The Grand Narrative

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No don’t worry, this isn’t going to be another post about computer games (not that there’s anything wrong with that). Actually, its related to today’s song translation, which I’ve done to force myself to study Korean on a day off for a change (and Wednesday too; it’s much harder than I thought).

Originally, after putting up this post last week, I definately wasn’t planning to spend so much time translating another song and putting it up on the blog again so soon. As people who actually read the site will know (you simply wouldn’t believe some of the search terms people have used to get here), I have a few “Part 1″ posts on various themes, but the promised “Part 2″s never seem to arrive. Now that I’m more used to blogging, I can say that writing a Part 1 and then posting about other things of interest before I get to its’ Part 2 will defiantely be the norm from now on, partially because I like variety, partially because regular posts are important for fledgling blogs like this, but primarily because writing on serious subjects takes a lot out of me, and in the process of writing a post on it I learn a lot more about it and even change some of my opinions. That was, after all, one of my original aims of the blog, but it prevents an easy progression of posts on the subject, and means I may even have to go back occasionally and edit the original posts as I refine my arguments.

But 2 or 3 weeks is still too long between posts on a subject, so the next post will be Part 2 of my post on the Korean Education system. I should really do part 2 on Korean Drinking culture first, as Part 1 is much older, but the only thing my wife has issues with in my posts on the blog is my argument that the education system renders many 20-something Koreans very childish, so I should back that up asap.

Introduction to the Song

So today, I’m going to give a translatation of the song “얼마나 좋을까” by 이수영/Lee Soo-young, which was one of the tracks accompanying the 2001 Playstation game Final Fantasy X (see her personal website here if you’re interesed). I’d completely forgotten about it, but came across it uploading some CDs onto my new laptop. Listening to it again, I remembered how popular it had been when it came out, and it was definately quite a jewel in the crown of the “한류” or “Korean Wave” at the time. Also, in a very confident-in-my-hetrosexuality and masculine way, it…ahem…is a simply beautiful piece of music.

Don’t get me wrong: as a whole I find Korean pop music very derivative and full of pretty-people bands (although from what I’ve seen of MTV here, you can say pretty much the same of American and British music these days), but there are still definately things worth listening to. To see what I mean, check out the first video here, my favorite version because back in 2002 I saw it on TV so many times that the music is inexorably linked to the images for me. But I include the different second version too, because according to YouTube pundits, it’s much better.

If you didn’t like it, you should probably give up on this post. If you did, there’s a lot more Korean music like that out there if you’re interested. Give me a buzz and I’ll put some more up. But actually, that’s kind of why I didn’t translate the song earlier, as I went through a phase of listening to and translating music like this for ages, and did it so much that I got tired of it. So I’m not saying don’t use music to study music to learn Korean, its a great method, just don’t overdo it: I did, and so I haven’t listened to music like this in about a year.

In the meantime, feel free to get back in touch with your masculine side in any way you see fit…

Translation and Explanation 

Again, first here is the song in full for you to print out easily if you like:

Lee Soo Young 4th: My Stay in Sendai 

Track 15: 얼마나 좋을까 (Final Fantasy-X)

1. 바람이 들려준 이야기엔

내 마음 설레였고

구름에 실려온 내일로

그 목소리 향해

거울에 흔들리는 달에 비친

내 마음 함께 떨리고

별들은 흐르는 눈물속에

고이 다 흘러버렸어

 

2. 얼마나 좋을까

둘이서 손을 잡고 갈 수 있다면

가보고 싶어

당신이 있는 곳 당신의 품 속

거기 안겨

몸을 맡기고

어둠에 감싸여

꿈을 꾸네

 

3. 바람은 멈추고 목소리는

아득하게 속삭이겠지

구름이 흩어져

내일은

아득한 환상일 뿐

달빛이 스미는 거울 속

내 마음은 흐르고

별들이 떨리다

멈춰

흐를 때

눈물은 감출 수 없어

 

4. 얼마나 좋을까

둘이서 손을 잡고 갈 수 있다면

가보고 싶어

당신이 있는 곳 당신의 품 속

그대 얼굴

살며시 스치고

내일로 사라지는

꿈을 꿨어

And here we go:

