Hellos and welcome dear readers!
Taka Pen here, two weeks after Halloween and still talking about Halloween. :)
In this article I will be explaining about (or making excuses for) the translation I did for 「ハロウィンだって☆feat.初音ミク (Halloween Datte!)」 by Hajime Tuitati san.
So without too much further ado, let's jump right in. :)
The Original
Genre: Vocaloid
Title: ハロウィンだって☆feat.初音ミク "Halloween Datte feat. Hatsune Miku" or "Say, It's Halloween!"
Lyrics & Composed by: Hajime Tuitati
Hajime is an up and coming vocaloid producer (is that the right word?) it seems like, and this is their first vocaloid song.
I had the chance to get to know them and was able to do an English translation.
The song is upbeat and fun (although it was not too fun trying to keep up with the beat...!!! ><). The latter half of the video is especially cute imho so please check it out, especially if you also like videogames. :)
My English-Translated Cover
So then here's my English cover of the song, "Say, It's Halloween!"
English Translated Lyrics & Vocal: Taka Pen
Y'know game videos are called "let's play" videos. I wanna call my video "let's try to cover" video. lol
Yup, my tongue's getting all twisted and I am not able to sing this song properly. Anyone who does covers, please give the song a try to do it some justice, be it in English or in Japanese!! It is a pretty fun song if only you can wrap your tongue around the words...!
So anyhoo
How I Translated
Due to the time constraints I had, Hajime was kind enough to let me translate freely, however I want to, changing lyrics and/or the melody if I wanted/needed to.
Normally I do NOT like changing the content of the lyrics nor do I like changing the melody one bit, but for this one, I had to. There was too little time to translate, practice singing, record, and turn it into a video.
So for this song, you'll find that I'm not as true to the original lyrics or the melody as I plan to be going forward. (Since this is only my second song, I can't say "my usual". Haven't established a norm yet. lol)
Excuses :)
I'll be listing the lyrics in the following order:
- The original lyrics in Japanese characters
- The original lyrics in roma-ji
- The translated English Lyrics
So here goes nothing! :)
ハロウィンだって☆feat.初音ミク
harowin datte feat. hatsune miku
Say, It’s Halloween!
Yup, I completely forgot the "feat. Miku Hatsune" part in the video title and all that. All these "featuring" in titles these day confuse my very aged mind. :)
Translation of the title itself is pretty straight forward, I think. Although I did teeter between "say" and "hey," and ended up going with "say." Meaning-wise, I think it can be either.
ハロウィンだって
ハイエナたちが
ひしめきあって、化かしあってって
回転しあって、転ばし合って
悪しき夜を笑うよ
harowin datte
hai-ena tachi ga
hishimeki atte, bakashi atte tte
kaiten shiatte korobashi atte
ashiki yoru wo warau yo
On the day of Halloween, don’t you know
All the hyenas come running out to play
And they circle around and around to go
Barking, evil night we’ll laugh at you all the way
And right off the bat I had to change the rhythm. It was either that or really make a very convoluted stanza. It's kind of funny how the English loan words in Japanese have different number of syllables, so they don't quite fit too well when trying to translate into English lyrics. ^^;
I also had to leave out maybe like half of the original lyrics because I just couldn't fit them in. I mean like the Hyena part, literally that would be more like:
The hyenas are milling together and toying with each other
And they go around each other in circles and trip each other up
Nup. Couldn't possibly fit them all in, so I ended up with 1. hyenas come out and 2. they went around in circles. lol
The only thing I was able to do was rhyme the verse. Barely!
Oh, and while I was working on this stanza, I went to look up on YouTube how hyenas sounded like because I know their barks supposedly sound like laughter. Never really heard them before, but yup, they do sound like they're laughing. lol
晴れの日だって、関係ないね
汚れと邪悪でハッスルします
最低だって？ 褒めてくれてんの？
それはどうも、ありがとう おっおお～
パッパッパッパパーリナーイ
hare no hi datte, kankei naine
kegare to ja-aku de hassuru shimasu
saitei datte? homete kureten no?
soreha doumo, arigatou oh-oh-oh
What about the sunny days, full of light?
