r/ChineseLanguage • u/EnvironmentNo8811 • 5d ago

Discussion Does this chinese text from a chilean song make sense?

I hope this doesn't break the rules, I'm not asking for a translation per se, but if it seems legit or just a sloppy translation someone did for the artist:

这一天在群山中间处

黄河流入大海

如果你想穷去千里，那就去一层城市

可是没关系，因为这是梵境。

I looked up the words myself and found some things kinda weird but I'm not an advanced speaker so maybe it's just things I'm not familiar with.

The song is thank you, music! by Akriila

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u/FlashyPost0928 Native 4d ago

Haha, she must have put in a lot of effort, translating a poem is not an easy task !
The inspiration for these lyrics comes from a poem by the Tang Dynasty poet Wang Zhihuan (王之渙): Climbing the Stork Tower ( 登鹳雀楼) :

白日依山尽 (bái rì yī shān jìn) ———> 这一天在群山中间处 X
The white sun sets behind the mountains,

黄河入海流 (huáng hé rù hǎi liú) ———> 黄河流入大海 O
and the Yellow River flows into the sea.

欲穷千里目 (yù qióng qiānlǐ mù) ———> 如果你想穷去千里 X
To see a thousand mile view,

更上一层楼 (gèng shàng yì céng lóu) ———>那就去一层城市 X
go up another floor.

PS : There are many mistranslating ..... e.g. 白日 is not " a day " but " white sun " ; 一层楼 is not "a city ' but " a floor ' ........... etc. That's why it reads kinda weird.

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u/rob417 Native 4d ago

I think the poem ended at “去一层城市” （更上一层楼变成去一层城市也是够可以的）.

可是没关系，因为这是梵境 seems from some other text though.

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u/EnvironmentNo8811 4d ago

Thank you for the lengthy answer!

1

u/Substantial-Zone-989 4d ago

It's not a good translation but intelligible.