I was listening to some Elliott Smith and I was trying to think how I would explain the contents of the song to my wife in Japanese. I actually came up with a new study method in the process! What I was doing was just listening to all of my favorite Elliott Smith songs, translating the lyrics in my head as the song progressed, and if something came up that I couldn’t express well in Japanese I looked it up in the Eijiro search on the alc.co.jp site. It seems like it’d be a good exercise for anyone who wants to practice interpretation. Here are some of the new terms I came across in the process.
From Pretty Mary K. (Live performance video at the end of the post if you’re interested)
“Almost forgot”
忘れるところだった。
“found faith in the infirmary as a soldier lying in bed with a wound to the head”
軍人の時、頭を撃たれて安静した僕は診療所で信頼を見つけた。
“calling out to pretty Mary K.”
きれいなメーリー・Kを呼び出す。
“Here’s what you get for things that haven’t happened yet.”
まだ起こってない事件ための自業自得だ。
“Happened upon pretty Mary K. in a soldier’s uniform.”
軍人の制服を着ているきれいなメーリーKを偶然に出くわした。
“Waved you away.”
手を振って追い払った。
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