TRANSLATION ISSUES



Translation notes a.k.a. Shinigami Yumi's explanation cum lesson in Japanese (no, I'm just joking about the second part, really ^_^;;):

WONDERFUL DAYS



[1] 'Kata de iki wo suikomu' literally means 'to inhale a breath into one's shoulder'. Well, I suppose that means to breathe deeply.

[2] The way I see it, this line can either mean 'making an image AND a new page' or 'making an image ON a new page' {the preposition/article is once again annoyingly missing}. I picked the latter over the former because... I don't know why one would make an image AND a new page... and if one made a new page, it would be blank and there wouldn't be anything to paint {refer to the next line}, would there?

[3] 'Masshiroi' means something like 'completely white', so I suppose, with reference to a canvas, that would be 'empty/clear'. In any case, the dictionary meaning of this katakana is actually 'campus'. However, since that made absolutely no sense to me, I checked with my Japanese teacher and she says that the two (kyanpasu [campus] and kanbasu [canvas]) are very commonly confused in Japanese because they pronounce both almost identically, so it is highly possible that the katakana was mixed up. Hence, I picked the word 'canvas' for the translation instead. Who would paint an empty school/college/university campus anyway?

[4] This line literally means 'crossing patterned like a zebra'. When you pattern a crossing like a zebra, well, you have *gasp* voila! A zebra crossing.

[5] The lines actually say 'the long higher level', but I picked 'the runway' instead because that's generally where people take off from and besides, the actual translation sounds horrible.

[6] 'Shiraseru' actually means 'to let one know', so the line really means something like 'to let me know the sign of the beginning', but since you normally show/give someone a sign, I used that instead.

[7] 'Tsukisusumu' literally means 'to progress with thrusting/poking/striking'. For 'making progress with poking' a big sky, I picked the word 'traverse'.

[8] This whole line was "futurised" because of the word 'itsuka' (someday).

- Ah... Another song I love for both the singers and the lyrics, which can have so many metaphorical meanings too! By the way, the part about the nameless bird is probably meant as complete freedom. A bird can fly, so it is free, and being nameless and thus unknown gives it even more freedom because it is not tied down by the ideas of others. In any case, the second part of the song seems to be about the uncertainties of the future and how it is easy to start a journey/task, but hard to go through with it. The persona is searching for something in the darkness (groping) and fails to see the clue that's right before him (light before his eyes). Yeah, I'll spare you all my lengthy opinion. Thank you.

MERA MERA



- The main problem with this song is the fact that most of the prepositions are missing. Thus it is difficult to determine the subject of the sentence {or in simple, non-grammatic terms: who/what is doing what} without very thoroughly analysing and restructuring the lines in a sensible manner. I have tried my best (and am hopefully successful) at this endeavor and below are some points that, I feel, require some clearing up...

[1] 'Hame' actually means 'situation'. However, one wouldn't avoid a situation unless it was awkward/uncomfortable, which in my opinion, qualifies said situation as a problem.

[2] 'Shikai' = 'field of vision'; 'hirogeru' = 'widen'/'extend'. I picked the word 'broaden' because it sounds better. That having been said, the whole phrase {shikai wo hirogeru} is a very Oriental {a similar version also exists in Chinese} expression meaning 'to gain knew experiences'. Thus, this line basically means 'why don't you try gaining (some) new experiences?'.

[3] 'Egaku' really means 'paint'. With reference to [2], I have chosen the word colour {you could also paint to colour, right?} instead. The 'dreams you're told' (I believe) refer to the experiences of others {'dreams' is probably used because they are indeed still dreams for you} that you have but never realized; these are (in a way) rather black and white, or in other words, not vivid for you because they haven't become experiences. However, when you (take Pull-Tab & Can's advice and) try experiencing them for yourself, they become vivid (and thus, coloured) for you. Hence, 'colouring the dreams you can tell'.

[4] Here, the subject is extremely obscure and only becomes clear in the following stanza when joined with the first refrain. What is being seeked is, actually, as one would come to realize in said following stanza, the flower that blossomed in the persona's heart in dreams embraced on summer nights.

[5] 'Karakara', as an adjective, means 'parched'/'dry'/'thirsty'. When used as an adverb describing the verb 'kawaku', which means 'to be thirsty', I suppose 'to be thirsty in a dry/thirsty way' would just mean 'to be very thirsty'. The '-te shimau' structure of a verb indicates that the action is already completed. So, I guess when you have 'completed' 'to be thirsty', you would then be, well, thirsty.

- I hope this (long) explanation has helped in understanding my reasons for translating the song this way as well as the more vague/obscure parts of it. All in all, (I believe) this song is a lot about (the persona's) hopes for the future and most of the meanings are quite metaphorical. The blossomed flower might refer to a wish/ambition that the persona came to have after some positive/joyous {hence the summer nights} experiences that he either experienced personally or heard about {embraced}, and while his growing passionate about it allows him to pursue {seek} that ambition/wish, that passion can also consume him {make him thirsty}. However, in the end, he says that as long as the road (that continues) to the future continues to be full of possibility {shines brightly}, he is content {I feel good!}. Sorry, I just a fan/student of literature, so that's just my take on it; I'm not saying anyone else's opinion is wrong and I wouldn't blame you for skipping half of what I said. Thank you.




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