Who cares? Playing foul, rotten evil that’s my show
I see the horror on your face, the best compliment, alright
Allow me to thank you with a bow
Wo-oh-oh, Ra-ta-ta-ta party night
Ah nice. I like how when patterns repeat. Makes the job easier.
Or at least, that was my impression of the first line.
Then the second line.... "We'll hustle with dirtiness and evil"
What on earth am I supposed to do with that...!?
So here I had to kind of expand a whole lot on the meaning and ended up with "doing stuff evilly is my style" kind of meaning. Just put them in facier wording. lol
The next line, if literally translated, would've been:
You're saying I'm the worst? Are you giving me a compliment?
Which just had too many syllables to fit into the melody, so I ended up depicting the scene, which to me in English would be more poetic than leaving the literal translation. (It's kind of funny because depiction in Japanese would be stale and the dialogue makes it stand out, but in English it feels like it's the other way around.)
And lastly, the part where it's "pa-pa-pa-pa" in Japanese and I changed it to "ra-ta-ta-ta." I could have kept it with the "pa" sound but it just didn't have the same lightness to it in English when I tried to sound it out, so I changed it to "ra-ta-ta-ta."
開始早々
切った張ったのサバイバル
愛保証
裏切るのは、当たり前よ （嘘？）
天衣無縫の
小狡い性格 堂に入ってる
酩酊思考を
振り乱して、かき乱して
kaishi sousou
kitta hatta no sabaibaru
ai hoshou
uragiru no wa, atarimae yo (uso?)
ten-imuhou no
kozurui seikaku dou ni itteru
meitei shikou wo
furimidashite, kakimidashite
Right from the start
A hack and slash battle royale
Love’s promise
Betrayal is of course a given any day (yes, so?)
Full of innocence
Sly as fox expert, a master nonpareil
Make all drunken thoughts
Let them fly to the winds, get them all scrambled up
This part was pretty interesting.
The Japanese language has these phrases called "yoji jukugo" or "four characters idioms" which are basically idioms made up from four kanji, or Chinese characters. These tend to be kind of academic because they might come from really old Chinese philosophical or historical writings, and you can look really cool and smart if you know a lot of them.
Not only did this part contain some of those, on top of that there are some made up words/phrases which kind of made matters even more complicated...!
So with all that said to give myself excuses and to show how difficult it was to translate... lol
Well, I don't know where to begin. lol
A hack and slash - I thought it was kind of cute how it fit the "kitta hatta" which is basically like "hacking and slashing." Nevermind that it's the name of a game genre.
Love's promise - this would have been literally "love's warranty/guarantee" but "promise" sounded better and cuter. And there's no such terminology in Japanese, so this is made up.
Yes, so? - Had to changed the meaning and nuance from the original "uso" or "lies" just so I can sing that in one breath...! The preceding word ended in "y" so I just needed something that started with a "y" sound.
Full of innocence - I didn't even know what the original yoji jukugo meant, I don't think I've even ever seen the phrase "天衣無縫(ten-i muhou)" and had to look it up. It means something about being innocent, but if I do a google translation, it comes up as "seamless" which is not the meaning of the phrase. So I...just went with "being full of innocence."
a master nonpareil - Just needed something that meant someone who is a master/expert, and came up with "nonpareil". I think I first saw this word when I was in high school, and I read my first Georgette Heyer novel. So I bet the word is archaic as heck, but who cares. I like it. :P
make all druken thoughts - The most difficult part about this phrase wasn't the translation. It was the rhythm. For some reason I could NOT get the rhythm. Drove me nuts. I swear I'm so bad with rhythms, makes you wonder why I'm trying to do any song covers. lol
でも、今日はほんと楽しみだった
みんなと、会える
仲良く、楽しく、
さんはい
デーロデーロ
街を彩るモンスターイルミネイト
あーあー
demo, kyou wa honto tanoshimi datta
min-na to, aeru
nakayoku, tanoshiku,
san hai
de-ro de-ro
machi wo irodoru monster illuminate
ah-ah
Really I was looking forward to this day
Because I get to see you all
In harmony, let’s have some fun
Three, four
Here we all go
Decorating the town, monsters illuminate, Ah
Slower part was much easier to translate for some reason. Everything pretty much fit on the first try.
