Kokoro (Heart and Soul) Eng Sub

As usual, the lyrics are not word for word. Click the More Info button for translation information.

Unlike most of the other translations I've posted, several good translations of this song are already in circulation. So why did I decide to add another to the mix? