I know it's a very easy sentence, but I'm afraid it could sound strange to the natives.
Could you confirm me that you would say "I dedicate my dreams to Li Bai's poem" in this way?
我把梦想献给李白的诗
Thank you so much
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1One's dream is not something he can freely give. For example, my dream is to be a movie star, and I am giving it to Li Bai's poem....., now you see the problem, Li Bai's poem can't benefit from your dream, Li Bai himself wouldn't know what my dream has to do with him. A dream is just another word for a goal or a desire, it is always personal.– Tang Ho ♦Mar 7 at 15:54
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1"I dedicate my poem to Li Bai" would be logical– Tang Ho ♦Mar 7 at 16:01
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I think it's fine in terms of grammar and structure, but if you say it this way as stated above, tbh it does sounds a bit weird. Do you mean dreams as in I want to be like him? Or you write poems to honor him? Or something else... As tang ho said, you can't “献” your dreams to poems. You need to clarify what you really means by dedicating your dreams.– WolfkingMar 7 at 20:45
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If your sentence "I dedicate my dreams to Li Bai's poem" is a piece of a poem / lyrics or this sort of thing, yes you can use 我把梦想献给李白的诗.– HavierMar 7 at 21:31
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我把梦想寄於李白的诗 sounds logically correct.– r13Mar 8 at 14:41
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2 Answers
The sentence 我把梦想献给李白的诗 is grammatically correct, but the meaning is a bit odd. 献给 usually takes a person as the object, to dedicate something to someone. 而李白的诗 refers to Li Bai's poetry as a whole, so dedicating your dreams to all of his poetry at once sounds strange.
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It's always interesting to see the different mindsets among the languages, in mine that concept is totally fine. How could I translate the same meaning without sounding odd? I mean, isn't there any way to dedicate (even in an abstract sense) a dream or a purpose to the words of a poet? Like an offer the gods (for example)– morganMar 10 at 8:02
No, it is not strange. On the contrary, It is perfect regard to a poem genre(I mean if regard this whole sentence as a line of a poem).
“我把梦想献给李白的诗，也愿把着灯火照亮未来的路”
"I dedicate my dreams to Li Bai's poem; Handling the torch, I light the road toward the future."
(把着， as a verb here, a native word denotes handling.)
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According to your logic, you can also say it is not strange if you treat this sentence as a mad person mumbling– Tang Ho ♦Mar 8 at 7:14
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@TangHo, of course, you can, just like I can treat your comment as a mad person mumbling or a great snippet from a prose. It's my native language. I know where the art facet is inside it but you don't. Language is not a natural science, so there is no exact correct answer. You can always treat a sentence under your logic. And please, try to accept the different concepts, and try to respect others. :) Mar 8 at 8:28
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1I am not saying you are a madman, just saying the sentence is illogical. Reasons stated in my earlier comments under the OP's post.– Tang Ho ♦Mar 8 at 10:25
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Yes, I would give to this sentence an artistic license, but I also don't want to sound too strange. Thank you so much for your precious answer, I'm happy to know the thoughts of a native on not-perfect translation. But if I'd want also to be correct, what could I use to say "I dedicate/tribute something to something/someone"?– morganMar 9 at 8:57
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the things you can dedicate/tribute to someone must require some effort on your part. e.g. A song(you sing), a movie (you made). A dream is not such a thing– Tang Ho ♦Mar 10 at 0:35