Last updated 6/18/09



Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Magic Words

There's this Japanese song I was introduced to back when I was studying a few years ago at Waseda in Tokyo, called "Mahou no kotoba," by a band name Spitz. That's "Magic Words" in English.
In one of my classes, the teacher played it for us in class and gave us the lyrics on a sheet of paper. I meant to translate it, but my skills were no match for colloquial Japanese. I'm kind of encouraged today, though - I think I've come a long way since then.

A long time ago I had seen some translation of the lyrics on YouTube, but that was too long ago for me to remember. I figured this would be good practice, so today I decided to do my best to translate the Japanese into English on my own. So using just my dictionary I did my best, and then altered a couple lines slightly after consulting with one of the teachers sitting next to me...the consultation was minimal, though appreciated.

Anyway, first, here's the song, if you're interested: Video

Here is my translation:

Afure sou na kimochi muri yari kakushite 

It’s impossible to stop these overflowing feelings

Kyou mo mata tooku bakkari mite ita

 Today I was only looking far off again
Kimi to katari atta kudara nai are kore

 The trivial things that I used to talk to you about
Dakishimete dou ni ka ikiteru kedo 
Somehow I’m continuing on, but…
Mahou no kotoba futari dake ni wa wakaru

 Magic words, that only the two of us know
Yumemiru toka sonna hima mo nai kono goro 

Now those times are like a dream I can no longer see
Omoidashite okashikute ureshikute

 But I’m glad to think of them
Mata aeru yo yakusoku shi nakute mo 
We can meet again; no need for promises
Taoreru you ni nete naki nagara mezamete 
I wake up from my tearful sleep

Hitogomi no naka de boso boso utau

 Swallowed up in the middle of a crowd, I sing
Kimi wa nani shiteru? Egao ga mitaizo

 What are you doing? I want to see your smile
Furi kabutte wagamama sora ni nageta                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                
I rose up and threw my selfishness to the sky
Mahou no kotoba kuchi ni sureba mijikaku

 Magic words, said only briefly
Dakedo kouka wa sugoi mono ga aru tte koto de

But with amazing effects

Daremo shira nai barete mo iro ase nai

 No one knows, if it comes out it doesn’t fade
Sono ato no SUTOORII wake aeru hi made 
After that story until the day we will share again
Hana wa utsukushiku toge mo utsukushiku

Flowers are beautiful, thorns should also be beautiful 
Nekko mo utsukushii hazu sa 
Roots should also be beautiful, too
Mahou no kotoba futari dake ni wa wakaru 

Magic words, that only the two of us know
Yumemiru toka sonna hima mo nai kono goro

 Now those times are like a dream I can no longer see
Omoidashite okashikute ureshikute 

But I’m glad to think of them
Mata aeru yo yakusoku shi nakute mo 

We can meet again; no need for promises
Aeru yo aeru yo
We can meet again, we can meet again…

Here is a much cleaner English translation that I found online:

I forced myself to hide these feelings that overflow 
And once again today I did nothing but look off into the distance 
All those trivial things I talked about with you 
I clutch them tightly and try to live somehow 

Magic words only we can understand 
Lately I don't have time for dreaming and such 
When I remember, it's funny and makes me happy 
We'll see each other again, even without a promise 

I sleep as if I've collapsed and awaken crying 
I whisper a song in the crowd 
What are you doing? I want to see your smile 
I raised my hands and threw my selfishness into the sky 

Magic words, so short when I say them 
But the effect is really amazing 
No one ones and if they find out, it won't fade 
Until the day we can share the rest of the story 

Flowers are beautiful, even the thorns are beautiful 
The roots must be beautiful, too 

Magic words only we can understand 
Lately I don't have time for dreaming and such 
When I remember, it's funny and makes me happy 
We'll see each other again, even without a promise 
We'll see each other, we'll see each other

I apologize for the formatting sloppiness - Blogger is good like that. Anyway, my translation was off in some places and not as nicely worded as the second one, but I'm pretty satisfied that I was able to come close. I need victories like that when fluency is such a daunting challenge...

0 comments: