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Song video. Lyrics, romanization (based on what I hear in the video), translation attempt.

张少林的“客家乡情”（客家话）

爱记乡情 齐家都係客人
最緊有煞拼求進 (AX 建议的写法)
莫忘乡情 齐家係自家人
只只回故乡寻根
叔公叔婆来相认
亲戚送礼来好热心
到处都有人亲
做事耐苦
人乌白也分明
好硬頚客家人
客人最亲
亲情最真
世界客人 团结纪念乡情 (on ket nyi hiam hiong chin?)
血脉浓于水承认
事业有成 客家奋斗精神
晓出头自有原因

* 封做官(fon?)来人尊敬
救苦救清贫好热心
莫问自家出身
见面自家人
有个三分情
无忘本客家人

*

客家老人尊敬…

Oi ki hiong-chin che-ka tu he hak-nyin
Cui-kin yiu sat-piang khiu-cin
Mok mong hiong-chin tshe-ka he chii-ka-nyin
Cak-cak fui ku-hiong chim kin
Suk-kong suk-pho loi siong-nyin
Tshin-tsit sung-li loi hau nyet-shim
Tau-chu tu yu nyin-tshin
Tso sii nai khu
Nyin vu-phak ya fun-min
Hau ngang kiang hak-ka nyin
Hak nyin tsui tshin
Tshin-tshin tsui chim
Shii-kai hak-nyin on ket nyi hiam hiong chin
Het-mak nung yi sui shing-nyin
Shii-nyap yu shing hak-ka fun-theu tsin-shin
Hiau chut-theu tshii yu nyen-yin

* Fung tso fon loi nyin tsun-kin
Kiu khu kiu chin phin hau nyet-shim
Mok mun chii-ka chut-shim
Ken-men chii-ka nyin
Yu kai san fun chin
Mau mong pun hak-ka-nyin

*

Hak-ka lau nyin cun-kin…

I must remember [my] homesickness all [my] family is Hakka
[And] lately we have struggled for continued success
Do not forget homesickness all [my] family ar self-made people
Each of us will go back to our homeland to look for our origins
[And] get to know great-uncles and great-aunts
[Our] relatives give us gifts [and] are very warm-hearted
[We] haverelatives everywhere
[We] work [and] endure pain
And understand whether people are black or white (i.e. good or bad)
Hajka people are very hard-necked
Hakka people are the most intimate
Intimate feelings are the truest
Hakka people in the world are united in remembering homesickness
血脉浓于水承认 (?)
They have careers and success Hakka struggles are energetic
They can succeed for they have a reason

* The honor of being magistrates is bestowed [on them] and people respect [them]
They help the poor and help the needing and are very warm-hearted
Don't ask them about their own family background
I see the great feelings
That self-made people have
[And] don't forget [I'm] originally a Hakka person

*

Respect old Hakka people...

Questions:

  1. Line 2 makes no sense to me unless I accept the spelling proposed by Ånton Xiè (AX), which I gave a translation for; is there a way to make sense of the captions, or do I just accept AX's respelling?
  2. Even AX can't understand the untranslated line: what does it mean? We have "Blood dense in water confess", does that mean they acknowledge a great impurity of their Hakka blood due to mixing with non-Hakkas?
  3. 团结纪念乡情 should be "thon-ket ki-nyam hiong-chin", but I hear "on ket nyi hiam" at the start; what's up with that?
  4. At the start of part 2,官should be kwon, but I hear fon; what's up with that?
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  • 1
    re Q2, looks like the 于 is comparison rather than 'in', the same pattern as 大于XYZ='bigger than'. So "blood is thicker than water" might be a decent gloss. 承认 might be better rendered as "admit, acknowledge, recognize" rather than 'confess' in this context . So "Blood is thicker than water, acknowledge it" might be one way to read this. That does leave 承认 sort of dangling in a weird way though, like a disconnected interjection sort of thing.
    – steveLangsford
    May 17, 2018 at 20:14
  • @steveLangsford Maybe "blood is thicker than water" is the topic, made prominent, but also the object of the verb, which is not meant as an imperative, but as coordinated with "are united in remembering homesickness", making those two lines translate to "Hakka people in the world are united in remembering homesickness / [And] acknowledging [their] blood is thicker than water", i.e. recognizing their noble Hakka ancestry. Weird sentence, but could that be?
    – MickG
    May 21, 2018 at 20:44
  • Notice how we have a chiasm verb (ki-nyam) - object (hiong-chin) - object (het-mak etc.) - verb (shin-nyin): maybe that is the reason for this strangeness?
    – MickG
    May 21, 2018 at 20:46

2 Answers 2

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世界客人, 团结!

As a Hakka speaker and a keen Chinese karaoke singer, let me put in my 两分钱

First of all thanks for the song which I should be singing at the karaoke lounge soon.

Line 2 as the video itself says 追根由石壁求证, which I would translate or rather paraphrase as:- "The stone wall provides proof of, or verifies, the ancestral roots which I am seeking"

(If you would notice, the singer was touching the stone wall which shows carvings of Hakka themed motive as he sang this verse)

As for 血脉浓于水承认:-

血脉 = blood, (veins)

浓于水 = thicker than water;

承认 = as acknowledged / accepted.

As for 团结纪念乡情, I hear the 团结 very clearly as "thon ket" No issue here.

As for, 官, he definitely sang "kon"

Coming to the singer's pronunciation, his Hakka is quite mainstream. Non-Hakkas may not know, but even within the Hakka dialect there are regional pronunciation variants depending on where the wandering "Guest people" historically happened to settle, be it Guangdong or Fujian Province or elsewhere and when they "wandered" to South-East Asia, as my ancestors did, they brought their regional variants with them.

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  • Reading my question, I'd guess the main problem with the 团结 line was how I heard 纪念 as "nyi hiam" instead of "ki-nyam". The th- I failed to hear might just be audio quality or me mishearing.
    – MickG
    Feb 19, 2020 at 14:35
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Hakka speaker from mainland China here.

  1. there is karaoke lyrics on the video, L2 is 追根由石壁求证 which is correct. Not exactly sure how to translate 求证 here. Maybe: ancestry seeking is proven by the stone walls.

  2. Your own translation is good. "Hakka people in the world are united in remembering homesickness / [And] acknowledging [their] blood is thicker than water." The uncommon order of words is intended for a better rhyme in the song.

  3. 团结纪念乡情 (thon ket nyi hiam hiong chin) I hear that's exactly what the singer is pronouncing.

  4. 官 is indeed kwon, but still I don't have any problem with the singer's pronunciation.

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  • 1. So these stone walls prove they're looking for their ancestry? Huge family trees :)? 2. OK. 3. Wait. I hear nyi-hiam instead of ki-nyam and no th in thon (or I did when I asked the question). Are you saying you hear thon and ki-nyam or that what I hear is a possible alternate pronunciation of those words? 4. Again, do you mean 官 may also be pronounced fon?
    – MickG
    Jan 24, 2019 at 20:30

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