(no subject)

[fenlings]

So there was English club today! And I brought my laptop up to show the three ichinensei that were there today random stuff because we didn't have anything exciting planned.

I showed them the Seaman Ship CM, and they agreed that it was cracktastic. So it's not just a Japan thing. It's actually a CRAZY thing.

Then I showed them the cat-rabbit korean love story, and the Maiyahi flash, both of which they enjoyed. And the Trogdor movie trailer. And Star Wars and Serenity movie trailers. And, onlymesmerized, the "Tribute" music video.

I - it's just what was short and on my computer at the time?

And then I showed them Tokyo Breakfast because I like to CORRUPT THE YOUTH.

And they were all 「先生、ニガァって何ですか。」

So the English teacher and I explained and - wow, I'm a really bad person, aren't I?

::cackles::

Comments

[sonic-integer.livejournal.com]

niggah no get no bmw 7 series niggah
~snort~

[fenlings]

They were laughing? So I guess it was okay? But the worst part was that when the English teacher translated it into the *Japanese* offensive word for a black person, they still didn't know it.

Two new bad words for the price of one! I win at international corruption! Yay?

But man. Tokyo Breakfast. ::is impressed at exact quotage::

[sonic-integer.livejournal.com]

not *only* exact quotage...
*exact* accent :p

and you totally win at international corruption.
you win an english muffin.
(not very international... i know)



toasted ot untoasted
you choose.

it also just occured to me that unless you live in ye merry olde england, the muffins are hella international!

yay you
yay me...

xnx marzipan

[fenlings]

Mmmmm. English muffins. I can't find those in the store over here. ::munches happily::

[sonic-integer.livejournal.com]

p.s.
if you like your muffins burninated, you can call on trogdor.
he's a man
or maybe he was a dragon.

#burninating english muffins in their thatched roof cottageeees THATCH ROOF COTTAGEEEEEEEEEEEZZZ#

[fenlings]

LOL. I have this crack!vidbunny for Trogdor and it's just - really not a good idea. But yes. So much love for the burninator!

[sonic-integer.livejournal.com]

crack!vidbunny
0_o
what do you have?
a video of a bunny on crack?

please explain

[fenlings]

It's a bad bad bad idea to make a fanvid of a show to the trogdor movie trailer soundtrack. My brain, she is a scary place.

[onlymesmerized.livejournal.com]

wow, I'm a really bad person, aren't I?
::cackles::

Yes, I think the evil laughter clearly indicates this.
-->there is nothing better than getting four or five bewildered people to watch the "Tribute" music video, unless it is "West Hollywood Lifestyle". I think I must've broken my roomates brain with that one...

[fenlings]

Haha. Whatever!

All this gossip research about David Boreanz was fascinating. I had no idea.

a belated "whee!"

[zerl.livejournal.com]

Whoa, whoa, whoa. You're already in Japan? How did I manage to miss this wonderful bit of information! (By ignoring my flist for several full months, I know... >_<;;) But anyway. Yay for English-teaching insanity, and for your fannish corruption of youthful minds. Although--

But the worst part was that when the English teacher translated it into the *Japanese* offensive word for a black person, they still didn't know it.

The worst thing is? I totally believe you.

Next thing you might try teaching them the offensive word for "Japanese." *eg*

Which part of Japan are you in? Anywhere near Tokyo?

(...Er. Come to think of it I realize you might not remember me by now. I'm the one who wrote to you -- way back when -- to gush on your Fraser/Victoria vid. Which... eep! I haven't had time to release that with my Jp subtitles either. But it's finished, more or less, and I've just been meaning to ask you for your feedback. Could you take a look and tell me what you think? In terms of technical things and/or the translation itself. Including but not limited to: did I spell your name correctly in katakana? And you know, you have no idea how happy it makes me to discover I can actually ask the vidder these questions and have her opinion. :-)

Oops

[zerl.livejournal.com]

Okay, I should really stop commenting to people when I'm half asleep.

No I did not mean for you to forge a psychic link with my computer. XD
The subtitle vid is posted over here (http://s27.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=34VOVMAIA2QWP2PHJHLEJLPM7D), if you'd care to take a look.

Re: Oops

[fenlings]

Ooo, wow. ::looks at pretty shiny subtitles::

Okay, 身for “sex.” Hmm, I don’t know. I think of sex in this context as more the desire, the libido. Because she consumes his libido, she consumes his life force, and he’s weakened. Or something. 身doesn’t seem, well, sexy. But yeah I don’t have any alternate suggestions because I am way not good enough at Japanese to choose shades of vernacular meaning.

At around 1:28, the 真っ赤な something – what is that next kanji? (I’m dumb yes.) And also, where is the真っ赤 coming from – the tunic? Because I think of the “cover(s)” as more metaphorical. The covers on the bed, the tunic, and also her “cover” as a, well, good person.

Your translation is more of a poem than a translation. It’s interesting how you keep changing the translation of the chorus (which repeats the same English words) to reflect the mood of that part of the vid/music. Of course some of the lyric matching was lost, but you managed to keep a lot of it which yay go you. But even if your translation isn’t exactly the same as the lyrics, I think it’s actually more compelling and beautiful. I really liked a lot of your word choices. So you win!

The quality is very good, and the subtitles are really clear. But I think you lost my fade to black at the end. You spelled my name right, though. ^_^ Hmm, it would be good if you could time the subtitle changes to cuts in the vid.

But all these things are nitpicking. You could release it right now and I would be very happy with it. I’m so flattered that you took the time to do this. Yay, thanks!

