New Mandarin Chinese Lesson: An Old Poem About Sorrow

1. Shu1 is usually translated as "book" but in this case it means "write". Bo2shan1dao4zhong1 means "Bo Mountain path", and bi4 means "wall of mountain".

2. Old Chinese poems are very succinct and very beautiful. A mere ten words can tell an entire story. This format leaves much space for the imagination. As such, there's no way to provide a single "correct" translation. Here we offer one possible interpretation. For another interpretive approach, plus interesting details about the poet and his times, see this Wikipedia article.

3. This poem is often referred to by the generic name "Tune Name". This is a common practice for poems of this type, and refers to the style of the poem. In ancient China poems were often originally written as new lyrics for existing tunes. Over time the melody was forgotten but the metre and rhythm of the song were retained in a poetic style. Poems' styles were referred to with the phrase "to the tune of [tune name]".

4. The word translations below are from ancient Chinese. In Chinese, as in all languages, many words can carry many different meanings. The translations that we provide here are those that are best suited to understanding the poet's meaning, and in many cases are specific to the author's time period - the twelfth century AD.


Script:

An Old Poem About Sorrow by Xin Qiji
Yi4shou3 Guan1yu2 You1chou2 de Gu3shi1 — Xin1 Qi4ji2
一首关于忧愁的古诗——辛弃疾

Writing
Shu1
书

Wall
Bi4
壁

Middle or Among or In
Zhong1
中

Path
Dao4
道

Writing on Bo Mountain Path Wall
Shu1 bo2shan1 dao4 zhong1 bi4
书博山道中壁

To know or to recognize
Shi2
识

To not know
Bu4shi2
不识

Worry or Sorrow
Chou2
愁

Flavor
Zi1wei4
滋味

The taste of sorrow
Chou2zi1wei4
愁滋味

Young people don't know the taste of sorrow.
Shao4nian2 bu4shi2 chou2 zi1wei4, ...
少年不识愁滋味，……
Note: Literally... young person/people ~ not know ~ taste of sorrow ("worry/sad/grief flavor")

Love climb towers.
Ai4 shang4 ceng2lou2.
爱上层楼。
Note: This line can suggest many things. For example, to one person it might suggest "when I was young I liked to climb towers and travel." For another person it might suggest "standing in a high place and watching what is below."

Love climb towers.
Ai4 shang4 ceng2lou2.
爱上层楼。

For
Wei4
为

To write a poem
Fu4
赋

Classical poem
Ci2
词

When writing poems I pretended I had really suffered.
Wei4 fu4 xin1 ci2 qiang2 shuo1 chou2.
为赋新词强说愁。
Note: Literally... for ~ write ~ new ~ ci2 (ancient poem form) ~ forced/insincere ~ say ~ sorrow (worry/sad/grief)

Now
Er2jin1
而今

Know to the limit
Shi2jin4
识尽

Now - know enough - the taste of sorrow, ...
Er2jin1 shi2jin4 chou2 zi1wei4, ...
而今识尽愁滋味，……

Want to
Yu4
欲

Yet
Huan2
还

Stop
Xiu1
休

want to speak, yet stop.
Yu4 shuo1 huan2 xiu1.
欲说还休。

want to speak, yet stop.
Yu4 shuo1 huan2 xiu1.
欲说还休。

But
Que4
却

Speak
Dao4
道

Weather
Tian1
天

Cool
Liang2
凉

Instead - say "cool weather, what a nice Autumn."
Que4 dao4 tian1 liang2 hao3 ge4 qiu1.
却道天凉好个秋。