Translating "First Love" by Erena Ono

[andycarmenjapanese8100]

Song link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upT1_fgpHxo

I've seen translations of this Japanese song before but they always interpret it into natural English without the middle literal translation stage. For me to properly understand something, I need that literal translation. So, I'm going to try it myself. I'm almost there but I need your help with a few things. I've deleted the lines that repeat more than once but the rest of the lyrics are below:

Hajimete deatte

"Meeting for the first time"

Natsukashii ki ga shita

"[I] had a nostalgic feeling"

Anata wo mae kara

Anata = You
wo = object marker
mae = before
kara = from(?)

"From [the time] before [I met] you"(?)

Shitteru mitai ni...

Shitteru = know (personally)
mitai = want to see(?)
ni = I understand why this is here if my translation below is correct, if not then I may need this explained too..

I've seen "miru" come after the ~te form of a verb before but never the plain form. "Tabete miru" would mean, "Eating to see the result (how it tastes)" or "itte miru" meaning, "Going to see the result (how the place is)" but I don't think that works in this context, right?. I think that would be incorrect here.

Also, why isn't this sentence in the past tense? The "shita" above suggests that "mitai" should be "mitakatta".

"[I want to] know you [to see the result (what you are like/how we are together, etc]"?

Koi no iriguchi

"Love's entrance"

Doa ga hiraite

"Door opening"

Kaze ni hakobareru

"[I am] carried by the wind"

Umareta hi kara zutto (zutto)

Umareta = Born
hi = this can't be "fire" so what is it and why is it here?
kara = from
zutto = throughout

"Throughout [my life] from [the time I was] born."

Machi tsuzuketeta kiseki (kiseki)

Machi = Wait
tsuzuketeta = continued
kiseki = miracle

I've never seen the ~masu stem ("machi") on its own like this before. The only time I've seen something similar would be in a context of "o-machi kudasai" which is a command. Is this a command without the "o" and "kudasai" politeness?

I don't know what verb form "tsuzuketeta" is. I'm guessing it is the past potential. I have never been taught how to conjugate that. Add "teta" to the ~masu stem of ~ru verbs? So "taberu" (to eat) would become "tabeteta" (could have eaten), "hashiru" (to run) would become "hashiriteta" (could have ran), and so on, right? And with ~u verbs, I would drop the "u" and add "teta" too? "Arukiteta" would be "could have walked", and so on?

"Wait miracle could have continued"? - That can't be right. The only way I can make sense of this is, "[I] could have waited [for this] miracle [to] continue." However, if that is the case, then why not use "machiteta", the past potential of "matsu"(?) instead of "tsuketeta"?

I'm completely lost here.

Tokimeite

"Throbbing"

Akogarete

"Yearning"

Kono mune no dokoka

"Somewhere in my chest"

Setsunakatta

Does this come from "setsumei"? "Explain"?

"Not explained"?

Yume wo mite ita mirai (mirai)

"I was seeing dreams [of the] future"

Kanjou wa

"As for emotions"

Itsudatte

"Always"(?)

Ima made no kioku

Ima = Now
made = until
no = 's
kioku = memory

"Memories [leading] up to now"(?)

Me to me ga attara

"If [our] eyes meet"

Atarashii sekai e

Atarashii = New
sekai = world
e = at

"At [a] new world"

Shiranai machikado

Shiranai = Do not know
machi = street
kado = corner

"Unknown street corner"

Tabi suru mitai ni...

Tabi = Journey
suru = to do
mitai = want to see

There's that "mitai" after a plain verb again...

"I want to [go on] a journey"(?)

Toki ga tomatte

"Time is stopping"

Kako mo mirai mo

"Past too, future too"

Ima mo suki ni naru

"Now too, [I] begin to love"

Korekara saki mo kitto (kitto)

Korekara = After this
saki = direction(?)
mo = too
kitto = certainly

I don't know what a natural English translation of this would be or how it relates to the rest of the song but:

"From this direction too, certainly"?

Kawaru koto naku tsuzuku (tsuzuku)

Kawaru = change
naku = cry
tsuzuku = continue

No idea...

Kyun to shite

Kyun = Falling in love(?)
to = and, speech particle? Why is this used?
shite = doing

"[I'm] falling in love"(?)

