poem.

Another question, when, per Changye, you substitute 啼 for 提, does this change the meaning from "birds calling" to "crows cawing"?

Was the line

“花落知多少”

a reference to loss of life during the 安史之乱/安史之亂/AnShi Rebellion？

And more importantly, the Japanese translation is also a rhyming poem, as well as the original one. Please be noted that the third line in 五言绝句 doesn’t need to rhyme.

春眠不觉晓 (xiao)

处处闻啼鸟 (niao)

夜来风雨声

花落知多少 (shao)

春眠暁を覚えず (zu)

処処啼鳥を聞く (ku)

夜来風雨の声

花落つること知るいくばく (ku)

Hi mayalarara,

The translation sounds rhythmical enough

to Japanese people’s ears.

春眠暁を覚えず

しゅんみん、あかつきをおぼえず

shun-min aka-tsuki wo obo-ezu

処処啼鳥を聞く

しょしょ、ていちょうをきく

sho-sho tei-chou wo kiku

夜来風雨の声

やらい、ふううのこえ

yalai huu-wu no koe

花落つること知る多少

はなおつることしる、いくばく

hana otsuru-koto shiru ikubaku

It is beautiful in Chinese but looses something in the translation. Let me try:

spring oblivious to dawns falling

everywhere hear birds calling

the sound of wind and rain last night

how many flowers fell is right.

oh well - Im not a poet. Stick with the Chinese version.:-)

(Using pinyin for typing characters is not exactly fail proof, hence the ti2 confusion ;-) )

The corrected version:

春晓 by 孟浩然 :

春眠不觉晓

处处闻啼鸟

夜来风雨声

花落知多少

@changye: How would you read the Japanese version?

Hi mayalarara,

I also love this poem by 孟浩然. I learned it at high school, but at that time I had no interest in Chinese, much less Tang poetry. So I still remember that I was very sleepy in the class.

This famous 五言絶句 translated into Japanese as follows. It is almost the same as the original text. Btw, please replace 提 (ti2, carry, submit) by 啼 (ti2, crow, cry) in your posting.

春眠暁を覚えず

処処啼鳥を聞く

夜来風雨の声

花落つること知る多少