Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Hi everyone! I'm Paloma again, and tonight I have a very special song for you to listen at! It was composed by the unique and wonderful Bob Dylan; it's called Blowin' In The Wind. I've chosen this song due to its great message, a call to the humanity to see all the injustices that are being made day by day. What Bob says in this song it's the sad truth, people always pretend not to see all the bad things that happen around them, as long as this things don't affect them.
 To sum up, all you have to do is pay special attention to the lyrics and then fill in the gaps with the missing word. I'm going to put a video which has subtitles, so you have an extra clue, you will know the word in Spanish.
Now... let's start!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlDrHDc8DSQ


How many _____ must a man walk down
Before you call him a _____?
Yes, 'n' how many ______ must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?
Yes, 'n' how many times must the cannon balls ______
Before they're _______ banned?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.

How many times must a man _______ up
Before he can see the _______?
Yes, 'n' how many ears must one man have
Before he can _____ people cry?
Yes, 'n' how many deaths will it take till he _______
That too many_____ have died?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.

How many years can a ________exist
Before it's washed to the sea?
Yes, 'n' how many years can some _______ exist
Before they're allowed to be _____?
Yes, 'n' how many times can a man turn his _______,
Pretending he _____ doesn't see?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.

So... that's all my friends! I hope you've really enjoyed this song, and try to think a little about the message, about what Dylan tried to express.
Bye!

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

The laughing heart

Hi everyone! I'm a new blogger and my name is Paloma. I am going to contribute to this blog with tonnes of poems and songs which I challenge you all to translate!
In order to start, today we are going to read a poem of one of the most famous american writers of the last century, the great Charles Bukowski. First you will read the poem in Spanish, and then you will have to fill in the gaps with the English words that are missing in the original poem. It's very simple, you see which is the word missing in Spanish and then you translate it. Ready?

 El corazón que ríe

    Tu vida es tu vida
    no dejes que sea golpeada contra la húmeda sumisión
    mantente alerta
    hay salidas

    hay una luz en algún lugar
    puede que no sea mucha luz pero
    vence a la oscuridad

    mantente alerta
    los dioses te ofrecerán oportunidad es
    conócelas
    tómalas

    no puedes vencer a la muerte pero
    puedes vencer a la muerte en la vida, a veces
    y mientras más a menudo aprendas a hacerlo
    más luz habrá

    tu vida es tu vida
    conócela mientras la tengas

    tú eres maravilloso
    los dioses esperan para deleitarse
    en ti.

The Laughing Heart

    your _____ is your ____
    don’t let it be clubbed into dank ________.
    be on the watch.
    there are _____  ______.

    there is a _____ somewhere.
    it may not be much ____ but
    it beats the ______.

    be on ______  ______.
    the gods will offer you_____.
    know them.
   _____ them.

    you can’t beat _______ but
    you can beat death in life, ________.
    and the more often you ______ to do it,
    the ____ _____ there will be.

    your life is your life.
    know it while you ______ _____.

    you are ________
    the _______ wait to delight
    in ______.

To help you, you can listen to this poem in a commercial of the famous brand Levi's, where we can hear a voice reciting it as Bukowski would do it.
Levi's Go Forth Commercial