Rudolph the hong2 nosed xun4lu

For all you who have the uncontrollable urge to sing out in Chinese this Christmas season, the following is sure to (dis)please!!

cong2qian2 you3 yi1zhi1 xun4lu,
Ta1 de5 bi2zi shen4 hong2se4,
bei3ji2 de5 ren2 dou1 dou4 ta1,
er2 ta1 jue2de bu4 kuai4le.

ta1 qu4 kan4 sheng4dan lao3ren2,
gao4su4 ta1 suo3yi3 nan2guo4,
dan4 chu2le5 yin3yong4 Kong3zi3,
mei2you3 yi1 ju4 hua4 hao3 shuo1.

sheng4dan jie2 hei1an1wu2yue4,
hong2bi zai4 shui4jiao4,
sheng4dan lao3ren2 jiao4xing3 ta1,
“yong4 bi2 bang1bang mang2, he2hao3?”

xian4zai4 de5 qi4fen you3hao3,
xun4lu zai4 yi1qi3 chi1 fan4,
wo3men zhi3 chang4 dao4 zhe4bian1,
xie4xie4 da4jia1, wan3an1!

(Yeah, yeah, but for having been translated while I was still in college, I think it displays a remarkable cultural sensitivity. Or something like that. :laughing:

WOW!! I always wanted to learn a Christmas song in Chinese! :smiley:

I can’t be asked to post the characters at this time of day (and have class very soon!) but here’s the gloss, for those of you who aren’t really into Pinyin:

Once there was a reindeer,
His nose was a deep red,
Those at the North Pole all teased him,
So he was unhappy.

He went to see Santa Claus (“Old Man Christmas”),
Told him of his sadness,
But, apart from quoting Confucius,
He had no good words for him.

Christmas was dark and moonless (had to get a chengyu in here somewhere)
Red-nose was asleep
Old Man Christmas woke him up,
“Help us out using your nose, all right?”

Now the atmosphere is cordial,
The reindeer all eat together,
This is as far as we are singing tonight
Thanks y’all, good night.

(Knowing what it really means might discourage some from belting it out in the MRT for money…) :laughing: But then again maybe not…

How fun! Thanks for the song!