Talk:Face Forward Team Rocket!

Translation

I was looking over the translation, and it's really... wrong. The "mori mori mori" part of it is a play on words, and whoever translated didn't quite understand that. "Mori" means forest (as you see the trees popping up in the video) but it's a play on words because "moriagaru" means to rise... so the phrase means "Our determination rises!" or something along those lines. The repeated use of mori is just a play on words. Though... the translation doesn't quite express that. If someone can change that, that'd be great. CherryParanoia 01:09, 20 November 2009 (UTC)

I noticed that not just this song, but a lot of the songs have various translation errors - some of them less severe than others. I plan to go through and check all the existing translations eventually, but songs that already have translations are low on my priority list, unless I stumble across one with a translation so horrendously awful the entire meaning of the song is wrong, in which case I correct it right away (*cough Hey! Pikachu cough*). Since you requested, though, I'll bump this one higher up on my to-do list. :) 梅子^❀_✿ 01:16, 20 November 2009 (UTC)

Thanks. :) It was really bugging me. There's a few more errors in the translation, but i know you'll catch those too. CherryParanoia 17:27, 21 November 2009 (UTC)

Not to be a nag about this song, but why does it say "PQRS" in it? Thats nothing near the meaning of "ra ri ru re"... i know its trying its best to make it seem right, but... thats not a good translation :(

And plus, i'm adding in some trivia about the fact its a play on words CherryParanoia 02:14, 26 November 2009 (UTC)

"Ra ri ru re ro(ketto dan)" is referencing the Japanese alphabet (which goes a, i, u, e, o, ka, ki, ku, ke, ko...), and I think "P-Q-R-S-T(eam Rocket)" is an appropriate adaptation. 梅子^❀_✿ 02:28, 26 November 2009 (UTC)

...i see the logic, but its totally... not right. XD Because the japanese alphabet is phonetic, unlike the English alphabet. So that doesn't really work. But i guess it conveys the meaning "enough". CherryParanoia 03:17, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

Fortunately, "Team" sounds exactly like the phonetic sound for the letter T, only with an M stuck on the end! So it works out in this case. But if you have a better solution/translation, I'd be more than happy to hear it. 梅子^❀_✿ 03:21, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

Well, if anything, we should make a note on the page of that translation. I guess it works, it's just really awkward. XD CherryParanoia 03:28, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

If you want to, go ahead, but I personally think that this talkpage conversation is enough for anyone curious about it. If I added, say, a bit of trivia or whatnot for every artistic adaptation made in lyric translation in order to convey the same intent/feel, song pages would be much larger than necessary. :P 梅子^❀_✿ 03:33, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

I guess so. Then lets hope people who get confused with the PQRS thing read talk pages. :) CherryParanoia 04:45, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

"P-Q-R-S-Team Rocket"? Really?

Does anyone have any idea how completely different English and Japanese are from each other? When it's Ra-Ri-Ru-Re-Rocket-dan, it makes sense in that language. A-I-U-E-O is a common Japanese wordplay thing. That's not something that can be recreated in English. ShadowMan2 (talk) 04:34, 11 December 2014 (UTC)

Why not? A-I-U-E-O is basically the Japanese alphabet. "A-I-U-E-O" is, for all intents and purposes, equivalent to "A-B-C-D(-E)" in English: it's reciting the first letters (or sequential letters, as with "P-Q-R-S-T") of the alphabet. At best, you can argue that the Japanese is reciting a complete line (the "Ra" line, in the song). But how exactly is that of any importance...?

The only remotely important thing here is that it's progressing along the alphabet. To do the same in English is an entirely reasonable translation. Tiddlywinks (talk) 04:42, 11 December 2014 (UTC)

Let's just say that translating songs is...something else entirely. ShadowMan2 (talk) 04:43, 11 December 2014 (UTC)

...That's not really good enough. Also, I just noticed the conversation above. You should perhaps give it a look. Tiddlywinks (talk) 04:46, 11 December 2014 (UTC)

Point is, the Japanese alphabet is entirely different from how English works for the most part. Some things work effectively both ways, some don't. ShadowMan2 (talk) 04:48, 11 December 2014 (UTC)

That's not a "point". That's, "I can't explain why I'm right and you're wrong but I am."

I may see some of what you want. And the only suggestion I can offer is, do you perhaps want something more like "Banana fana fo-Feam Rocket"? Not that that's really great, but it's all I've got.

As translation is difficult, and songs perhaps more so, sometimes you simply have to compromise. However, IMO, using Japanese should not be part of the compromise. Tiddlywinks (talk) 04:53, 11 December 2014 (UTC)

Just throwing in my two cents...based on my understanding of Japanese so far, the "P-Q-R-S-Team Rocket" translation is acceptable as it conveys a similar meaning as "Ra-Ri-Ru-Re-Rocket-dan", especially considering that the translation is intended for a reader that is not assumed to be familiar with Japanese language. The point of our translations is so that our readers may know what the meaning of the song lyrics are, it's not meant to be a lesson in Japanese wordplay. The thing with translation is there isn't necessarily a right or a wrong way to translate a word or phrase...that's just the way languages are. I feel like keeping the "Ra-Ri-Ru-Re-Rocket-dan" would confuse some readers and doesn't convey the intentions of the lyrics. That's just my own opinion anyway, sorry to butt in :P --ZestyCactus 05:09, 11 December 2014 (UTC)