The second line of 关雎

[yangchencen]

A big fat thank you to all of you commented! Thank you for your kind words! I'm honoured that people want to add me, really. But I might not add you back. I'm sorry, but I use my friend list to check my favorite fanfiction writers up. And no offence, but some of you post several times a day...

Comments

[jayspec]

Think about sound wave! You mean to say either, "Think about a sound wave!" or "Think about sound waves!" When using the singular, the article "a" is just as necessary as "一个."

Some aquicolous potherb. The leaves are esculent. Neither I nor my dictionary have any idea what "aquicolous" means. I can guess what "potherb" means, but there might be a better English word for it. I have no idea what "esculent" means, but my dictionary says it means "edible" which would be a word that far more English speakers would know.

means at any time both when awaking and when sleeping The word "awaking" is not used in this way. A more natural way to say this would be, "...at any time, both when awake and asleep."

means "most welcome" in nowaday Chinese The word "nowadays" is never used in this way. The word I think you're looking for is "modern." "Nowadays" would be more likely used when you're trying to sound 'folksy' or like you're from the country. If this is what you wanted to say, you'd say, "Nowadays, this means 'most welcome.'"

[yangchencen]

Oh, so the word "wave" is a countable noun. I thought it wasn't. I know better now. Thanks!

For my dictionary-born unintelligible words, well I've got a solution now! I just go ahead and look it up as usual, but if the word is one that I've never seen before, I forget it and search harder~~ Because, see, when I found a new word, I thought "Hey I've never seen it, but the native speaker might know". Well, seems I was wrong...
And I'm in serious need of a new dictionary!

And that "something got hand on"... (dug a hole and jump in, "I'm not here...") SORRY! It should be like this, now I've sorted my head out...
（经过许多事情）我辗转来到北京。(Been through a lot) I arrived in Beijing.
Here 辗转 means indirectly, have been through a lot places or things.
It can be used on things, means something was passed from on person (place) to another.

You are not harsh at all! It's constructive! Thank you!

[bokane]

I think the second reading for 侧 is zhāi, but in those cases it's just used in adjectives like 侧歪. I could be wrong there, though.
哉 here is an interjection, isn't it? At least, that's its normal function in classical Chinese - as a kind of exclamation mark, as in '呜呼哀哉!' and that kind of thing. Also, my copy of the 诗经 interprets the 服 in 思服 as 思念. Dunno.(shrug)

Anyway, sorry - you wanted pointers on your English. As before, your English is excellent, but there are a few small things that bear mentioning:

As jayspec462 said above, 'awaking' can't really be used in the way that you're using here; 'awaking' isn't the continuous sense of 'awake,' but rather the gerund form of the verb 'to awaken.' "Being awake" would be better here

[yangchencen]

侧 has 3 pronunciations, cè for side (旁边), zè for narrow (狭窄), and zhāi for sloping (斜着). The last one is a dialect, I think it's usually used in the northeast and maybe the whole north of Yellow River. And I don't think anybody could be wrong about poems this old. Just different opinions 'cos unless Time Travel is available, no one knows the truth.

My copy of the 诗经 interprets the whole word 思服 as 思念. The interjection version came from my friend's copy 'cos hers is more expensive. :P

Your explanation on "awake" is most helpful. And just for sh*t and giggles, do you know how difficult it is to translate "dying"?

I don't have any translated version here. Maybe I shouldn't begin with poems. They deserve a more graceful translator than me...

[bokane]

Oh, no - I think you do a very good job with the poems. I'm just 吹毛求疵; I have an unfortunate inclination towards pedantry. Your poste are really helpful for me -- I'm particularly interested in Chinese poetry, and in literary translation. Trust me -- you're doing a better job than some published translators. And I always find it funny to see what translators do when they attempt 李商隐's poetry. Most of them just give up completely.

Sounds like you and I might have the same copy of the Shijing -- mine's the 新疆人民出版社 edition with modern "translations" next to the original text.

"Dying," eh? What's the context?

[yangchencen]

...Tell me about it. I thought I can start with 李商隐's 风雨. After 3 days and lots of cursing, I give up and grab the nearest book. Which turned out to be my Shijing.
I don't think we have the same copy. Mine doesn't have a translation at all. I take paticular care to buy the comment-only version for all my poem books. 'Cos most of the modern translations sound ridiculous to me. All except one, I'll tell you about it someday.

It's just for "live or die", in Chinese there're two conditions: alive or dead, seldom has one as "dying".