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A 4-line poem
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Thread: A 4-line poem

  1. #1
    Eruname
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    Default A 4-line poem

    My friend's birthday is soon, so I thought to make a gift of a poster-size drawing for her. Her culture is very important to her, so I wanted to include some Vietnamese on it. I thought to translate a poem by Edna St.Vincent Millay that I associate with her:

    "My candle burns at both ends;
    it will not last the night;
    but ah! my foes and oh! my friends,
    it gives a lovely light!"

    I am not very familiar with Vietnamese, so I first used the translator on this website. It provided me with this translation:

    "Nến (của) Tôi cháy tại cả hai kết thúc;.
    nó sẽ không kéo dài đêm;.
    trừ phi ah! những địch thủ (của) tôi và ồ! những bạn (của) tôi,.
    nó đưa cho một ánh sáng đáng yêu!"

    I know that no translator is completely reliable, so I tried my best to check it.
    - I don't know if "kết thúc" in the first line might be better rendered as "mẩu nến".
    -Or if perhaps "trừ phi" might be "Má". That, and I'm not sure what the purpose of the "thủ" in the third line is.
    -Lastly, I wonder if "vui thú" might be closer to the intended meaning than "sáng đáng yêu".

    I thank you all for your help with the translation.

  2. #2
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Location
    California
    Posts
    1,985

    Default

    "My candle burns at both ends;
    it will not last the night;
    but ah! my foes and oh! my friends,
    it gives a lovely light!"

    “Ngọn nến của tôi cháy cả 02 đầu;
    Nó sẽ không kéo dài suốt cả đêm;
    Nhưng ạ! những kẻ thù hằn tôi và ồ! Những bạn bè thân ái của tôi,
    Ngọn nến tỏa ra một vùng ánh sáng thật dễ thương.
    Last edited by MANH NGUYEN; 09-05-2008 at 10:03 AM.

  3. #3
    Eruname
    Guest

    Default

    Thank you very much.
    I'm not usually very good at asking for help; it was some time before I even asked her to try to teach me.
    I don't learn tonal languages very well, unfortunately. They're some of the most complex and interesting, but I inevitably end up saying things that I don't mean.
    Thank you again for your help Manh, and I will keep trying to learn as best I can.

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