Koi kogare

Koi = love
kogare = I don't know. Can somebody help with this word?

Eien no imi wo

Eien = Eternity(?)
imi = meaning

"Eternity's meaning"(?)

Shiru no deshou

Why is "no" used here? "Knowing['s] probably"? Why not simply "shiru deshou?"

"Knowing probably"

Wasurerarenai jiken (jiken)

"Not able to forget [this] event"

Dokidoki no mokuji

Dokidoki = nervous
mokuji = anticipation(?)

I don't understand the "no" in this sentence either. "Nervous's anticipation"? Unless "dokidoki" directly refers to the heart here then I'm very confused. "Heart's anticipation" is more understandable. If I said "dokidoki to mokuji" instead would that be incorrect, like, "Nervous and anticipation"?

[ericf]

Hi Andy

kara also has the meaning of "because" -> ...because you're in front of me.

mitai here is the na-adjective -like; sort of; similar to; resembling, not a conjugation of the verb to see.
This would be immediately obvious if it were written normally:
na-adjective みたい
conjugated verb 見たい
Also the adjective is often followed by ni, I don't think the verb ever is.
Also applies to "tabi suru mitai ni" later...

umareta hi = the day (I) was born. hi is day. Your translation is fine though. I'd probably use when rather than day; from when I was born.

The -masu stem is used when joining two verbs together. matsu + tsuzukeru -> machi tsuzukeru
I couldn't hear it clearly but I think it's conjugated as tsuzuketeita, continual past from.
-> the miracle I always waited for

kawaru koto naku tsuzuku
naku is the the inflected/conjugated(?) form of "nai" the negative
-> continuing without change

shiru no deshou
no desu being used when giving or asking for explanations

dokidoki no mokuji
no is simply how you join two nouns

That was all a bit hurried and I probably haven't answered everything but hopefully it'll help a bit....

[community.japanese]

Andy-san, エリックsan,
kon'nichiwa!

wow...
Thank you for your help, エリックsan!
Andy-san, very well analised!
Translating songs' lyrics is quite difficult. So, I must say both of you did brilliant job

It seems some parts are better "being joined", like
"Anata o mae kara" + "Shitteru mitai ni" => as if I have known you for a long time.
"maekara" literally means "since before" and it's usually "for a long time" in English.

The word "setsunakatta" is kinda difficult to translate... It's the past tense of "setsunai" (i-adjective) and it
means "feeling lonely" in a way; sad, lonely, (slightly) hurt, ...
All those feelings. It can also be a part of nostalgic feelings.

I can't really translate the part "kanjou wa itsudatte imamade no kioku", because it literally doesn't make sense.
This part needs some better interpretation. Literally, "emotions are, anytime/always, memories of until now".


Hope this helps

Natsuko(奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com

[ericf]

Natsuko,
Thanks for correcting my "corrections"!

[community.japanese]

エリックさん、
どういたしまして
Well, what you wrote is correct anyway; just this lyrics had different "kara"

Natsuko(奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com

[andycarmenjapanese8100]

Those answers explain a lot.

Yume wo mite ita mirai (mirai)

Reading back, I realise I don't understand this either. If I wanted to say, "I was seeing dreams of the future" I'd guess it was, "Mirai no yume wo mite ita." "Yume wo mite ita mirai" sounds like the "mirai" is stuck to the end and isn't connected to the rest. It isn't connected to "yume" at all, so how are we supposed to know that it changes the "yume" ("dreams") to "dreams of the future"?

[mmmason8967]

The -masu stem is used when joining two verbs together. matsu + tsuzukeru -> machi tsuzukeru
I couldn't hear it clearly but I think it's conjugated as tsuzuketeita, continual past from.
-> the miracle I always waited for

Is it that colloquialism with the progressive, where the 'i' of 'iru' gets dropped? Like the way site iru becomes siteru?

In which case the line, as sung, would be: Mati tudukete 'ta kiseki.

マイケル

[ericf]

Yes, at least, I think it's a colloquialism. So your sentence looks to be correct.

