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Post by Si on Jun 24, 2007 13:45:24 GMT
My chinese teacher said she will help me translate most of one of these guqin books but im not sure which is best.
GY green book LXT green book
or another.....?
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Post by Charlie Huang on Jun 25, 2007 9:07:18 GMT
LXT's defo. But GY has the better diagrams of how to tie the knot, etc.
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Post by SCWGuqin on Jun 25, 2007 12:17:13 GMT
I haven't seen LXT's book - why would you consider it preferable?
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Post by Charlie Huang on Jun 25, 2007 22:15:02 GMT
Because it is easier to follow.
He has goes through some basic techniques, followed by exercises. Then, he goes onto the melodies in which he starts from the easiest and all of them can be learnt. Each melody also has explanations of new techniques encountered in the melody. The appendix includes how to string (diagrams not as good as GY's) plus his qin theory, etc. Suitable for beginners.
GY's book, as we have already explained, is differently structured. Theory and pedgory first, followed by exercises, then two parts of scores (first in his new notation, then in qinpu), most of which you would be unlikely to learn. Then the compostion scores, followed by appendix of theory and notes. More suitable for someone with some knowledge of qin.
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Post by Si on Jun 26, 2007 4:20:39 GMT
well i showed LXT book to my teacher and she said she could not understand it. she dunt know anything about music but i pointed out she can use a dictionary or computer , just like i would if i was reading a book on nuclear physics, but seems she cant do it.
is it something about the chinese language that makes people give up if they encounter unfamiliar words?
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Post by SCWGuqin on Jun 26, 2007 4:23:03 GMT
Your teacher doesn't know anything about music??
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Post by Charlie Huang on Jun 26, 2007 6:30:47 GMT
Your teacher doesn't know anything about music?? X2 Not even jianpu which there is?! How can she not 'understand'? It's in plain Chinese! Have you explained to her that she doesn't have to bother with the theory, only the technique bits? If she can't grasp LXT's book, she'll fail miserably trying to understand GY's!
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Post by Si on Jun 26, 2007 8:12:59 GMT
Its my chinese teacher - not my guqin teacher hahaha - that would be bad news if my guqin teacher did not know anything about music.
Thats what I said to her - these books are written for your average chinese person to understand, so how can she not understand. Even if i dont totaly understand what a Chord is for exapmle, then i just look on google...............sigh
I will try again, next week.
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Post by Charlie Huang on Jun 26, 2007 9:24:05 GMT
But surely, even the layman can understand most of it! It isn't written in Classical Chinese...
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Post by charliecharlieecho on Jun 26, 2007 12:49:22 GMT
But surely, even the layman can understand most of it! It isn't written in Classical Chinese... A 'polite' brush-off maybe? I once asked a woman with a first in French to help me translate a short passage in French, with only two or three words in pinyin, about Chinese kinship terms. The immediate reply was that she didn't understand it.
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Post by Charlie Huang on Jun 26, 2007 22:04:07 GMT
Well, if I, the BBC who's standard in Chinese is below average, can understand it, I am gobsmacked that others with a higher level of language eduaction cannot even grasp the gist of it... Plus, a book about qin is hardly one on nuclear physics...
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Post by guzhenglover on Jun 27, 2007 2:53:14 GMT
My chinese teacher said she will help me translate most of one of these guqin books but im not sure which is best. GY green book LXT green book or another.....? Will you need the entire books translated? I was going to suggest that maybe you could just ask me when you move back to Singapore.
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Post by Si on Jun 27, 2007 8:22:01 GMT
Oh thats a good idea!
I was rather hoping my chinese teacher would do it cheaply as its an easy (or so I thought) way to make some money for her.
I will still bring them back with me as well as others that I have but dont know the name off.
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Post by charliecharlieecho on Jun 27, 2007 11:03:15 GMT
Charlie: The woman in my story understood perfectly but couldn't be bothered to help. It's just possible Syburn's teacher took the same attitude.
Syburn: What do people charge for translations in China?
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Post by Si on Jun 27, 2007 16:26:46 GMT
Translation charges - my teacher is checking it - I bet its expensive. Best to just get a private person that wants to make a bit of money.
If I manage to get anything translated I will try to put it online.
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Post by davidmdahl on Jun 27, 2007 18:23:39 GMT
Before commissioning any large translation projects, I suggest getting a sample translated. I recently purchased a so-called translation of some Vietnamese books. The definitions of the words were translated rather than the meaning, which greatly reduced the usefulness of the translation.
Best wishes,
David
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Post by Si on Jun 28, 2007 3:01:05 GMT
Another book I recently came across is Qin xue bei yao.
Its in 2 parts and Im using it for one tune at the moment. The notation in quite detailed.
Apart from that I havent a clue what its all about!
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Post by Charlie Huang on Jun 28, 2007 7:55:01 GMT
QXBY is useful if you want to get into the nitty gritty of qin study.
TBH, translation of entire books are costly and you'd rather save up for a qin...
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Post by Si on Jun 28, 2007 9:17:57 GMT
well those scores look good. i compared its PAZ with Qu ji book and it have more info.
I must say though, its a messy written book. As I mentioned somewhere else - it must be dated to the pre-tippex era!
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Post by Charlie Huang on Jun 28, 2007 15:03:22 GMT
Well, it is written by Gu Meigeng who died 10 years (?) ago. It was only recently published in 2004. It is written in his hand.
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Post by Si on Jun 28, 2007 15:16:23 GMT
wow 10 years ago looks and feel 100years old - it ought to have been typeset with computers and stuff.
So what this book all about. What the special point of it.
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Post by Charlie Huang on Jun 28, 2007 17:38:14 GMT
Well, I like the rustic feel of it.
It is basically GMG's teaching material. Goes through qin lore, technique, theory and scores, but in detail, hence the thickness.
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Post by guzhenglover on Jun 29, 2007 2:56:44 GMT
QXBY is useful if you want to get into the nitty gritty of qin study. TBH, translation of entire books are costly and you'd rather save up for a qin... Yes, and there's also the issue of copyright to consider.
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Post by Si on Jun 29, 2007 6:42:22 GMT
I dont think there is any serious copyright problem as long as its not used for comercial use. Afterall they never bothered to make an english version! And once you have a translation you can reword it or combine it with other info. The whole point of this is not to rip-off someones work, but mearly to undersatnd it in english.
This "thing" in mainly a private undertaking. If it happens and is not too expensive I will issue online in some way for us all to share.
Charlie In terms of technique / theory / etc I cant tell if most of the info in these books is already well documented in english in your Wiki / silkqin / Chris Evans site etc.
Maybe you can propose some chapters / sections that all english speakers would benifit from, rather than just translating info that is already covered well.
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Post by Si on Jun 29, 2007 6:49:03 GMT
Translation cost just in.
Going rate 150rmb per chinese 1000 words. She will charge me less than that if she can do it.
Just to help her understand the rudiments of music terms in Chinese, can anyone recomend a website that she can use if she comes across a term that would be mentioned in one of the above books.
Charlie - would you think the contents of Qin xue bei yao will be more usefull that LXT book?
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