Since I made a big deal about 'Polar Night' supposedly being about the same thing as this song, I thought I'd better translate it and post it up so people could compare the themes and imagery. It's worth a look at, anyway. There were also some tricky phrases in this! I hope I pulled it off alright. JLPT level 1 means nothing, nothing I tell you!
So, as in Polar Night, the point of view in this song is of someone who has lost their lover (although in this case it felt to me like someone who was married but I think I am reading Maaya's own marital status into that and she wasn't even married when she wrote this song so that shows some bias on my part!!) and is still stuck in the place and time they shared. I felt like maybe Chikai was a thaw after the long Polar Night before it...I wonder if that's how the two relate. Anyway, enjoy!!
P.S. This song was written in the days and weeks after the March 11 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami last year.
Pledge (Chikai)
From 'Driving in the Silence'
Original Lyrics by Maaya Sakamoto
I want to become stronger
I want to become a kinder person
Just like you were
More and more
I always thought about it
I always asked myself
What would you say?
Always, always
Even if I lose something I'll keep on living, right?
Whatever sadness I experience I'll be able to overcome it, right?
When we pledged our love we also promised a goodbye
*And now winter is coming to an end, shaking off the sorrow
The season you loved is
Passing by and sweeping everything away
And I'm still here like this, like this
Today warm rain
Gently continued to fall
I thought I could hear your voice
Softly, softly
Different people with different ways of living
The two of us chose the same path
We promised to share the happiness between us
#And now I move forward, clutching my pride to my chest
In this world that you loved
To the destination that we looked to together
I'm still here like this, like this
*Repeat
#Repeat
Thursday, 2 February 2012
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7 comments:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_Language_Proficiency_Test
Wow, grapefruit you hold Black belt in japanese language and you're so humble to admit inexperience ;)
Whoops, accidentally deleted my comment! Apparently I have trouble using English as well.
But it's true, I still have a lot of problems with Japanese despite studying/passing JLPT N1 etc. so there's still a long way to go before I'm happy with my Japanese skills.
And now I've started Korean 0_o I think this trilingual business is going to be tricky!!
The JLPT just tests Kanji knowledge, right?
So even if you pass, it does not necessarily mean you understand a sentence longer than "A is doing B".
Grapefruit (and everyone else) if you don't know ANKI, change that NOW.
http://ankisrs.net/
I don't know, I think the old test required an unfairly high level of kanji knowledge which meant that the Chinese speakers (or readers even!) often had an advantage whereas test takers using other writing systems were at a disadvantage.
The new N5-1 system has supposedley addressed the issue by bringing the balance to all sections (grammar, listening, vocabularly, kanji etc.) to give a better measurement of one's Japanese ability. Hence the new scoring system.
So I passed N1 without having the kanji knowledge that a Chinese test taker might have, for example. Whereas when I took the old Level 1, I missed the pass mark due to a lack of kanji/vocabularly whereas the other sections were fine.
So I'm thankful they changed the system :-P
Kanji are my big weakness, I'll admit. I just can't memorise stuff 0_0 and at this level it takes concentration and dedication to sit down and do it. Phew!
Thanks for Anki Lennstar, I had heard of it but I've not been given the link before.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6s2ijTvsPc
Hopefully these guys pass the N1 test with flying colors, ha ha ha :D
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