歌の翻訳についてOn Song Translations

Well, first of all, they're what I do for fun. There's a reason why I can remember the lyrics to what must seem like every anime song ever, and it's not just because I have a good memory. If I really like a song, I'll buy a CD that has it, copy the lyrics into my computer (in kanji/kana and romaji), and then take a shot at translating it.

まず、僕の趣味だ。アニソンの歌詞をよく覚えられる理由があるよ。歌が好きだとしたら、CDを買って、パソコンで歌詞を書いて（漢字と仮名、さらにローマ字）、翻訳しようとする。

However, I'm probably not spending as much time on them as I should. I'm taking a translation class this semester, and it's already taught me that I'm ignoring too much. For example, with Wolf Girl just recently, I tried to throw kind of a childish air into my translation, mostly because so much of it was in katakana when there were kanji that could have been used. I have no idea if it worked. I have no idea if the original lyrics or song give off that air in the first place. I mean, I think it does, but...

しかし、ちょっと速すぎるかな。今学期、翻訳の授業をとってる。習ったことは、翻訳しながらたくさん小さいことを無視している。たとえば、オオカミガールの翻訳で、ちょっと子供らしい風を使ってみた。たくさんカタカナがあるからだ。でも、いいかどうか分からない。その風は元の歌にあるかどうか分からない。僕はそう思ったのに…

This is one of the reasons why I'm posting them. I know that only a very few people that see this are going to be capable of offering comment, so it's not my only reason, but I do want comments.

これはここで翻訳を見せる一つの理由だ。これを見る人の中で、コメント出来る人（翻訳出来る人）が本当に少ないと分かってるから、その理由だけじゃないけど、本当にコメントが欲しい。

And the other note? Well, even if I did spend an appropriate amount of time on them, they're going a lot faster than they used to. Back during my first year at Brandeis, it took nearly a week to even type the lyrics into my computer, since I had to look up nearly every single kanji and my listening skill was bad to say the least. Now, I just did that copying process in about 15 minutes. There were exactly two kanji that I weren't already familiar with, I should have remembered one of them, and I listened to the song to figure it out. Even if I take several hours to actually translate the song, this will still be much faster than it used to be.

他のこととは？まあ、もっと遅く翻訳するとしても、前と比べると、すごく速い。大学一年生の時、パソコンで書くのは一週間ぐらいかかった。というのは、全部の漢字を調べなければならなかったからだ。しかも、聴くのは下手だった。今、新しい歌を書いて、かかる時間は15分。漢字は、二つだけ知らないし、その二つの一つはもう習ったし、歌を聴くとすぐ読み方が分かってる。翻訳は何時間もかかるとしても、本当にもっと速い。

Progress really does feel good.

上達するのは、気持ちいいな。