[ericf]

Andy,

"Yume wo mite ita mirai (mirai)"

Hmm,
"ii yume wo mita", I had (saw) a good dream
"warui yume wo mita", I had a bad dream.
I can see where you're coming from with "mirai no yume wo mita / miteita" but actually I wonder if that means "I had a dream about the future" or does it mean "I had (for example) next month's dream"? I suspect it's the latter, and the latter isn't possible, you'll have to wait until next month to have that dream. Of course you can have a dream about the future; "mirai ni tsuite no yume wo mita" but that's getting a bit long to fit in the song lyrics.

Back to the song. Everything before the noun is just one big adjective if you like, a description of the "mirai". Yes, you can use doushi, or even complete sentences, to describe meishi in Japanese. The 'adjective' in this case being some dream that you had.
So, rather than "I had a dream of the future" I'd translate it as "the future I dreamt of".


Some other examples of this kind of grammar:
yonda hon - the book (I) read
yondeiru hon - the book (I'm) reading
Only use the plain form of the verb never the polite form. So not yomimashita hon / yondeimasu hon.

[mmmason8967]

Back to the song. Everything before the noun is just one big adjective if you like, a description of the "mirai". Yes, you can use doushi, or even complete sentences, to describe meishi in Japanese. The 'adjective' in this case being some dream that you had.　So, rather than "I had a dream of the future" I'd translate it as "the future I dreamt of".

Ah, yes; that makes sense. It's the same kind of structure as umareta hi, the day that I was born. So machi tsutzuketeta kiseki is something like "the miracle that I was waiting for", and yume wo miteita mirai is something like "the future that I was dreaming of".

The part of the song that we've been looking at seems to have an A, B, A, B structure with two lines in each A and two lines in each B. This is the part I'm talking about:-

umareta hi kara zutto
machi tsudukete 'ta kiseki
tokimeite akogarete
kono mune no doko ka setsunakatta

umareta hi kara zutto
yume wo miteita mirai
kanjou wa itsu datte
ima made no kioku

I can't make much out of the B sections. In the second B section, the use of wa in kanjou wa suggests that we are supposed to know which particular feelings the singer is singing about, in which case I assume they're the feelings described in the first B section. However, I don't have much idea what the first B section means. I can't even work out what the (grammatical) subject is -- is it I/me or is it kiseki from the previous line?

マイケル

[community.japanese]

Andy-san, マイケルsan, エリックsan,
kon'nichiwa.
hmm, it seems it's better to write and analise lyrics as "a chunk"

This is my interpretation (it doesn't mean it's correct...)

初めて出会って 懐かしい気がした / あなたを前から 知ってるみたいに･･･
hajimete deatte natsukashii kiga shita / anata o maekara shitteru mitai ni...
[first time I met you, I felt nostalgic, as if I've known you for a long time]

恋の入口 / ドアが開いて 風に運ばれる
koi no iriguchi / doa ga hiraite kazeni hakobareru
[(I see) the entrance to love; its door opens and the wind takes me into the door]

生まれた日から ずっと 待ち続けてた奇跡 ときめいて 憧れて この胸のどこか 切なかった
umareta hi kara zutto machi tsuzuketeta kiseki / tokimeite akogarete / kono mune no doko ka setsunakatta
[(this is) the miracle that I've been waiting for since the day I was born. (I felt) excited/throbbing, dreaming/longing,
and my heart was somewhat lonely/aching]

生まれた日から ずっと 夢を見ていた未来 感情は いつだって 今までの記憶 It's the first love.
umareta hi kara zutto yume o miteita mirai / kanjou wa itsu datte ima made no kioku
[(It's) the future I've been dreaming of since the day I was born. Emotions/feelings are always memories from the past (= emotions and feelings are always something I know from experience in the past)]

So "yume o miteita mirai" actually should be "yume mitaita mirai". When we want to say "I've been dreaming of" or
"I've been wanting", the proper verb is "yumemiru" and it's one word. It can be broken down and say "yume o miru",
but if a noun follows (like this case), it's more common to say "yumemiru" than "yume o miru". Why? Because
strictly speaking, "yumemiru" means more like "yume ni miru" or "yume ni made miru", not "yume o miru".
And "yume ni miru" means you've been longing for (wanting) something for a long time, or wishing something comes true.
This actually can be used in daily conversation too!
"yume ni made mita kaigai ryokou ni ikeru" = I can travel abroad, which I've been hoping and even saw it in my dream.

Hope it helps!

Natsuko(奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com