1. 바람이 들려준 이야기엔

내 마음 설레였고

구름에 실려온 내일로

그 목소리 향해

거울에 흔들리는 달에 비친

내 마음 함께 떨리고

별들은 흐르는 눈물속에

고이 다 흘러버렸어

Boy, if I’d known how difficult this verse was, I wouldn’t have started! As I need to think about it as I go along, I’ll give the notes first and then my translation:

• L1: 들려준 is 들려주다 (tell, let, inform) plus the modifier ‘ㄴ’ (는 if it had ended in a vowel). Added to 이야기 (story, converstation), it means “the story told”
• L1: The story is told by 바람 (the wind).
• L1: 이야기엔 means in the story, the 엔 is 에 (at, to, in etc.) + 는, the subject particle (Korean lacking articles, and having these instead, it makes sense for Korean books to call them ‘particles’; can you think of a better name?), and shortened from 이야기에는.
• L1: If you’re having trouble with 은 and 는, then you probably should hit the books instead of looking at this song, but I will pass on in parting that if you remember that either mean “As for,” then although your English translations of Korean will sound a bit pedantic it does make using particles easier.
• L1: So the subject is: what’s in the story that was told by the wind.
• L2: 설레였고 is past tense of 설레이다, the passive or 피동 of 설레다 (beat, throb, flutter) + 고, ‘and’ . So “my heart was made to throb and…”
• L3: 실려오다 is 실리다 (to be carried, mentioned, listed) + 오다. Now 내일 could me 내 (my) + 일 (work, task) or it could be 내일 which means ‘tomorrow.’ I don’t know which yet. Either way, the 로 means it went in that direction, so, continuing from L2, “My heart was made to throb and was carried on the cloud coming towards tomorrow/my work/my task.” Hmmm.
• Hmmm again.
• L4: 향해하다 means to face, to look, to be bound for, so “Towards that voice”
• L5: 거울에, in the mirror, 흔들리는 is 흔들리다 (shake, roll, vibrate) + the modifier 는, then 달에, in the moon, then 비친, shine + another modifier
• L6: 떨리고 is ‘and’ + 떨리다, tremble. But there’s too many modifiers upon modifiers in this to take stock yet.
• L7: 흐르는 = 흐르다, flow, + a modifier
• L8: 고이 is an adverb, softly, and 흘러 is 흐르다 again. And it ends with 버렸어, the past tense of 버리다, which according to your dictionary just means throw away or ruin, but when added to a verb can mean: 1) the action of the verb has been completed with little or no room to spare, or 2) the verb produced a state contrary to what was hoped for or expected, or 3) that the speaker feels relief that something has ended.
• Okay, let’s try and put that all together now, clause by clause(ish): “In the mirror virbrating moon in/on, my shining heart, with trembling stars, flowing tears in, softly all completely flowed.” Well that helps…

Yay! My wife is sleepy and grouchy, but up after falling asleep putting Alice to bed. So with expert advice, here we go again:

• L1&2: “My heart was throbbing to the story that the wind told me..and…” I was confused by the “엔”; in this case, it isn’t the subject but is just for emphasis.
• L3&4: “…tomorrow was carried on a cloud towards my voice”
• L5&6: “My heart (내마음), which was shining in the moon (달에비친), which was shaking in the mirror (거울에 흔들리는 달에), was trembling with it…and…(함께 떨리고)”
• L7&8: “The stars, my flowing tears, made them all go away”.

So I’ll present it again. In my defence, Korean singers, like their Western counterparts, take great liberties in their songs that render it unlike normal speech, and while native speakers have no problems with this it makes it a bitch for learners. But personally, I find that while of course its good to know what’s going on in great detail, the vibe of the language in the song is still important, and I think I was reasonably close before I dragged my wife in front of the laptop.

1. 바람이 들려준 이야기엔

내 마음 설레였고

구름에 실려온 내일로

그 목소리 향해

거울에 흔들리는 달에 비친

내 마음 함께 떨리고

별들은 흐르는 눈물속에

고이 다 흘러버렸어

My heart was throbbing to a story that the wind told me,

and tomorrow was carried on a cloud towards my voice.

My heart trembled to the moon that was trembling in a mirror,

and the stars made my flowing tears all go away.

