Chinese/Korean translation help

[steved]

Here is a banner that I received as a gift:


I am familiar with only some of these characters but couldn't guess what it means when they are all together. Any takers out there? 현우씨? Max? Anyone?
I know, its Chinese but it is Korean.

[Keith]

wow, that's so cool! it's so old school.... but sorry, no idea what it means... keke

[maxiewawa]

Scrolls like the one shown are usually incomprehensible from modern Chinese. The characters are all recogniseable from modern Chinese, but there is no grammar... it's a little like if I was to show you an ancient Latin book. You'd be able to read it out loud and spell it and might even recognise most of the words from their modern equivalents but it wouldn't know what it meant.

Sorry!

[jbiesnecker]

Looks like http://pbbs.naver.com/action/read.php?id=osj1952_1&nid=5770 has a Korean translation of the text. Given some time I might be able to do a decent translation, but 文言文 makes my brain hurt and it's a holiday here in Shanghai, so I'm trying to avoid things that make my brain hurt!

Here's the text in Traditional:

煙樹平沈雨意遲
晩來看竹坐移時
老禪碧眼渾如舊
更檢前年此日詩

and Simplified:

烟树平沈雨意迟
晩来看竹坐移时
老禅碧眼浑如旧
更检前年此日诗

[maxiewawa]

??저도 상해에 있어요! 我也在上海！
You're making me look bad too!

[maxiewawa]

A search of baidu.com brings up this: http://baike.baidu.com/view/327048.htm

The first two Hanja/Hanzi (汉字）are the name of this place. It's in ZheJiang province, which is right near Shanghai, where I live.

It seems to be a poem about going to this place and having a look around...

"I came to <smoky tree> late, it was raining heavily.
I came to look at bamboo and pass the time...
I cried for a long time
And thought about the poem I wrote last year"

I can't tell you more than that... it seems to be a poem... 眼浑 = crying??? 更检前年此日诗 = thinking about the poem I wrote last year???

These are just wild guesses though. It could be the latest financial news for all I know! But you can be sure that this is a poem about a place in ZheJiang.

[John]

Speaking of Chinese banners I got a few presents last year from a friend in China....I have a few more, and since we are on the subject of translating Chinese......





Please forgive me the orientation I am not familiar with the direction of Chinese.

[hyunwoo]

Well, I don't understand anything of the Chinese poem, but thanks to the link of the Korean translation that "jbiesnecker" posted, I now understand the meaning of this poem. (Sorry I'm not that familiar with it, but it seems to be well-known among those who can read these kind of poems.)


군자사(君子寺)

by 유호인(兪好仁)


煙樹平沈雨意遲(연수평침우의지)
이내 낀 나무 어둑하나 비 내릴 기미 없고
= It looks foggy around the tree but it doesn't seem like rain at all

晩來看竹坐移時(만래간죽좌이시)
늦어 돌아와 대숲 바라보며 오랫동안 앉았다
= I came back home late and I'm sitting here looking at the bamboo forest for a long time

老禪碧眼渾如舊(노선벽안혼여구)
늙은 선사의 푸른 눈은 전과 다름없는데
= The blue eyes of the old monk haven't changed

更檢前年此日詩(갱검전년차일시)
지난 해 읽은 시를 오늘 다시 자세히 살펴본다
= Today I'm reading the same poem I read last year once again more carefully.




Wow. I really wouldn't have understood anything of it without the Korean translation. This is old school!

[steved]

Wow! Thanks everyone ! We had no idea where to start on this one.
It is an interesting poem... Blue-eyed monk??

[hyunwoo]

oh, I forgot to mention it.

벽안 means blue eyes, and it means 'westerners' who has blue eyes,
from the Asians' point of view ^_^