ศาลาชุมนุม

[David and Bui]

Hello David,

The sky shines brightly like gold
-พราวพร่าง = sparkling (in the sense of glittering, twinkling): The sky sparkles like gold?"
Yes, I had a problem with "พราวพร่าง". Poetic license will only take one so far. I could not get my head around the moon "sparkling, glittering, or twinkling". Stars do that; perhaps the moon's reflection on the ocean waves do that, but the moon in the sky can only shine. [We do have a saying, "All that glitters is not gold".] Perhaps the author is referring to the stars, and not the moon. But stars do not give a golden glow. บางทีคิดมากเกินไป What do you think?

-Yes, agree. Sometimes, keeping the real meaning of the original language might not make sense in the target language. So, agree with "The sky shines brightly like gold" (นภาพราวพร่างดังทอง)
[quote]

็How about something in-between: "The sky glistens/gleams/shimmers brightly like gold", or "The sky glimmers with a golden hue" ?

[theoldman]

"The sky shines brightly like gold" (นภาพราวพร่างดังทอง)
How about something in-between: "The sky glistens/gleams/shimmers brightly like gold", or "The sky glimmers with a golden hue" ?

A glisten has something to do with wet and greasy (water etc.) or even if it's a sparkling light, it still reflected from something wet. So sky here might not fit the case.
Gleam is good (shine brightly with reflected light).
Shimmer is better (shine with a soft tremulous light; a soft slightly wavering light, for example, a pale shimmer of moonlight.)
Glimmer - shine with a soft tremulous light; a soft slightly wavering light, for example, a pale shimmer of moonlight.
You see? Even I looked my dictionary up, it's still hard for me to choose the very right English word. (How difference between shimmer and glimmer when they have the same definitions?
Let's compare them to some English-Thai Dictionary:
glisten = ระยิบระยับ; เปล่งประกาย; แพรวพราว
gleam = แสงที่เป็นประกาย; ส่องแสงวูบเดียว (just one flash)
glimmer = ให้แสงสลัว
shimmer = แสงแวววาว; ส่องแวววับ
In other words, it seems "แสงแวววาว" or "เป็นประกาย" could be used in Thai in any case here (sky/moon) except glimmer (แสงสลัว).

[theoldman]

OOps! sorry, it was late in the night and I was blurred.

glimmer = shine faintly with a wavering light.

So, it seems the best choice should be gleam (shine brightly with reflected light). Hence,
The sky is gleaming like gold" (นภาพราวพร่างดังทอง)

What do you think?

[Pirin]

คำก็รัก สองคำก็รัก
=>
The first word (you said) was "love", (and) another word (you said) was "love".

นภาพราวพรั่งดั่งทอง
=>
sky filled with glittering gold-like stars

(I have spent most of my free time in the area where no one in the community turns on the light after 8 pm, so I usually see the above sky.)
The composer should have seen this same sky. No need to depend on the Hubble Space Telescope.

[David and Bui]

Wonderful, Khun Pirin! It was not the verb พราวพร่าง that we had difficulty with; it was the subject of the sentence -- not the "moon" but the "stars". You and Old Man have solved the problem!!

How about:

(.ญ.)แสงจันทร์ นวลผ่อง
(Female) How brightly shines the moon

นภาพราวพร่างดังทอง
The stars twinkle bright as gold

เหม่อมองแล้วสุขอุรา
I gaze upon them and my heart is joyful.

With a shorter English version, the words almost fit the melody!

[David and Bui]

Old Man:

ฟ้า ชื่นวิญญา จันทราจุมพิศ ทุกคืน
The sky is refreshed as the moon kisses it each night.

Please help me with the word วิญญา. Is this a poetic shortening of วิญญาณ? I am having difficulty understanding the structure of "ฟ้าชื่นวิญญา".

Thanks.

[David and Bui]

We have several impressions of

(ญ)คำก็รักสองคำก็รัก

1. Every word you say is “love”
2. Saying "love" then, saying "love" now
3. You use the word “love” over and over again.
4. The first word would be “love”; the second would be “love”
5. The first word is "love"; the second word is "love."
6. The first word was "love"; the second word was "love." (The male always says "love.")
7. What you say is "love" and then is "love" (?)
8. The first word (you said) was "love", (and) another word (you said) was "love".

I would like to keep the translation close to the length of the original. How about,

"You say 'love' once, and 'love' twice"

I think that this line could fit within the melody. What do you all think?

[theoldman]

Hello David,

(.ญ.)แสงจันทร์ นวลผ่อง
(Female) How brightly shines the moon
นภาพราวพร่างดังทอง
The stars twinkle bright as gold

-Hmm...I don't think it's about stars. Just my two cents. The point is, if any night the moon shines brightly, it's hard to see the stars. The stars can be seen brightly only in คืนเดือนมืด (literally translated as the moonless night).
So, here, it's about "the moonlight that brightens up the sky until it looks like gold"

ฟ้า ชื่นวิญญา จันทราจุมพิศ ทุกคืน
The sky is refreshed as the moon kisses it each night.
Please help me with the word วิญญา. Is this a poetic shortening of วิญญาณ? I am having difficulty understanding the structure of "ฟ้าชื่นวิญญา".

-Yes, it's from วิญญาณ, in the sense of spirit; feeling. In other words, ฟ้าชื่นใจ ที่ได้รับจูบ(จาก) จันทร์ (The sky rejoices/is delight as the moon kisses it each night).

คำก็รัก สองคำก็รัก
"You say 'love' once, and 'love' twice"
-I like this one. It's about, "you say "love" over and over."

[David and Bui]

Here are another two versions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_w5uzrklaM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4T8WFTt6jc

[Pirin]

Some of us might have assumed that the moon blocks all other stars the way the sun does.
Actually, the moon is never bright enough to block some stars such as the bright star Sirius or the constellation Orion (กลุ่มดาวนายพราน).