One phrase that did kind of make me wonder if perhaps there is no one-to-one translation was "仲良く (nakayoku)". I think literally translated this would mean "to be/act friendly." However, that just didn't quite sound correct in the lyrics, so I ended up translating it to "in harmony." I couldn't think of other phrases, so I think I might need to brush up on my English reading. I'm losing a lot of my vocabulary. lol
However, the most difficult phrase in this part was "デーロデーロ (de-ro de-ro)" or the onomatopeia (can't even spell the word) for when something is getting covered in muddy or slimy textured liquid. I mean explaining that uses up a lot of words without truly conveying what the onomatopeia describes.
I did a lot of googling on this using keywords like "onomatopeia for slime/gooey"...and I just thought of a word that would come close to describing it. A squelching sound. That word just would not come to my mind when I was doing the translation. lol
And although that's a good word to explain the onomatopeia "de-ro de-ro," unfortunately it wouldn't have fit too well as lyrics anyway.
So after having done an extensive search on onomatopeias, even including newly created ones thanks to the manga culture becoming so popular globally, I decided to not go with an onomatopeia and just went with the intent or the flow of the story, which was basically the narrating character saying "here we come, we're gonna make everything slimey and gooey!"
Or
at least that's my interpretation of the lyrics. lol
ハロウィンだから
赤い眼たち パッパッ
色めきだって、溶けてくぜ底辺
ふくらむばっか 欲まみれの魂、檻をやぶるよ
harowin dakara
akaime tachi pappa
iromeki datte, toketekuze teihen
fukuramu bakka yoku mamire no tamashii, ori wo yaburuyo
On the day of Halloween, you gotta be aware
Of the glowing red eyes flashing to melt the night
Bottom life
Growing more and more and with full of desire
This greedy soul will burst from the prison site
When I got to this part, I was like omg I'm back to the first melody, things're gonna be so easy!
But nah.
They changed up the rhythm pattern so I had to learn that anew. Oh well!
Here, they're using another onomatopeia "パッパッ (puh-ppah)" but having learnt my lessons from the previous onomatopeia, I didn't even try to translate into an onomatopeia, but just went with the spirit of the lyrics. (In other words, I ignored them. The onomatopeia here is referring to how the red eyes flash once, twice, but we don't have that in English. Maybe, just maybe *blink blink* but that doesn't quite convey the flashiness of the movement.)
One part that I really wish I had time to work on, was the last part "prison site." I mean that's pretty cheesy. Just that I wanted something to rhyme with "night" so I figured I'd just make it a "prison site" without too much thought behind it.
However, if you translate that part literally, it would be something more like:
"ふくらむばっか 欲まみれの魂、檻をやぶるよ"
A soul drenched in greed keeps on ballooning, to break the cage
Yes, I know. Sounds nothing like what I translated, does it. lol
The "cage" can mean "prison" or "cage" so that's why I went with prison so I can rhyme it. But again, if I had more time, I might've been able to come up with something that would be closer to the literal translation and still fit the melody.
Maybe.
Wishful thinking?
雨の日だって？ 歓迎するよ
性悪悪魔の"笑熱地獄"
採点したって イカサ満点よ？
時計も理性も、狂っちゃえーい
amenohi datte? kangei suruyo
shouwaru akuma no "shounetsu jigoku"
saiten shitatte ikasamanten yo?
tokei mo risei mo, kuruccha eh-i
What about the rainy days, full of gloom?
Welcome, evil meanie devil’s lair hell of laughin'ferno
Try to grade me it’ll be a cheaterfect score
Let time and reason all go haywire
When I read through this part, I was like made up words, ohhhhhkay!
'Cause if the original lyrics have coined words, then I need to make up English versions of them...! So at first I was a tiny bit iffy, not sure that I could do it.
