Talk:Let's Fighting Love/@comment-24764616-20140402220820

As an upper intermediate Japanese speaker (roughly at level N2 according to the Japanese Language Proficiency Test), I have a few remarks concerning the lyrics here. First of all, the first translation is closer to the meaning of the original Japanese than the "direct translation," so I don't see a reason to have two versions.

As for corrections to the Japanese, "kintama no kami" is written 金玉の髪 not 金玉の毛 (which is pronounced "kintama no ke." In this case "ke" would more correct Japanese than "kami," but that's not relevant), and mechakucha is written メチャクチャ, not ムチャクチャ (which is a closely related word with a slightly different meaning).

Also, though it's hard to make out, in the line "taisetsu na mono protect my balls" you can hear Trey Parker sing it more like "taisetsu na mono o protect my balls" (with an "o" after "mono"). This also makes the Japanese grammar make a little more sense. That would make it "大切な物を protect my balls" in the first column and "Taisetsu na mono o protect my balls" in the second.

Now as for the English translation (based on the first version listed).


 * "Kintama no kami" does not mean "golden testicle hair," it just means testicle hair (albeit in slightly faulty Japanese). The gold part must have snuck into the translation because kintama (testicles) literally translates to "gold balls." I would change the translation for that line to "And there's hair on my balls"


 * There's "Taisetsu na mono o protect my balls" again. For the translation to be "The important thing is to protect my balls" the original should have been "Taisetsu na no wa protect my balls." But it isn't, so I would translate it to "I'll protect the things that are important (or dear) to me: my balls" (alternitavely: "...to me, being my balls")


 * And the last of the glaring translation mistakes, "boku ga warui" does not translate to "I am badass." That may have been the intended meaning of the song writers, but the correct translation would be "it's my fault" or "I am to blame" or something similar.

Finally there's some nitpicks. I would not change some of these, but I want to point them out anyway.
 * "Subarashii" in this context is closer to "magnificent" than "wonderful." I would change that one.
 * "Kenka suru" means "to fight," be it in the context "my parents were always fighting before they divorced" or "Billy got in a [fist]fight with some tough boys." So "let's go (have a) fight" is closer to the original meaning, but I'm not sure if I would change it. "Let's go kick ass" sounds cooler and still covers the basic meaning, although it adds a layer of "we're gonna win this fight" that's not present in the original text.
 * Apparently a "sarubobo" is a Japanese amulet shaped like a red doll. According to the Wikipedia article on sarubobo it does translate to "monkey baby," but only in a local dialect. It's more likely that one of the writers had bought a sarubobo as a souvenir or something.
 * The Japanese comma (、) is rarely used in the lyrics of Japanese songs. I'd remove it, resulting in "大丈夫 We do it all the time!"

Last of all, if you read the linked Wikipedia article you would know Engrish is not the mix of Japanese and English. Engrish is faulty English used by non-native speakers. Mixing English through the lyrics songs is common practice in Japan, especially for cartoons aimed at kids and teens. A more correct labeling of the columns would be Kanji lyrics, Transcription, English Translation, as I have done it here.

That would be all! :D I would make all these changes myself, but it seems I don't have the user rights to do so. I hope I explained my reasoning behind all proposed changes clearly. If not, just ask.