February, pick up your pen and weep,
Write poems about february in sobs and ink,
While thunder booming in the background
Is burning in the black of spring
ahhlina, if you have a better translation, why not provide it? the fact is, poetry is extremely difficult to translate, it is not only the meaning of the words but the sounds and mood and connotation that is important. douglas hofstadter in fact wrote a whole book about poetry translation, le ton beau de marot: in praise of the music of language. the two translations in the comments are evidently two different versions. the one from ladyfromabove looks as though it's taken more liberties with the original text in order to make the english translation more...
ahhlina, if you have a better translation, why not provide it? the fact is, poetry is extremely difficult to translate, it is not only the meaning of the words but the sounds and mood and connotation that is important. douglas hofstadter in fact wrote a whole book about poetry translation, le ton beau de marot: in praise of the music of language. the two translations in the comments are evidently two different versions. the one from ladyfromabove looks as though it's taken more liberties with the original text in order to make the english translation more poetic. both translations are in general agreement, the biggest divergence being between "thunder" and "slush".
Thank you, ahhlina. I'm a Russian speaker and it drives me crazy that the poem is almost always mistranslated. I mean, they add words and I appreciate the art of translation, jinxminx, it's just that they /add whole words that aren't even there in most translations./ That's a really big nono in my book. And I don't think people should jump down the throat of a native speaker who points out an incorrect translation.
Thank you, ahhlina. I'm a Russian speaker and it drives me crazy that the poem is almost always mistranslated. I mean, they add words and I appreciate the art of translation, jinxminx, it's just that they /add whole words that aren't even there in most translations./ That's a really big nono in my book. And I don't think people should jump down the throat of a native speaker who points out an incorrect translation.
@ladyfromabove thats a great translation of the meaning but I do think not including slush is missing a major reference to February, tainting the meaning of the verse a bit.
@ladyfromabove thats a great translation of the meaning but I do think not including slush is missing a major reference to February, tainting the meaning of the verse a bit.
I really love this song
I believe the Russian part translatation is:
February, pick up your pen and weep, Write poems about february in sobs and ink, While thunder booming in the background Is burning in the black of spring
close, but thats not it. im russian.
close, but thats not it. im russian.
ahhlina, if you have a better translation, why not provide it? the fact is, poetry is extremely difficult to translate, it is not only the meaning of the words but the sounds and mood and connotation that is important. douglas hofstadter in fact wrote a whole book about poetry translation, le ton beau de marot: in praise of the music of language. the two translations in the comments are evidently two different versions. the one from ladyfromabove looks as though it's taken more liberties with the original text in order to make the english translation more...
ahhlina, if you have a better translation, why not provide it? the fact is, poetry is extremely difficult to translate, it is not only the meaning of the words but the sounds and mood and connotation that is important. douglas hofstadter in fact wrote a whole book about poetry translation, le ton beau de marot: in praise of the music of language. the two translations in the comments are evidently two different versions. the one from ladyfromabove looks as though it's taken more liberties with the original text in order to make the english translation more poetic. both translations are in general agreement, the biggest divergence being between "thunder" and "slush".
Thank you, ahhlina. I'm a Russian speaker and it drives me crazy that the poem is almost always mistranslated. I mean, they add words and I appreciate the art of translation, jinxminx, it's just that they /add whole words that aren't even there in most translations./ That's a really big nono in my book. And I don't think people should jump down the throat of a native speaker who points out an incorrect translation.
Thank you, ahhlina. I'm a Russian speaker and it drives me crazy that the poem is almost always mistranslated. I mean, they add words and I appreciate the art of translation, jinxminx, it's just that they /add whole words that aren't even there in most translations./ That's a really big nono in my book. And I don't think people should jump down the throat of a native speaker who points out an incorrect translation.
@ladyfromabove thats a great translation of the meaning but I do think not including slush is missing a major reference to February, tainting the meaning of the verse a bit.
@ladyfromabove thats a great translation of the meaning but I do think not including slush is missing a major reference to February, tainting the meaning of the verse a bit.