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Music
The flag never lowers on the American empirePosted by Joel Martinsen, February 29, 2008 5:18 PM
![]() Forever, eh? The national anthem of the United States of America is "The Star-Spangled Banner." With lyrics scrawled by Francis Scott Key on the back of an envelope during the bombing of Ft. McHenry in 1814, and a tune cribbed from the drinking song "To Anacreon in Heaven" by John Stuart Smith, the full version continues through four bellicose stanzas and is practically unsingable. That notwithstanding, the anthem was performed at the recent New York Philharmonic concert in Pyongyang. Chinese blogger Fuluzhenxiang noticed that the South Korean media's Chinese-language account of the concert used an unusual translation for the song's title: 星星闪烁的旗帜 ("Flag with glittering stars"). Media reports from mainland China, on the other hand, used 星条旗永不落, or "The Stars and Stripes Forever." That's actually the title of another tune, a march composed in 1897 by John Philip Sousa. This mistranslation is widespread throughout the Chinese media, from national agencies like Xinhua down to local papers. For example, a Guangzhou Daily article last September concerning revisions to the US citizenship test reported that one new question was "Who wrote the US National Anthem, 'Stars and Stripes Forever'?" Trick question! Try again next time. Fuluzhenxiang suggests that the confusion of the two songs is not the only reason that a new translation would be a good idea:
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There are currently 8 Comments for The flag never lowers on the American empire.
Comments on The flag never lowers on the American empireWhy is the word "banner" so hard to translate. I really don't understand any of the above. 500 words on how to translate the a song named after a banner, without trying to translate the word banner. Am I missing something?? "This mistranslation is widespread throughout the Chinese media, from national agencies like Xinhua down to local papers." Shouldn't you drop the "This" at the beginning of the sentence ? The widespread of mistranslation can due to the seriousness the media feel about their job, or it could be intentional, to influence Chinese understanding of the US. Either way, it is significant. Since it is the Chinese custom to question the intention of people, I would certainly question the intention of this so called "mistranslation". On the topic of potentially pernicious mistranslations of the symbols of American national identity, it might benefit Chinese readers to remember that the president of the United States lives in the White House (白房子), a suitably humble appellation for the chief executive's residence in a democratic republic, not the "White Palace" (白宫), a name reeking of monarchism that would appall our revolutionary forebears. I can well imagine a patriotic man of the people such as Andrew Jackson--brawler, dueler, frontiersman, child soldier, victorious general, and 7th president--taking particular offense. I remember reading a similar complaint about the Chinese title for the US Secretary of State, 国务卿: the name sounds outdated and the position, which is essentially that of a foreign minister, is completely unrelated to the 国务卿 of the Yuan Shikai government, who was in charge of government affairs. Who cares?? Just call it "the national anthem of the US of A" and be done with it. Or use the song from the movie "Team America: World Police" entitled "America...F**K YEAH!!!" america is cool i wish i was there now |
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