[zerl.livejournal.com]

Yay, thank you so much for your feedback! I loooove nitpicky concrit; if I didn't, I wouldn't ask. And I know I said it once but I'll say it again, it's just such a rush to be discussing the subtitles with the actual author of the vid. We're even in the same country!
(Hey, speaking of, some friends and I are scheduling to do an Eclipse chat (http://www.livejournal.com/users/zerl/27104.html) this evening, from 9 pm. The language is Japanese, but there's going to be another non-native speaker, joudama99. If you're comfortable enough with your Japanese to try chatting, would you care to join in? We'd be delighted to have you. Or if that's too intimidating, you could just sort of peek in. :-)

Your translation is more of a poem than a translation.

Yes, that's the biggest weakness -- and strength, at the same time, I think -- of my vid translations. As I see it, translating lyrics in the limited time frame is already a tough task, but to do it while being faithful to a vid is nearly impossible, if you wanted to do anything even remotely like literal translation. This is because each line holds not just denotational meanings but also a huge range of connotations, of which vidders take huge advantage of in making their vids. There's just no way to keep all those "real meanings" and "hidden meanings" intact while keeping the word count under the maximum of readability (about 4 characters per sec for normal movie theaters).

Which is why I've come to always resort to changing the words around in translating the chorus sections. On the one hand, it would be better if I could avoid it. Vids are extremely fast-paced compared to movies, and so there's already enough strain on the viewers' eyes to begin with. No need to add the task of following new words, if it weren't strictly needed to understand the vids. But it is, I think. All good vidders take the same lyrics and focus on a different connotation of the same words, second time and third time around. Now, they're fresh AND in accord with the English lyrics because the vidders manage to cultivate the words' connoted meanings, but the translator can't hope to do that without maybe expanding the translation of a single line into two or three whole sentences. Second best solution: change things around and try to at least, you know, rhyme. (Or sort of. XD)

Then the rest is a question of which lyric-scene matching to keep in the translation, which to cover (or hope the viewers cover in their minds) by way of Japanese connotation, and which to completely abandon. In the first stanza, I had to abandon "fingers," although 蝕み manages to add the sense of invasion; I hoped the visuals would be enough to make that connection. Same with "blessings and burns" vs. "Godless under your cover," etc, etc. I'm so happy to hear you're satisfied with the overall end result for its tone, if not for exact word-for-word accuracy. I chucked accuracy out of the window about three minutes into the translating process. :P

[zerl.livejournal.com]

I'm not too worried about 身 for "sex," in this instance. The phrase "身も心も (侵される, 捧げる, etc.)" is a very well entrenched expression in Japanese, which means roughly the same thing as "body and soul," but with a stronger connotation of the romantic context, I think. And so in this phrase "身も" sounds like exactly what you're saying -- "she consumes his libido, she consumes his life force, and he’s weakened." Since the wording evokes this context of "身" pretty easily, I think the nuances would be not too far from what you're describing for the original "sex." Also, 身 has a wide range of meanings and some of them are very sexual. 身を売る is to prostitute yourself, for example.

the 真っ赤な something

That's the kanji for うそ (lies). And -- can I plunge into (some more) self-satisfied gloating? ^-^ Because this section is actually the part that I'm most proud of. As you know, the original text goes like this:

I'm naked underneath your cover
Covers lie, and... (etc.)

So there's a tiny literary device there to begin with, one where the two lines hinge on the word "cover" in connecting the two separate ideas. And you matched it with a nice transition there, using Fraser's tunic to symbolize the "cover" (being a good person, etc). I didn't want to lose that sense of hingedness, but obviously there's no possible way to keep it literally.

赤裸 is just a fancy way of saying 裸 with an emphasis, but the connotation is being naked and unprotected, vulnerable, exposed and maybe even raw. 真っ赤な嘘 is a conventional idiom, where the word "lie" is emphasized. Something like "a total lie." Thus the imagery of redness was totally coincidental. I was looking for some hinge word to help these two phrases glide one into the other, and "red" just happened to work with the words here. And -- as you know, it goes so well with the imagery. That was actually an added bonus, and sheer luck on my part.

There are a couple of things I'm still not sure about, especially around the chorus. (Those lyrics were the hardest to translate.) And also the line "I unfurl my flag" -- what does unfurling your flag signify? Could you teach me the English meaning on that one?

...So I'll change some words here and there, and then I'll post another YSI on my own LJ. I'll definitely check that fade-to-black thing, and see if I can get it back.

At any rate, though, I'll be encouraging everybody to refer back to the original vid file for better quality.

[fenlings]

Okay yay thanks for explaining the idioms to me! Now I feel even *more* impressed with your word choices!

"I unfurl my flag, my nation helpless"
Here the speaker is making a comparison between a nation raising a flag of surrender in battle and his own surrender to darkness.

Re: a belated "whee!"

[fenlings]

Yes, I am in Japan, and of course I remember you. Your gushy email like made my week back then. I am, sadly, not near Tokyo. I'm in Nara.

And yes, I am here being evil and mind-corrupting. Those poor children. But hah, no way am I going to be responsible for them going around calling each other "Nips" all innocently. I think the "What's up, ニガァ!" is bad enough. Jesus.

先生

[(Anonymous)]

ニガァって何ですか

You know, it actually took a while for me to figure out what that naughty word was. You take corruption to a whole new level, my dear. And to think, the J-House and Japanese were once so innocent.

Btw, CORRUPT THE YOUTH sounds like an excellent name for a Japanese band. You should start it. Their songs can explain all of your "vocabulary." Just think! It could even be considered educational...

Re: 先生

[fenlings]

OMG <333

The label will read:
"Learn the soul of American culture to a joyous beat!"

And how awesome would special guest タレント singers on some songs be?