<p>Trying to make sense of a tweet-length song is hard, but since the song is from a romance movie in 1980, it could be a boy meeting a girl for the first time. </p>

<ul>
<li>His first glance warmed her and brightened her world. </li>
<li>His second glance established the fond love and sealed her fate. </li>
</ul>

<p>That is all I can think of.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-09-28T02:06:04.437Z
2017-09-28T02:22:59.910Z
2017-09-28T02:22:59.910Z
Wang Dingwei
<p>In the song <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GMgbfZLy_g" rel="nofollow noreferrer">忘不了</a> by Teresa Teng (lyrics <a href="http://michelegorini.blogspot.it/2017/08/all-chinese-songs-i-have-met.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a>), one line goes:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>偷看一眼</p>
</blockquote>

<p>That is, according to online lyrics. Except in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GMgbfZLy_g" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this video</a>, both at 00:25-00:26 and at 1:18-1:20, I hear:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Ta kan yi yan</p>
</blockquote>

<p>So are the lyrics wrong, or is it me mishearing, perhaps its /t<sup>h</sup>au/ with the /u/ being almost undetectable, and that is some regional/dialectal pronunciation? How should it be spelt if "Ta kan yi yan" actually makes sense?</p>

<p><strong>Edit</strong></p>

<p>While browsing Youku to respond to @dan's comment with a Youku video, I found <a href="http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMjA5NTQ3MTky.html?spm=a2h0k.8191407.0.0&amp;from=s1.8-1-1.2&amp;f=20081278" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this</a>, where the line is:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>他看一眼</p>
</blockquote>

<p>That certainly matches the sounds I hear, but what does it mean?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-09-24T12:48:35.743Z
Perhaps 踏看？ So "I inspect quickly" or the likes?
MickG
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-09-24T12:59:49.113Z
can't play youtube here. :(
dan
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-09-24T13:06:56.623Z
@dan See the edit.
MickG
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-09-24T13:14:44.153Z
他看一眼: he caught a glimpse
dan
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-09-24T13:15:27.040Z
@dan That would have been my guess, but who is "he" in this song?
MickG
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-09-24T13:20:35.473Z
I really don't know. But it seems that 偷看一眼 makes more sense according to the context, because it has another line 再看一眼. Maybe, some dialect pronounce 偷 as 'ta', which I don't know. Or it could be just in music, that kind of pronunciation change is acceptable?
dan
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-09-26T23:16:18.500Z
邓丽君 often says 'di' instead of 'de' too, speaking of mispronunciations..
Arkady
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-09-27T05:05:14.713Z
@Ravi and liao for le, but those are not one-offs nor even just her thing. Is there any other example of her or any other singer saying ta for tou?
MickG
<meaning><pronunciation>
偷看一眼 sounds like "Ta kan yi yan": wrong lyrics (as happened with 一切都这么美好 which is sung as 一切都变得美好) or weird pronunciation?
# 偷看一眼 sounds like "Ta kan yi yan": wrong lyrics (as happened with 一切都这么美好 which is sung as 一切都变得美好) or weird pronunciation?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-09-24)

In the song [忘不了](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GMgbfZLy_g) by Teresa Teng (lyrics [here](http://michelegorini.blogspot.it/2017/08/all-chinese-songs-i-have-met.html)), one line goes:

> 偷看一眼

That is, according to online lyrics. Except in [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GMgbfZLy_g), both at 00:25-00:26 and at 1:18-1:20, I hear:

> Ta kan yi yan

So are the lyrics wrong, or is it me mishearing, perhaps its /thau/ with the /u/ being almost undetectable, and that is some regional/dialectal pronunciation? How should it be spelt if "Ta kan yi yan" actually makes sense?

**Edit**

While browsing Youku to respond to @username_1's comment with a Youku video, I found [this](http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMjA5NTQ3MTky.html?spm=a2h0k.8191407.0.0&from=s1.8-1-1.2&f=20081278), where the line is:

> 他看一眼

That certainly matches the sounds I hear, but what does it mean?

**Tags:** meaning, pronunciation

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Perhaps 踏看？ So "I inspect quickly" or the likes?  
> **username_1**: can't play youtube here. :(  
> **username_0**: @username_1 See the edit.  
> **username_1**: 他看一眼: he caught a glimpse  
> **username_0**: @username_1 That would have been my guess, but who is "he" in this song?  
> **username_1**: I really don't know. But it seems that 偷看一眼 makes more sense according to the context, because it has another line 再看一眼. Maybe, some dialect pronounce 偷 as 'ta', which I don't know. Or it could be just in music, that kind of pronunciation change is acceptable?  
> **username_2**: 邓丽君 often says 'di' instead of 'de' too, speaking of mispronunciations..  
> **username_0**: @Ravi and liao for le, but those are not one-offs nor even just her thing. Is there any other example of her or any other singer saying ta for tou?  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2017-09-28. Score: 0 | Accepted answer

Trying to make sense of a tweet-length song is hard, but since the song is from a romance movie in 1980, it could be a boy meeting a girl for the first time.

* His first glance warmed her and brightened her world.
* His second glance established the fond love and sealed her fate.

That is all I can think of.


---

