此处，仅你我可知

SOMEWHERE ONLY WE KNOW

此处，仅你我可知

It feels good to come up with lyrics in another language the minute a foreign song gets me. That's the privilege of a bilingual, getting corresponding meaning matched, reading it from the perspective of another language.

Per Yuanchong Xu, the most appropriate and perfect translation from one language to another is not only about correspondence of meaning, but also a matchup of pronunciation and rhythm if it comes to poems or songs. So the rhythmic aesthetics still stay with us after a transformation from one language to another. If a song is singable after translation of lyrics, it may travel fast among people sharing the same language.

If we want to sing an English song which has been translated to Chinese, remember to make the Chinese sound like a river flowing forward since English sounds like a fluent flow without detectable pause between vocabularies, with all the words connecting to each other closely as if they were glued together, which is called liaison. Do it to Chinese too in the song even if Chinese sounds like beads dropping onto the ground separately in ordinary conversation.

When you feel like translating a song from English to Chinese, immerse yourself deep down the music, until some of the wordings impressive and rhythmic emerge from the bottom of your heart. Choose the one rhyme in Chinese and stick to it wherever the thought leads.

---

I will show you this by interpreting the lyrics below.

I walked across an empty land

我曾走过            空旷境地       

8 syllables in English, 8 in Chinese

I knew the pathway like the back of my hand 林间小径                  如掌纹          依旧熟悉

11 syllables in English, 11 in Chinese

I felt the earth beneath my feet

脚下土地        蓦然亲切

8 syllables in English, 8 in Chinese

Sat by the river and it made me complete

河畔静坐          思绪因完整而静谧

11 syllables in English, 12 in Chinese, with "complete" slowing down to match with 而静谧

Rhyme in 地 di  悉 xi  谧 mi based on the vowel of i

---

SOMEWHERE ONLY WE KNOW

BY KEANE

I walked across an empty land

我曾走过 空旷境地

I knew the pathway like the back of my hand 林间小径如掌纹 依旧熟悉

I felt the earth beneath my feet

脚下土地 蓦然亲切

Sat by the river and it made me complete

河畔静坐 思绪因完整而静谧

Oh simple thing where have you gone

哦 简单如你 无处可觅

I‘m getting old and I need something to rely on

世事变迁 我但愿老有所依

So tell me when you're gonna let me in

是否可以 住你心里

I'm getting tired and I need somewhere to begin

我已筋疲力尽 期待从某处能够重启

I came across a fallen tree

林间枯木 低头可见

I felt the branches of it looking at me

树枝如眼睛 看我孤单背影

Is this the place we used to love?

在这地方 曾经相遇

Is this the place that I‘ve been dreaming of? 是这地方让我 曾梦绕魂牵

Oh simple thing where have you gone

哦 简单如你 已往何处去

I‘m getting old and I need something to rely on

世事变迁 我但愿老有所依

And if you have a minute why don‘t we go

若你愿意 我们可遗世独立

Talk about it somewhere only we know?

归于此处 仅你我可知

This could be the end of everything

一切皆远离 一切亦将终结

So why don‘t we go

往桃源之地

Somewhere only we know?

此处仅你我可知