The title also the refrain of the song is variously rendered as: 1. English translation of the Chinese 2. English translation of the Chinese; b. Nathasha originally wrote to me to ask my opinion about which of the three translation I thought captured the spirit and feeling of the English original best. Before turning to that question, I want to focus on the Taiwanese version, because it raises some very interesting issues about writing systems in China. I also noticed a lot of other places in the song where what he sings doesn't match the characters that are written. This is because there's a discrepancy between written and spoken Taiwanese that results from the fact that there has never been a standardized system for writing Taiwanese with Chinese characters. As has been pointed out again and again on Language Log, especially with regard to Cantonese, normally what gets written down is Mandarin, not Cantonese, Shanghainese, Taiwanese, and so forth. In other words, native speakers of Cantonese, Shanghainese, Taiwanese, etc. And, from a Taiwanese speaking graduate student: I think that is one of the issues about transcribing Taiwanese into the Chinese script now. Sometimes it will be written with the Chinese characters of the same meaning; sometimes, it will be transcribed with the Chinese scripts with let it go mandarin lyrics same sound. It is not consistent even in the same song. In general, there is a poorness of fit between the Chinese characters and all spoken Sinitic languages, even local versions of Mandarin. The forte of Chinese characters is for book language, not the vernaculars and colloquial languages. I'll just give one more example of the contortions one has to go through to write even the simplest Taiwanese in characters. It's merely being used to convey the sound of the Taiwanese morpheme. So these are the two main strategies for writing Taiwanese and other topolects with Chinese characters: borrowing the characters for a. Thus, sometimes the characters are being used as semantic equivalents and sometimes as phonetic transcriptions Naturally, the words of Taiwanese and Mandarin often overlap, in which case the characters can be used directly, both for their sound though their sounds are not identical and their meaning, and need not be borrowed for one or the other. The following are comments by my colleagues and students. From a professional lecturer on Mandarin who is also a native speaker of Taiwanese: Thanks for sending the links. I watched the film in the theater and have heard the song in English many times. However, this is the first time I heard it in Chinese and Taiwanese. The lyrics are closest to the original English lyrics and the phrases are short, easy to remember, and rhyme well. If I am going to perform the song myself, I will pick this version. It sounds more natural to me. The lyrics are more literary and use more long and ornate phrases. While it may read well as a poem, it doesn't sound as natural as a song. It gives me the feeling that the writer is trying too hard, but as a result it sounds awkward. It's apparently a let it go mandarin lyrics song because the lyrics are hilarious and they use a male voice to perform the song. However, the combination of Taiwanese and English in the lyrics actually match perfectly. Because the purpose of this version is to produce humor, the lyrics are least like the original. If I am going to perform in a rather formal occasion, I will use the first version. However, if the performance is mostly to make it fun, I will use the third one. From a senior lecturer on Mandarin and Taiwanese: The third one is all Taiwanese, and the lyrics are very different from the original. I like the second one better, the Chinese lyrics are great. From a mainland graduate student: I think the first one is the best of the three. Although I am not familiar with Taiwanese, the third version is really in that language to me. Also, the second one and third one are too obviously from a translation for me, but the first one doesn't have many marks of translation. It really is in Taiwanese. I was laughing out loud!. This is an in Taiwan. From a mainland graduate student: Did you notice that the English subtitles are different. They fit the corresponding Chinese lines well. The first one is my favorite. From a Taiwanese graduate student: Comparing these three versions, if I am asked to choose between the two Mandarin versions, I would choose the second one, the Taiwan version translated into Chinese. In addition, the wording in Taiwan version is also more poetic, more like song lyrics. The third version, the Taiwanese one, is more like a vulgar and funny takeoff. Especially the lines in Taiwanese are not the direct translation of the original. It is the creative addition of the writer. Some vulgar uses are emphasized. Let it go mandarin lyrics translations of Western movie titles also tend towards 4-character phrases. Perhaps someone else can comment on this more. On that note, I also recently came across a fan-made version, featuring 26 Sinitic topolects, sometimes with improvised lyrics. I find the result as hilarious and brilliant as the Taiwanese cover, and is a great example of the amazing linguistic diversity of China. Unfortunately, the subtitles are all, as Professor Mair noted in the post, in Mandarin. You can be sure that I will be sharing it far and wide. Mandarin is full of words from Cantonese, and there are quite a few from Shanghainese too. Maybe the word has been in let it go mandarin lyrics in speech for thousands of years, but hardly ever recorded in writing. Or maybe it's a result of different phonological developments of the same Classical Chinese word. I'm very curious about the evidence given by the government in choosing the specific characters. I laughed so hard, tears rolled down, and I was so happy that this email meant for academic discussions brought such joy to my morning. Who would have guessed that Taiwanese students would favor the Taiwanese version and Chinese students favored the Mainland Chinese. Sun said, March 20, 2014 I got distracted by the heated debate on whether if Taiwanese people should write in English on Youtube, in the comments below the Taiwanese version.