But once I started working on them, it was actually fun. I, myself, do like play on words. :)
"笑熱地獄" / "shounetsu jigoku"
If you actually look at only the sounds of the term, the terminology actually exists.
"焦熱地獄 (shounetsu jigoku)" is the original terminology with the same sounds, it's one of the eight hells in Japanese tradition. (Kind of iffy to say it's a religion. I guess it is, but it's so loosely followed compared to Western religions...)
So anyway, in the original meaning, it's a hell with super heated flames, hence the first part of the term, "shounetsu"that basically means "hot enough to burn to a cinder."
And this part, Hajime changed it to "laughing hot", so I had to play around with words to match the coined term.
So I came up with:
hot burning hell -> inferno
laughter -> laughing
laughing + inferno = laughin'ferno
イカサ満点 / ikasamanten
And the next one was a mash up of "いかさま (ikasama)" and "満点 (manten)", or "cheating" and "perfect score."
So it was just a matter of how to add those two terms to fit the melody, and I came up with "cheaterfect score". :)
I didn't go with "cheaperfect" because that'd sound more like something was "cheaper" not "cheating." lol
ちょうちんかぼちゃ
布切れおばけさんに、ほうき星の魔女
死ぬことのないみんなの、短いフェスティバル
chouchin kabocha
nunokire obake-san ni, houki-boshi no majo
shinukoto no nai minna no, mijikai fesutibaru
A ghost that’s covered in white sheet
And there’s a witch on her broom
All ones whom death will never visit
Their short-lived, brief festival
Again, not sure if it's because it's a slower part, but the translation for this part came much more easily than the faster parts. It was awesome how "ちょうちんかぼちゃ (chouchin kabocha)" and "Jack-o-lantern" fit perfectly. No effort needed right here. lol
The only thing that I wasn't able to put in was the "ほうき星 (houki-boshi)" as there is no equivalent in English. A comet is a comet... and we don't call it "broomstick star" although I can see why a comet would be likened to a broomstick. :)
And the other part that I kind of took extra care of was the line "All ones whome death will never visit." The original lyrics if translated literally would be something like:
Those who do not die
Aside from the fact that the literal translation would be too short to fit into the melody, I just kind of personally wanted to avoid the word "die" in the lyrics, so I changed it up the way I did. (I did consider words like "undead" or even "immortal" but they didn't quite fit the image, not to mention that just shortened the words even more lol)
明日はなにしてるかって？
さみしい？ わからない
消えてくだけだよ、ぜんぶ
そのまえに、消せないくらい悪戯していくよ
ashita wa nani shiteruka tte?
samishii? wakaranai
kieteku dake dayo, zenbu
sono mae ni, kesenai kurai itazura shite ikuyo
When tomorrow comes what will we do, you ask?
Loneliness? Well, who would know?
Disappear that’s all there is, all of it
Before the sunrise
Beyond erasure we’ll play every kind of tricks on you
Again, slower part, so easier to translate. The only thing for this part with the translation was that I changed "さみしい？ (samishii)" which would mean "(Are you) lonely?" to "(What about) loneliness?" because "lonely" wouldn't quite fit the melody.
I do like "Beyond erasure" part because it came so naturally and also I just like the sound of the phrase for some reason. lol
Singing-wise though, the rhythm killed me here in the last line. I just couldn't get the "every kind" rhythm right. lol
And the high note? I was kind of screeching. :P
湿っぽいのは嫌いだよ、カラッと今を駆けるバケモノ時間
相手にとって不足なし？
魂かけて、夜を騙すよ
shimeppoi no wa kirai dayo, karatto ima wo kakeru bakemono jikan
aite ni totte fusoku nashi?
tamashii kakete, yoru wo damasuyo
No tears, please for god’s sake, don’t we have enough?
Without care, running all around the time is now for us all
You’re a more than worthy opponent enough
So I swear on my soul that this night I will enthrall
Last spurt!!!
And part that served as a reminder once again how language differences aren't just a matter of different words but difference in concepts and an expression of the world according to that particular culture.
What do I mean by that?
