[Lyrics] - Shikao Suga - Aitai

Due to another video being taken down, here is  Shikao Suga latest single: Aitai. 

I tried to adapt the lyrics to the song this time while incorporating the theme of the song as much as I could.

Aitai adaptation

I really hate

Making me hold hands on a date

Funny thing is that I hate letting go

I’m a pain to be with, trust me, I know

Drives me mad

The only thing I hate more than the old

Is sitting here and watching my nails grow

Someone like me –

Can never ever be loved

But you

You’re my one in a million

The only one that has been

Able to put a kiss on my heart

But you

If you ever left me

I hope that my whole heart

Would freeze and turn as cold as ice

Hate kisses

I hate that moment when we touch

Hate thinkin’ of our privates and such

The blood and stuff is way too much

Just like me

I hate spider when they are still

But even noisy ones aren’t a thrill

Someone tell me –

Why is the world so cruel?

But you

You’re my one in a million

The only one that has been

Able to make me feel this way

But you

I only want you to know

About my pain

And all about my sadness

Only you

You’re my one in a million

The only one that has been

Able to put a kiss on my heart

But you

If you ever left me

I hope that my whole heart

Would freeze and turn as cold as ice

Aitai literal

I hate holding hands

But I hate letting go even more

I think it’s a pain too

Drives me mad

I hate the smell of grown ups

I even hate when my nails get long

Someone like me doesn’t have the qualifications to fall in love

Aitai

There’s no one else but you

No one else has be able to kiss my heart

Aitai

If you ever left me

I hope my heart becomes cold and freezes

I hate kissing, I hate the moment I’m touched

I hate my own genitals even more

Feels like blood would get on you

I hate spider, they are quiet like me

But don’t like noisy insects either

Hey, someone tell me why the world is so cruel

Aitai

There’s no one else but you

No one else has drown in these feelings

Aitai

I only want you to know

About my sadness and the same pain

Aitai

If you ever left me

I hope my heart becomes cold and freezes

大キライ　手を握られたりするのキライ
放っておかれるのもキライ
めんどくさいって　自分でも思う
狂うくらい　大人の臭いとかキライ
爪がのびてくのもキライ
こんなわたし　恋愛の資格もない

アイタイ
あなた以外　誰一人
心に直接　キスできた人なんていない
アイタイ

あなたがもし　去っていく日は
心ごと全部　冷たく凍結してほしいの
kissキライ　体触れる瞬間キライ
自分の性器　すごくキライ
あなたに血が付きそうで
自分みたい　じっとしてる蜘蛛 大キライ
うるさい虫も好きじゃない
ねえ　世界って　どうしてこう残酷なの？

アイタイ
あなた以外　誰一人
こんな気持ちに　溺れたことなんてない
アイタイ
だから　この悲しみと
同じ痛みを　あなただけ知ってほしいの

アイタイ
あなた以外　誰一人
心に直接　キスできた人なんていない
アイタイ
あなたがもし　去っていく日は
心ごと直接　冷たく凍結して欲しいの

[Lyrics] SID - V.I.P

Here are the lyrics to SID's 2012 single, VIP.

Just some thoughts: There is a lot of interesting imagery to this song. There were ways to express them smoothly in English, but there were some nuances that don't transfer well. I wish I could cloud-share what hear, so that everyone else could understand the song to the fullest. 

SID - V.I.P [English Translation]

Now I have it all in my grasp

If the booming cheers are music to your ears

Then come on, dive in

Projects: College Essay

A project that was brought to me a while back was for a college essay.

The woman wanted to apply for a certain nursing school in the states and wasn't confident in her ability to express herself to the college in English. That's where I came in. This was not a particularly difficult project, but it did have its peculiarities.

Prose in Japanese is a bit different from what Americans are used to. The flow of intentions is almost the opposite. In English we tend to sandwich what we want to get across. I remember learning the "Hamburger Model" in many stages of my education. We tend to use this even when we want to give people advice, bad-news and applying for a job. For documents like letters of intentions or essays, we usually say:

1. What we want
2. Why we want it　・　Why we should have it
3. Why the reader should want us too (restatement of what we want want)

There are extra things to accompany that, but that's basically what it is. English speakers are generally comfortable reading and writing professional letters in that format.

However, in Japanese, one usually doesn't state their intentions until the very end. Perhaps due to the structure of Japanese (SOV), what is being conveyed isn't expressed until the end of the statement. "I apples want" as opposed to "I want apples." So even in an essay or speech, what the writer/speaker's intent isn't fully apparent until the very end. All of the information that they want the listener/reader to know made explicit, then they state what they want at the end of it. This also shows up in their humor. As an example, Japanese people say that they never start laughing until the very end of a joke or story.

At the risk of rambling, basically, I had to transform her essay into what English speakers are used to reading without ruining her intents. Translating it itself was not difficult, but I did have to dance around the structure of the would-be English version.

If I was to do it again, I would like to meet with the person and talk about exactly what they wanted to express it make it even better; even more personal. There is only so much you can do with only text, but I feel like I did a good job on it.

I heard from her a while later and head that she got into the college and the program of her choice.

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?