Feb 18 2008
Engrish for All: KAT-TUN Edition
One of the charms of Jpop for the English-speaking audience is that it’s fraught with lines of questionable English. Japanese pronunciation of English words with rather creative grammar choices can lead to lots of misunderstanding on our end of things. I’ve done this with my other blog, but today I’d like to share my most amusing misunderstandings regarding ‘English’ KAT-TUN lyrics. Feel free to share if you have any good ones!
“She Said”-
What they said: if you look back I won’t forgive you
What I heard: if you look back I will hit you
What they said: She said “never look back, whatever you face“
What I heard: She said “never look back”. Whatever, you bitch.
My version is sooooo much better (if a bit more violent), isn’t it?
“Your Side”-
What they said: you kiss so smart
What I heard: your kiss is mine
Again, my version is far superior.
“Real Face”-
What they said: riaru wo te ni ireru n da
What I heard: we are the world, te ni ireru n da
We are the world! We are the children! We are the ones who make a brighter day, so let’s start living…
What he said: sawage hollaback!
What I heard: sawage what the fuck?!
It’s the rap line that occurs in the same place as Jin’s wink/tsk only in the 2nd half of the song. Apparently I tend to hear profanity where there is none. I guess I’m just conditioned by American rap music. Come on though, I can’t be the only one who thought this at first!
“Never Again”-
What they said: unmei wa no fake
What I heard: unmei wa no fair
Like little kids whining, “no fair!” of course, fate probably isn’t fair, so it fits. On second thought, are we sure it’s not ‘no fair’?
“Gold”-
What they said: All I have wanted was another chance to chat, what was my wish of start to another world that lift me to the sky
What I heard: I ever wanted was another chance to show that my wish was to another word and lift me to the sky
What they said: All I have needed was to get back on the track.
What I heard: All I ever needed was to get back underground
What they said: I can feel, it’s for real, this time I will hit back.
What I heard: I can feel, it’s for real, this time Iwish you there
What they said: I used to be the last man in the luck so long. I gonna be fine it’s too big question makes how big a man come along
What I heard: I used to be I’ll ask you please because they got me so wrong. I’ve got to fight to find that question makes you think I’ll come along
What they said: The end of world crying, the end of world hiding
What I heard: She ends the world early, she ends the world early
And, amazingly, I somehow managed to hear Junno’s lines correctly. Okay, so I thoroughly screwed this up, but my version makes no less sense than the original. Seriously, Kame’s spiel could have been lifted right from one of the poems in “Alice in Wonderland”.
I think that the lesson here for all of us is to make sure you check the actual lyrics before you start singing along to your favorite Jpop song in front of your Japanese friends, or you might learn the embarrassing way that just because you speak English doesn’t mean you can speak Engrish too.
Curiouser and Curiouser,
~Celestia~