Translation help needed

[sniffles]

I'm trying to translate the lyrics of a song, and I'm really stumped on most of the lines. Anyone want to give me some pointers?

“考盘在涧，
kao3 pan2 zai4 jian4,
?? at the mountain stream/gully,
硕人之宽。
shuo4 ren2 zhi1 kuan1.
????
蒹葭苍苍，
jian1 jia1 cang1 cang1,
????
白露为霜，
bai2 lu4 wei4 shuang1
White Dew (8th - 22nd September) frosts,
所谓伊人，
suo3 wei4 yi1 ren2,
????
在天一方……
zai4 tian1 yi1fang1....
????,
硕人之宽，
shuo4 ren2 zhi1 kuan1.....
????
硕人之宽……
shuo4 ren2 zhi1 kuan1.....
????
溯回从之，
su4 hui2 cong2 zhi1,
????
道阻且长，
dao4 zu3 qie3 chang3,
the way is always blocked
溯游从之，
su4 you2 cong2 zhi1,
????
宛在水中央……
wan3 zai4 shui3 zhong1 yang1....
in the midst of the winding water....
独寐寤言，
du2 mei4 wu4 yan2,
waking from sleep alone,
永矢勿谖，
yong3 shi3 wu4 xuan1,
never to be forgotten,
永矢勿谖……”
yong3 shi3 wu4 xuan1....
never to be forgotten....

[xianzai]

考盘在涧，
kao3 pan2 zai4 jian4,
?? at the mountain stream/gully,

My guess would be 考盘 here means "look".

硕人之宽。
shuo4 ren2 zhi1 kuan1.

Wenlin says this means "a great man is at ease." Perhaps here the great man is the mountain?

蒹葭苍苍，
jian1 jia1 cang1 cang1,

There are a lot of meanings for 苍苍, but I would guess the phrase means the reeds are gray. Another trans. would be the young reeds are dark green.

If you are going to be doing a lot of translation, Wenlin is very helpful. Pull the text into the program and it will give you mouseover information about each phrase/character from the ABC dictionary.

Also, chinese-forums has a Quick Translations subforum.

[sniffles]

My guess would be 考盘 here means "look".

Wenlin says this means "a great man is at ease." Perhaps here the great man is the mountain?

There are a lot of meanings for 苍苍, but I would guess the phrase means the reeds are gray. Another trans. would be the young reeds are dark green.

If you are going to be doing a lot of translation, Wenlin is very helpful. Pull the text into the program and it will give you mouseover information about each phrase/character from the ABC dictionary.

Also, chinese-forums has a Quick Translations subforum.

Thanks, xianzai. I had put the lyrics into NJStar, which also does a mouseover function, but of course it doesn't tell me which meaning is the one intended in this context!

I also put the text into two different online dictionaries and an online translator, but 考盘 always came out as "testing/examining (the) plate", which really didn't make any sense to me unless "testing the plate" is an idiom.

I saw the possible interpretation of 蒹葭苍苍 as "the young reeds are dark green" as you suggest, and that sounded like a more appropriate translation for a song lyric or poem. But it sounds even more appropriate if the first line is "Looking at the mountain stream".

[xianzai]

Thanks, xianzai. I had put the lyrics into NJStar, which also does a mouseover function, but of course it doesn't tell me which meaning is the one intended in this context!

Wenlin doesn't do that either, but it does have the most comprehensive electronic Chinese/English dictionary available.

I also put the text into two different online dictionaries and an online translator, but 考盘 always came out as "testing/examining (the) plate", which really didn't make any sense to me unless "testing the plate" is an idiom.

It helps to figure out what part of speech the characters may be playing. Both characters, when verbs, have meanings like check and inspect. I'm not really confident of the translation, but I can't figure out one which works better.

[jiang bao]

I'm trying to translate the lyrics of a song, and I'm really stumped on most of the lines. Anyone want to give me some pointers?

“考盘在涧，
kao3 pan2 zai4 jian4,
?? at the mountain stream/gully,
硕人之宽。
shuo4 ren2 zhi1 kuan1.
????
蒹葭苍苍，
jian1 jia1 cang1 cang1,
????
白露为霜，
bai2 lu4 wei4 shuang1
White Dew (8th - 22nd September) frosts,
所谓伊人，
suo3 wei4 yi1 ren2,
????
在天一方……
zai4 tian1 yi1fang1....
????,
硕人之宽，
shuo4 ren2 zhi1 kuan1.....
????
硕人之宽……
shuo4 ren2 zhi1 kuan1.....
????
溯回从之，
su4 hui2 cong2 zhi1,
????
道阻且长，
dao4 zu3 qie3 chang3,
the way is always blocked
溯游从之，
su4 you2 cong2 zhi1,
????
宛在水中央……
wan3 zai4 shui3 zhong1 yang1....
in the midst of the winding water....
独寐寤言，
du2 mei4 wu4 yan2,
waking from sleep alone,
永矢勿谖，
yong3 shi3 wu4 xuan1,
never to be forgotten,
永矢勿谖……”
yong3 shi3 wu4 xuan1....
never to be forgotten....

This is classic Chinese. I have to look this up LOL. Probably too advanced for you at this point. (It's too advanced for me).

I do kind of know the meaning of the first two terms. It know it's some poem.

1) to live as a hermit at a mountain stream.
2) to have the heart of a big man - open minded, generous and forgiving, I suppose

[sniffles]

This is classic Chinese. I have to look this up LOL. Probably too advanced for you at this point. (It's too advanced for me).

I do kind of know the meaning of the first two terms. It know it's some poem.

1) to live as a hermit at a mountain stream.
2) to have the heart of a big man - open minded, generous and forgiving, I suppose

I was wondering if it might be something like that. Hm, maybe I'll just leave that in pinyin instead of trying to translate it into English. Thanks again, jiang bao.

[mich]

This is an ancient folk song. Too advanced for you. Leave it.

[sniffles]

Is there anyone who could translate it for me? Or point me to an existing translation? I would really like to know what the poem means.

[jiang bao]

Sorry, not worth my time. Too tedious to do.

You may have to pay someone, like a chinese teacher who knows classics, to translate for you if you really wanna know.

[mich]

Hint:

It's 2 ancient folk songs woven into one. It basically just sums up GX's encounter with HZD. You get the drift if you paid attention.