For example, "湿っぽいの (shimeppoino)" literally would translate to "something damp." This adjective can be used on an event or a social atmosphere, and by doing so what it refers to is a situation where people get teary. For insance, saying goodbye could be a teary event, and that would be referred to as "something damp."
But if I were to say in English "let's stop the dampness" you might be able to guess what that means, but in reality, doesn't really mean too much. In English, one might say "let's lighten things up" instead.
The first line, if literally translated would be as follows:
I hate dampness. Now is the time for monsters to run around dry.
So here, "damp" is used to refer to what might be a teary situation (because we're saying goodbye to the Halloween monsters) and the antonym is also used here, "カラッと (karatto)" which as you can guess would literally translate to "dried". Actual meaning is a bit difficult to explain because I don't think the concept really exists in English. (I might be wrong, of course. I'm not an expert English researcher or something.)
So I tried the closest thing I could think of, which would be like acting carefree, so I used "without care."
For the "I hate dampness" part, I used "No tears, please" and followed up with "god's sake" which I thought would be ironic/funny for monsters to be calling on a holy being.
The rest of the stanza stuck close to the literal translation, even with the all/enthrall rhymes. :)
ハロウィンだって
ハイエナたちが
ひしめきあって、化かしあってって
朝焼けサインに終わりを告げる
鐘の音響く……
harowin datte
haiena tachi ga
hishimeki atte, bakashi atte tte
asayake sain ni owari wo tsugeru
kane no ne hibiku
On the day of Halloween, don’t you know
All the hyenas come running out to play
As if bringing all the signs of dawn to an end, and the
Tolling of bell resounds
HURRAY!!! REPEATING LYRICS!!!
If even for only two lines. lol
Yup, the euphoria lasted for only two lines, but hey, better than nothing, eh. :)
And the remaining two lines were pretty direct translations too, so not too difficult.
Although.
I did change the rhythm a bit. :)
:)
:)
I was a bit exhausted at this point and kind of started giving up on sticking to the original rhythm tbh.... lol
But I do like the "dawn to an end" part for some reason. Just the sound of it and how it rolls off the tongue is kind of nice and funny. :)
あれ？ って日だって、関係ないさ
イカれていこうよ、たかが一つ人生
最高だって？ 私のことかな？
それじゃね、また闇夜に おっおお～
パッパッパッパパーリナーイ
are? tte hi datte, kankei naisa
ikarete ikou yo, takaga hitotsu jinsei
saikou datte? watashi no koto kana?
sorejane, mata yamiyo ni oh-oh-oh
Huh? one of those days, not your day, no worries
Let’s go off the deep end, just one lifetime
I see the approval on your face, hey, is that for me? don’t you say
Then see you on another midnight
Wo-oh-oh, Ra-ta-ta-ta party night
Home stretch!!! Last stanza!!!
Last and.... like the most impossible stanza. lol
I won't go into too many details, but suffice to say that if I were to try to sing the original lyrics, I can't. Not in one take, and my tongue just won't move that fast!!!
So there was a lot of judicious rhythm changing. I just couldn't. lol
Maaaaaaybe if I had a whole lot more time to work on it, I might be able to keep the original rhythm, but I kind of doubt it. I am not cut out to sing fast paced songs! lol
So with all the changes to the rhythm, I was able to do an okay translated English version of the last stanza.
The one part that I should have done differently was the "on another midnight" part... I mean that's a pretty direct translation, so I can't really think of another way of phrasing it, but it's kind of hard to sing "on another" that fast. I kept on trying to sing like "onanana" with too many "no" sounds. lol
Oh well!
So that's the rough story of Taka Pen's translation of Hajime Tuitati's "Halloween Datte feat. Hatsune Miku"!
In the middle of working on the translation for my next video! Hoping to be able to get it up before end of the month. Maybe! What I want to avoid is uploading the last day of the month because I'm too busy at work the first week of the month and I have no time and energy left to work on the blog entries explaining my translation. I prefer to get these entries done sooner and closer to the time of my video uploads...! Oh well!
Anyway, thank you for reading my meandering blog entry this far! Hope to see you in my next blog entry! Taka out!