2. 얼마나 좋을까

둘이서 손을 잡고 갈 수 있다면

가보고 싶어

당신이 있는 곳 당신의 품 속

거기 안겨

몸을 맡기고

어둠에 감싸여

꿈을 꾸네

• L1: Anything ending ‘ㄹ/을까” is when you’re asking someone’s opinion, although it can also be just affirming yours, as in “James is a complete stud, eh?” In this case she’s saying isn’t it good, but I know that the title the original Japanese verison of this song is translated as “Isn’t it beautiful,” and that sounds much better.
• L2: 둘이서 means “You and I”. Why the hell isn’t it in any dictionary?
• L2: the 다 in 있다면 makes it different to just 면: it is used for definately hypothetical ‘ifs,’ like “If you went back in time to 2000, what would you do?”
• L2: ㄹ/을 수 있다 means can do whatever verb you want to put before it. With 없다 it means can’t. When you write it, remember to put a space between the ㄹ, the 수, and then the 있다 or 없다.
• L2: So, “imagine if you and I could grab each other’s hands…”
• L3: 보다 + a verb means try to verb, so “I’d want to try to go”
• L4: 곳 is place, not 것/thing, so the place that you are at is 속/in your heart or chest/품…
• L5: 안겨 is the passive, 안기다, of 안다/to hug, so be hugged there.
• L6: (my (I guess)) body I entrust
• L7: 감싸다 can mean wrap, or protect, so…In the surrounding darkness…
• L8: I’m dreaming…and the 네 means mild suprise. If you’ve been understanding all this Korean so far, it will mean that you’ve had so many Koreans saying “와…한국말 잘 하시네요” when you say more than 2 words of it that you’ll kill the next person who says it too you!

How beautiful it is,

Imagine if we could grab each other’s hands, I’d try to go

into the place that you are in your heart

and hug it

I’d entrust my body to you and

wrapped in the darkness

I’d dream!

(Give me a break: it’s 11.46, and my wife is too busy dozing in front of the TV to do little more than grunt at my questions now)

3. 바람은 멈추고 목소리는

아득하게 속삭이겠지

구름이 흩어져

내일은

아득한 환상일 뿐

달빛이 스미는 거울 속

내 마음은 흐르고

별들이 떨리다

멈춰

흐를 때

눈물은 감출 수 없어

• L2: 아득하다 means ‘far’, and 하게 makes it an adverb, so ‘farly”. But while this is wierd in English, this happens all the time in Korean.
• L2: 속삭이다 means ‘whisper’, the 겠 makes it future, and the 지 means ‘right,’ as in a tag question but in this case really just a statement, (like ㄹ까 was before)
• L3: 흩어지다 is the verb 흩다 + 지다, which in this case means make into that state, so ‘be scattered.’
• L5: ㄹ + 뿐 means only that. So it will only be a 환상/fantasy.
• L6: 스미다 means soak or permeate
• L9: Even my wife can’t figure out what this 멈춰 is doing there, it makes no sense. If my baby wasn’t sleeping, I’d listen to the song again to check if its really there or just a typo.
• L11: 감추다 means hide or conceal, + ㄹ 수 없다  can’t.

The wind will stop and my voice

from afar will whisper, yes?

The clouds will scatter.

Tomorrow will only be a remote fantasy

Moonlight will soak the mirror in which my heart flows

and the stars tremble

When my tears flow,

I can’t hide them

(Not bad for 12:16am and my translator snoring away, yes?)

4. 얼마나 좋을까

둘이서 손을 잡고 갈 수 있다면

가보고 싶어

당신이 있는 곳 당신의 품 속

그대 얼굴

살며시 스치고

내일로 사라지는

꿈을 꿨어

• L1-4: Same as before
• L5: This is not 그때/then, but 그대, which means ‘you’ or the other party involved.
• L6: 살며시 means steathily or gently, and 스치다 means graze or brush past
• L7: 사라지다 means disappear

How beautiful it is,

Imagine if we could grab each other’s hands, I’d try to go

into the place that you are in your heart

and hug it

Your face

I gently touch

I dreamt a dream that is disappearing towards tomorrow

Simply suburb for 12:24am, if I do say so myself! There will be numerous typos and other errors in this I know, but I think that my English lyrics at least do reflect, albeit dully, some of the original beauty of the song.  On that note, I’ll get the damn thing up on the blog and go to bed. But before that, with attending Korean class and all, a big round of applause for what’s been 5 hours of Korean study today!

Thank you very much…

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