karaoke revisited

so clearly when i say, "oh yeah i'll post about that later", i never get back to it (VN trip, my homebirth story, etc.) weo, in june of 07, i posted about translating Purple Rain for my homey Bao, a national champ of spoken word. he had only needed the chorus and that's all i got around to translating though i promised the blog-iverse i would come back it.

now, Dr.10 had introduced me to vinamese translation bot that i never got around to testing out really. whatever sprite of mischief and procrastination has taken my fancy now to try the bot out by finishing my translation of Purple Rain into vinamese.

so, for your Karaoke Pleasure, i give you his Purple Majesty:

Tím mưa, mưa Tía

Purple Rain

Tôi không bao giờ có nghĩa là bạn để gây ra bất kỳ đau đớn

I never meant to cause you any sorrow

Tôi không bao giờ có nghĩa là bạn để gây ra bất kỳ đau

I never meant to cause you any pain

Tôi chỉ muốn xem một thời gian bạn cười

I only wanted to one time see you laughing

Tôi chỉ muốn xem bạn cười trong mưa tím

I only wanted to see you laughing in the purple rain

Tím mưa, mưa Tía

Purple rain Purple rain

Tím mưa, mưa Tía

Purple rain Purple rain

Tím mưa, mưa Tía

Purple rain Purple rain

Tôi chỉ muốn xem bạn tắm trong mưa tím

I only wanted to see you bathing in the purple rain

Tôi không bao giờ muốn được yêu của bạn ngày cuối tuần

I never wanted to be your weekend lover

Tôi chỉ muốn được một số loại bạn bè

I only wanted to be some kind of friend

Baby Tôi không bao giờ có thể ăn cắp được từ các bạn

Baby I could never steal you from another

It's như một xấu hổ của chúng tôi đã có hữu để kết thúc

It's such a shame our friendship had to end

Tím mưa, mưa Tía
Tím mưa, mưa Tía
Tím mưa, mưa Tía

Purple rain, purple rain

Tôi chỉ muốn xem bạn dưới mưa tím

I only wanted to see u underneath the purple rain

Mật ong tôi biết, tôi biết, tôi biết là lần thay đổi

Honey I know, I know, I know times are changing

Đó là thời gian tất cả chúng ta đều đạt ra cho cái gì mới

It's time we all reach out for something new

Điều đó có nghĩa là bạn quá

That means you too

bạn nói rằng bạn muốn có một lãnh đạo

You say you want a leader

Nhưng bạn có thể không có vẻ để làm cho tâm trí của bạn lên

But you can't seem to make up your mind

Tôi nghĩ rằng bạn tốt hơn đóng nó

I think you better close it

Và để tôi hướng dẫn bạn đến tím mưa

And let me guide you to the purple rain

Tím mưa, mưa Tía

Purple Rain, Purple Rain

Tím mưa, mưa Tía

Nếu bạn biết những gì tôi đang hát về lên đây

If you know what I'm singing about up here

C'mon nâng cao tay của bạn

C'mon raise your hand

Tím mưa, mưa Tía

Purple Rain, Purple Rain

Tôi chỉ muốn xem bạn, chỉ muốn xem bạn

I only want to see you, only want to see you

Trong mưa tím

In the purple rain.

for your karaoke pleasure

a certain vinamee Prince impersonator thug friend o'mine asked me to translate the opening lyrics of Purple Rain. ever eager to evade work in favor of (un)productive creativity, i complied. i was surprised to find that a translation does not yet exist, at least on the web. so i present for your karaoke pleasure, the first stanza installment (thanks to mimi n. for her "never" poetic suggestion). i will update as i get a chance to translate, so refresh often...

Mưa Tía* Nhạc sĩ PRINCE

Purple Rain his Purple Majesty

mình đâu nào muốn làm cho ta buồn tênh

i never meant 2 cause u any sorrow

mình đâu nào muốn làm cho ta đau đớn

i never meant 2 cause u any pain

mình chỉ có muốn một lần trông thấy ta cười tình

i only wanted one time 2 c u laughing

mình chỉ có mong muốn trông thấy ta cười tình trong mưa tía

i only wanted 2 c u laughing in the purple rain

Mưa Tía, Mưa Tía

Purple rain, purple rain

Mưa Tía, Mưa Tía

Purple rain, purple rain

Mưa Tía, Mưa Tía

Purple rain, purple rain

mình chỉ khát khao thấy ta tắm trong mưa tía

I only wanted 2 see U bathing in the purple rain

* * * * * * *

*anthropological note: while the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis of linguistic relativity was shown to be overly linguistic determinist, while the human arbitrariness of color classification and the existence of 11 basic color categories had universal saliency as demonstrated by Berlin & Kay (1976). as of last year, it is understood that the closer a people exist to the equator the less likely they will distinguish between green and blue due to ultraviolet radiation. indeed in vinamese there is only one word xanh to indicate blue and green . in order to differentiate, one has to indicate xanh như nước biển (like the ocean) or xanh như lá (like a leaf). in looking at chữ nôm--the cangjie-based Vinamese script from 10th to 20th centuries--for etymological purposes,though tím is used in contemporary vernacular to signify purple, it is more accurate to say it refers to dark blue, reddish while tía (as in tía tô-perilla leaf) refers to the extraspectral color of purple, violet, amethyst . Therefore, for etymological reasons and the fact that there is a new tango of indeterminate relation
by Trần Thái Hòa with the name Mưa Tím, i have chosen to translate "Purple Rain" as Mưa Tía. And i like the poetics of it.
**after consideration, i changed the subject in the pronouns to be gender neutral without losing the intimacy connotated. for more on that, refer back to one of my other blogs where i go on a long tangent about pronouns in Vinamese.