Tamil to English translation, BETA

ஒரு வண்ணத்துப் பூச்சி எந்தன் வழி தேடி வந்தது
அதன் வண்ணங்கள் மட்டும் இங்கு விரலோடு உள்ளது

Ammani feels Chenthil’s translation of the above lines are not adequate/crisp enough. Let me give it a shot…

A butterfly once came my way,
Alas, only traces of colours on my fingers stay.

The next few lines of this song are pretty good too: I touched fire. Traded (opened a store) on a deserted island. Built a house of sand

Such acts of brilliant futility.

(If you liked this, you might want to read some of my other translations: (Bharathi’s poems) 1, 2, 3)

Posted by Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan on September 19th, 2007 | Filed in Blog World, Random Writings |


4 Responses to “Tamil to English translation, BETA”

  1. RS Says:

    Ah. Nice. Retained the meaning and managed to rhyme :)

    Wondering if we can capture “en vazhi thedi” better…

    A butterfly came searching for me (came flitting towards me?),
    leaving wisps of colors lingering on my fingers…(mere wisps of colors stay back on my fingers?)

  2. Chenthil Says:

    By some quirk, I am not able to comment in my own blog. Your attempt is the best so far, will post it on my blog when the blogger gods are happy.

  3. Zero Says:

    Good one, this. I’d actually like it more without ‘alas.’ The wistfulness is best left unopened.
    Also, the present tense in the second line which is quite significant, is lost a bit. But then…

  4. Smufaroom Says:

    I want tamil to english translation soft ware Or Books

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