[Lyrics] Toto - Rockmaker

I recently got a translation request for the band Toto. Toto uses a lot of figurative language and expressions that are not too common anymore in their lyrics. So it was an interesting exercise for translating into Japanese. I tried to match the style of the English lyrics by using language that isn't hard to understand... but hard to understand. What I mean by that is that by first makes sense, but when you take a closer look, you sort of ponder on what the lyrics really mean. It was actually a lot of fun to do, but I would definitely like to run it through a native Japanese speaker with experience in music/translation.

この間、Ｔｏｔｏ（トト）と言うアメリカのロックバンドの歌詞の翻訳リクエストが入りました。Ｔｏｔｏは比喩的な言葉と今使われてない表現をいっぱい使うので、いい勉強になりました。英語に直してたときに、分かりやすい表現を使ったんですけど、全体的のメッセージをちょっと理解しづらいままにおきました。考え込めるような和訳にしました。面白かったけど、やはり日本語のネイティブスピーカーに見てもらいたいですね。

Ｔｏｔｏ－ロックメーカー

Projects: Evolution 2010 - Letter to Ecole

One of the biggest tasks I've done as a translator was to write a letter to a game company and coordinate Japanese people for an American event. 

About 2 years ago, Melty Blood (MB) would finally see the limelight. Through a series interesting events, MB became one of the major games at Evolution 2010 (EVO). EVO is -the biggest- fighting game tournament in the United States. It has been gaining more and more attention over the years and is probably the biggest stage for fighting games in the world.

In order to make sure that it would be US-MB's finest showing, I did a number of things:

1. Advertise that Melty Blood would be at EVO as a major game on multiple Japanese sites.

2. Help coordinate the people that could come. Specifically: inform them on the best time to come, help them register, tell them who they should meet to and where they would be.

3. Write a letter to the creator of the game.

Number 1 was not terribly hard. I simply posted everywhere (on Japanese BBS) about what was happening, when and where. As you can expect, many people were very interested in coming. One problem though: Japanese Melty Blood players are cheap... potentially more so than their American counterparts. So there were about 12 people that really wanted to go, but didn't have the funds to travel or wanted people to help sponsor their trip. The later was not realistic for our community, but we were fortunate that two fine gentlemen, Garu and Chelsea, could make it out.

After that, it was simply a matter of making sure they understood the details of the events (number 2). Since Paypal is not commonly used in Japan, I had someone else register them. They would then reimburse that person later. After they knew what they need, it was just a matter of them coming. After they arrived, we communicated through email to help them find the other MB players.

The last part was a more delicate than the others. I thought it would be best to involve the company that made the game, ECOLE. There are two huge problems here. Problem one: Who is Richard Meadows? Problem two: WHO THE #%!@ IS RICHARD MEADOWS?! No really, this is big. Japanese companies are super tricky. I may be the best damn translator in the world, but If they don't have someone to tell them that, no amount of work on my side will do. The best way to wedge your way in, is to know someone that knows someone (who may know someone). So I had two people help compensate for these two problems. The first person I talked to was a Japanese player that previously worked at ECOLE as a test player. He helped me talk to the company before hand and tell them that a letter was coming from my number two person, Joey Cuellar. With someone on the inside and "The granddaddy of SRK and EVO," it was a lot easier to get their attention and tell them what we wanted them to do via mail.

This kind work is different from your average translation work. Japanese can be divided into 3 parts. I will give them names to make this easier: 

Homeboy

Homeboy is the language you use with your friends and close family. Fairly loose and relaxed manner of speaking

Casual

Casual is the way you might talk to your boss or some of your co workers. Perhaps even family or neighbors that you don't talk with very often. You refrain from using certain words and you speak politely, humbling yourself at times

"Yes, Master"

This is the alien language that you don't master until you are 30. Not only do you refrain from using a lot of words that you usually use, you lower your own stature, raise who you are speaking to, and avoid even the slightest notion that you are speaking for them or putting words in their mouth. This is how you talk to the emperor.

The last one is what you use to speak to other companies in Japan, and it is extremely difficult for even Japanese people. It was necessary to write the email in this tone for this task. Here is example from the top of the letter.

Japanese:

- 突然、 このようなメールを差し上げることをお詫び申し上げます。

Translation:

- We apologize sincerely for the sudden email.

Literal:

-We humbly offer an apology for presenting a letter like this to one such as yourself so abruptly.

In the end, they only sent ten copies of the game, but it was an accomplishment for me. This is the type of work that I would like to make a living out of. Not just providing the best quality of translation, but assistance for all of the small things in the middle. 

If I was to do this again, I would like to see it all the way to the finish and interpret for the people in question... so, where is that Mad Catz deal at?

プロジェクト: The Girl Locked Below

大希望を持つ翻訳者のCurbehです。よろしくお願いします。

音楽大好きですけれど、意外と難しいですね、歌詞を作るのは...　

一応、音楽の歌詞を作っているから、普通の翻訳の仕事みたいにしたら...つまらない歌詞を作ってしまいます。頭の中に絵を描くのには日本語はすばらしいですが、まだまだ未熟私にはちょっと大変です。アフロを引っ張るまで考えないといけません...

Kurushiiと一緒にVOCALOIDの曲を作るの二回目でした。一回目のmasqueradeと違って、Stokholmの作詞がほぼ一日をかけてしました。

Kurushiiと曲の歌詞を作ることはちょっと変わっています。まずはKurushiiがBGMと英語版の歌詞を作詞します。英語版についているのは音節の数です。日本語に直すときにはそれに合わせないと、いい歌詞を考えても、作り直すしかありません。そこがたぶん一番難しいです。

英語版から離れてもいいですが、もともとの意味とイメージに同調することが大事です。歌詞を作るときには、やはりイメージされたキャラクターのしゃべり方、考え方、そのキャラクター自体を歌詞に映りたいですね。今回はいわゆる洗脳された抹殺ドール、と言うイメージが出てほしかったです。　可愛いけどご主人様に一歩近づいたら新しい口をあいてあげるタイプです。今は満足ですけど、もっと改良で来るところはあるはずです。

和訳した後、Kurushiiと一緒にイメージが持つかどうか確認して、発音の調整してからやっと絵を加えてアップロードします。今回の絵は友達にやってもらって、結構合うと思います。

またこんな歌をやったら、より強い言葉が使いたいですね。イメージがと浮かびやすい単語を使いこなしたいです。