Having had the excellent opportunity to learn German while living in Berlin, I took to learning German songs to really immerse myself into German popular culture. Of course, the first song I wanted to learn wasn’t “Edelweiß”, I looked at classics from the NDW genre by masters such as Grönemeyer, Lindenberg, and Nena, and of course studied the culture of Eurovision. My favorite bands were Die Toten Hosen and Die Ärtze, both quite obscure to the non-German-speaking world. Even after leaving Berlin for Hong Kong, I was stuck with NDW and German punk rock on my Spotify playlist. Who would’ve thought? The main victim of my choice in music was my cat, Shakey, she had to endure hours of punk rock – every night.
The last time I watched sound of music was when I was 16 and on a bus from Salzburg to Dresden, so I decided to watch it again. Its background history really clicked with me as I understood the mindset of the people living under Nazi occupation. But one thing irked me – the English lyrics of Edelweiß. You see, like Chinese, German has a long history and unique words that do not have an equal in English. In fact, many English words have Germanic roots! So I decided to look at the German version of Edelweiß and see if I could come up with a more poetic translation.
Original:
Edelweiss, Edelweiss
Every morning you greet me
Small and white, clean and bright
You look happy to meet me
Blossom of snow may you bloom and grow
Bloom and grow forever
Edelweiss, Edelweiss
Bless my homeland forever
German:
Edelweiß, Edelweiß
Du grüßt mich jeden Morgen
Seh’ ich dich, freu’ ich mich
Und vergess’ meine Sorgen
Schmücke das Heimatland
Schön und weiß
Blühest wie die Sterne
Edelweiß, Edelweiß
Ach, ich hab dich so gerne
My English version:
Edelweiss, Edelweiss
Every morning you greet me
When you’re back; makes me glad
I forget all my sorrows
Blossoming like the bright starry sky
Bless and robe my homeland
Small and white, Edelweiss
Oh, I cherish your season
