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Definitely. I'd be curious to know who wrote the Japanese lyrics--whoever they are, they did a great job imho.I think whoever did the Japanese translation made the song ‘deeper’ than the original, so Japanese speakers probably get more from the message of the song than English speakers do from the English version.
Yes. As you know, this happens a lot with "su" (for the folks who don't speak Japanese). So, in spoken conversation, "wasureru" (to forget) probably would sound more like "wassreru." The same phenomenon happens with "desu," pronounced "dess" almost universally (to be/is), or "masu," pronounced like Spanish "más" (indicates that the verb is in the present tense).If you speak the Japanese lyrics, the vowels are a lot more clipped - I suppose as happens in English, too.
Same! My childhood Japanese school classes taught me to read hiragana and katakana with some level of fluency. Other than that, we read very very basic kanji (like first- and second-grade level kanji) and that's about it. I'm only able to translate kanji using the handwriting feature on my iPhone and MacBook Pro. I literally handwrite the character and look it up. I have no idea how Japanese (and Chinese) students learn thousands of characters. The human brain is fascinating!I understand Japanese best when it’s in a certain context - (e.g. in a shop, in a restaurant, at an airport), where you can use contextual clues for meaning. If two people were just chatting in a street, I would understand very little of their conversation, if any of it - so I’m still at a fairly ‘beginning’ level and have lost a lot of my understanding and skills since returning from Japan. And I can read very little, as I’ve never worked on the reading side of things.
De alegría no tristeza.
I really like these two translational liberties. I'm trying to figure out how to match the acentuación with the downbeats in the song. It amazes me that I've never thought deeply about this... but well-written Spanish lyrics really should match the accents with the downbeats.Para que sea eterna
Exactly! The children's choirs on the performances in Japan sing with much more clipped vowel sounds, similar to how you would speak the words.Definitely. I'd be curious to know who wrote the Japanese lyrics--whoever they are, they did a great job imho.
Yes. As you know, this happens a lot with "su" (for the folks who don't speak Japanese). So, in spoken conversation, "wasureru" (to forget) probably would sound more like "wassreru." The same phenomenon happens with "desu," pronounced "dess" almost universally (to be/is), or "masu," pronounced like Spanish "más" (indicates that the verb is in the present tense).
Now that I think about it, a really good way to hear the way vowels are sung in Japanese is when the children's choir sings, particularly on the "Live in Japan" album. You'll hear the way the "u" vowel is not "ooh" but it's unrounded (you don't round your lips like a pout or duck lips); there's no equivalent in English, so it's hard to describe how the sound is made, but it's romanized as "u." The "o" is also very open, maybe like the French o, or the Portuguese ó; not like English "oh." (If you're an English speaker, notice how your lips close a little at the end of "oh"--that doesn't exist in Japanese, which explains how the Japanese choir sings "utaou." They keep the vowel very open.)
Same! My childhood Japanese school classes taught me to read hiragana and katakana with some level of fluency. Other than that, we read very very basic kanji (like first- and second-grade level kanji) and that's about it. I'm only able to translate kanji using the handwriting feature on my iPhone and MacBook Pro. I literally handwrite the character and look it up. I have no idea how Japanese (and Chinese) students learn thousands of characters. The human brain is fascinating!
That's why I think ABBA's spanish songs have withstood the test of time better than many other artists that tried to sing in Spanish; they tried to get the pronunciation of the words correctly, while trying to capture the overall theme of the song and be faithful to the original melody, making the necessary sacrifices when they had to benefit this new version.I really like these two translational liberties. I'm trying to figure out how to match the acentuación with the downbeats in the song. It amazes me that I've never thought deeply about this... but well-written Spanish lyrics really should match the accents with the downbeats.
I'm amazed with how you were able to think outside of the box to rephrase parts of the song. I know I'm not a songwriter for the simple fact that I can only hear the English recording and the Spanish recording in my head... there's no way I'd be able to come up with original lyrics that capture the essence of the original song without doing a direct translation.That's why I think ABBA's spanish songs have withstood the test of time better than many other artists that tried to sing in Spanish; they tried to get the pronunciation of the words correctly, while trying to capture the overall theme of the song and be faithful to the original melody, making the necessary sacrifices when they had to benefit this new version.
I prefer good pronunciation and trying to maintain as much of the original music as possible, than severely butcher it in favor of a literal translation whose pronunciation is wrong in many places.
I've tried my hand (whenever I have the inspiration) on writing lyrics for some of my own compositions that have words to sing. I don't consider myself good enough, but I like to try.I'm amazed with how you were able to think outside of the box to rephrase parts of the song. I know I'm not a songwriter for the simple fact that I can only hear the English recording and the Spanish recording in my head... there's no way I'd be able to come up with original lyrics that capture the essence of the original song without doing a direct translation.
Should the mono version be included in the CRR information for the song?No. It's the standard, but mono, Jambalaya.
Maybe. Let me think about that.Should the mono version be included in the CRR information for the song?
Just for fun! I've synched the "Canta" single with the "Sing" single, putting "Canta" in the left channel and "Sing" in the right.
Just for fun! I've synched the "Canta" single with the "Sing" single, putting "Canta" in the left channel and "Sing" in the right. To synch them up, I had to speed up "Canta" by about 1.5%.
You never had your mother and your father yelling at you at the same time.Holy phase, Batman. This is torture. Fun...but torture. I couldn't listen to this long...LOL!!!
Ed
As things sometimes happen, I'd been searching for this single for years and just a week or so ago it showed up in one of my want lists. The 45 arrived today and I've cleaned it up the best I can and have uploaded it to YouTube.
The single is in mono, which might explain something regarding the replaced line. It might be damaged on Richard's stereo master and he opted to substitute the English line. Then to match it, he replaced it twice for consistency.
Interesting, I enjoy the sound of Karen's voice more on this version than the English original. I can't pinpoint why, except that I hear a somewhat richer sound in her upper register, more depth in her lower register. Could just be my ears playing tricks on me. Now I'll have to give the original another listen!
Makes perfect sense. Thank you for explaining why I hear more warmth in Karen's voice in the Spanish version. I wish it could've somehow translated over into the English version ... but of course it couldn't because of the difference in the lyrics, which produces different vowel sounds.It may be something to do with the vowel sounds in the Spanish version. You get a richer sound from Karen’s voice when she singing open vowel sounds like ‘ahh’ sounds as in ‘canta’, than you do with a closed ‘I’ sound as in ‘sing’.
I remember reading (or hearing) an interview with John Bettis where he explained he deliberately wrote lyrics with the right vowel sounds that would bring out the best in Karen’s voice. ‘Only Yesterday’ was one example - it opens with open a and e vowels in the first couple of lines (‘after’ and ‘everyone’).
Just for fun! I've synched the "Canta" single with the "Sing" single, putting "Canta" in the left channel and "Sing" in the right. To synch them up, I had to speed up "Canta" by about 1.5%.