Need help translating something from Crouching Tiger...

[DSC]

Li Mu Bai's last lines before he dies. I cant really make out what he's saying, so if you guys could give me a rough translation in pinyin that'd be awesome. Here's what I "heard".

"Wo li yin yao deng zai ni shengpin, jiu ji dian ye yi gui, kan shui ni, jiu shi lu ji zui hei de difang.

Ni de ai, ye bu raguo zhengguo yong de guhon."

And in the subtitle-

"I would rather be a ghost, drifting by your side as a condemned spirit, then enter heaven without you. Because of your love, I will never be a lonely spirit"

Was hoping I could get the sub in characters but no luck. Maybe if I get a pirated version

Any help is appreciated. Thx.

David

[pazu]

DSC, I must tell you first, I'm quite sure nobody would understand the pinyin from your OP even with that English translation, and the Chinese version I type here is actually more or less from my memory (and with the help of the consonants of your distorted pinyin text).

Your text:

"Wo li yin yao deng zai ni shengpin, jiu ji dian ye yi gui, kan shui ni, jiu shi lu ji zui hei de difang. Ni de ai, ye bu raguo zhengguo yong de guhon."

In Traditional Chinese:

我寧願游盪在妳身邊, 做七天的野鬼, 跟隨妳。就算落進最黑暗的地方, 你的愛, 也不會讓我成為永遠的孤魂。

In Simplified Chinese:

我宁愿游荡在你身边, 做七天的野鬼, 跟随你。就算落进最黑暗的地方, 你的爱, 也不会让我成为永远的孤魂。

In Pinyin:

wo3 ning2 yuan4 you2 dang4 zai4 ni3 shen1 bian1, zuo4 qi1 tian1 de ye3 gui3, gen1 sui2 ni3。

jiu4 suan4 luo4 jin4 zui4 hei1 an4 de di4 fang, ni3 de ai4, ye3 bu4 hui4 (*should be changed to "bu2hui4", remember the rule of 44 = 24?) rang4 wo3 cheng2 wei2 yong3 yuan3 de gu1 hun2。

Literally it can be translated as:

我 I

寧願 would rather hope to

游盪 lingering

在妳身邊 at your (feminine of "you") side

做 be

七天 seven days

野鬼 lost ghost, or yes, condemned spirit, he didn't finish his unifinished wish, so he was to be condemned and could never rest in peace. That's what a "ye gui" means in Chinese.

跟隨妳 following you (feminine of "you", this is a character found in Trad Chinese only, in Simplified Chinese it makes no difference.)

就算 even if

落進 fall down

最黑暗的 darkest

地方 place

妳的愛 your love

也不會讓我 won't let me ...

成為 become

永遠的 eternal

孤魂 lonely spirit.

The English subtitle is wrong...

Quite a touching line, isn't it? You wanna say this to your girlfriend or boyfriend?

HDCT is one of my most favorite movies, I like it not only because it has one of the best Kungfu movie scenes, also because of the philosophy laid in this movie. But this must be in a movie only, nobody would talk like Li Mubai even in the 21st century.

[DSC]

Sorry bout the pinyin. Thats the way I learned it in school, except I dont know how to put the tone marks in. That and the fact that I dont know that many words still, so I just put what I think it is.

I know the literal translation is wrong, but hey, I only recognized a few words anyway heh.

Thx for the help. Yes, I plan to use this line in a letter. But not to my girlfriend, however, I wish she was. I am going to be enlisting in the military soon, and I dont know where I will be deployed. The irony of Chinese love. It always ends in tradgedy. Crouching Tiger is my favorite movie. I like the philosophy behind it as well.

Thx again.

David

[roddy]

There's a couple of things about the English subtitles in that movie I was disappointed by when I watched it again in Chinese. I guess this is the case with all subtitled movies, but CTHD is one of the few I've watched carefully with both the English subtitles and the Chinese. The Chinese script is definitely more fun - like when Zhang Ziyi and Chow Yun Fat are fighting and he asks her where she learnt those moves - there's no way 'just playing around' is as cool an answer as '随便玩玩'

One of the most important things is that if you use the English subtitles, you could watch the entire film without realising that the two young lovers are calling each other Little Tiger and Little Dragon - the English just uses Jen and Lo, which hardly has the same ring to it.

I was talking with some friends about various movies lately, and one of them said (can't remember the Chinese exactly) '你一看卧虎藏龙就知道OSCARS是那么回事了' -

Hmmm, might have to watch it again now . . .

Roddy

[pazu]

Another line that I like so much from the CTHD was what Li Mubai told Yu Jiaolong:

「李慕白是虛名; 宗派是虛名; 劍法是虛名; 這把青冥劍也是虛名。一切都是人心的作用~!」

Everything is illusion~, everything happens because of human hearts.

It reminds me a famous Buddhist lesson, two monks debated if it was actually the flag moved or the wind moved, they couldn't reach a conclusion and consulted the head monk, who then said, "it's your heart which moves."

It's so cool to see Chow Yun-fat to say this!

And just be careful if you really want to send somebody you love with the "ye gui" line,,, this can be really scary... I don't know what it'll sound outside a movie... good luck!

[Quest]

Don't use that line, that's something only a dying person would say. 不太吉利。

[pazu]

係啦, lur 口水講過啦!

[pazu]

I think I'd better do the literal translation but DSC asked me to do the real English translation, so I'm trying my best to do it now:

In Traditional Chinese:

我寧願游盪在妳身邊, 做七天的野鬼, 跟隨妳。就算落進最黑暗的地方, 你的愛, 也不會讓我成為永遠的孤魂。

In Simplified Chinese:

我宁愿游荡在你身边, 做七天的野鬼, 跟随你。就算落进最黑暗的地方, 你的爱, 也不会让我成为永远的孤魂。

In English:

I would rather be a homeless spirit lingering at your side for 7 days, following you. // Your love, would never let me be a lonely soul.

[DSC]

Thank you very much.