User Comments - pearltowerpete

pearltowerpete

Posted on: Farewell, Son 游子吟

January 21, 2009 at 1:22 AM

Hi all

Thank you for your enthusiasm. I really had no idea what to expect. Clearly I misunderestimated the poddy community's appetite for talking about ancient poetry!

Lots of you left comments overnight, and it will take a bit of time to reply to you all. Let's get started!

Posted on: Plants Need Watering

January 20, 2009 at 9:56 AM

Hi thinkbuddha

At least if your plants were fighting a Darwinian struggle in the wild, they could count on an occasional rain shower. It sounds like you're just killing them in cold blood ;-)

Posted on: Farewell, Son 游子吟

January 20, 2009 at 9:52 AM

Hi monica5

Wonderful! What a day: People like the show, the coldest part of winter is over here in Shanghai, and we will soon have a fresh new president in the States. Days like this don't come often.

Hi raspa

Funny, 静夜思 was the first poem I learned. I like your suggestion about getting other sinologists on the show. If you or any other poddies have anyone in mind, by all means, please let me know, on the message board or in a personal message.

Hi all who sent me messages

Thank you all for your kind comments and support.

Posted on: Farewell, Son 游子吟

January 20, 2009 at 9:16 AM

Hi tage

The first few lessons will be a bit on the short side. When I wrote and recorded them, I really doubted that people would have the stomach for more than four or five minutes of me talking. All the other CPod shows have at least two speakers.The last thing I want is for this to be some kind of boring lecture.

In the future, I could certainly write longer shows. But even if I did a half-hour podcast on each poem, I'd still just be scratching the surface of classical poetry. My goal here is, as you said, to open some eyes and get the poddies excited to learn about these rich, rewarding poems.

Posted on: Lucky Duckies

January 20, 2009 at 8:10 AM

Hi daimingwei

Thank you! We are getting into a very groovy group dynamic.

Posted on: Farewell, Son 游子吟

January 20, 2009 at 8:07 AM

Hi bababardwan

I think I get your meaning this time. Modern Chinese people (except elite specialists) learn the poems with the modern Mandarin pronunciations, except for the occasional special character which will be clearly marked with a footnote.This is to preserve the rhyme/meter as much as possible.

In this particular poem, the first twenty characters are all basically used the same way today as they would've been originally.

In the line 谁言寸草心, the 言 in modern Chinese definitely conveys the meaning of language or speech, but it wouldn't be used in the sense of "to say."

The characters 三春 refer to 孟春meng4chun1, 仲春zhong4chun1 and 季春ji4chun1, the first, second and third months of spring, respectively. 晖 refers to sunshine, which you may be able to tell from the 日 radical on the left. But this is an old-fashioned formulation, although most educated Chinese would understand it.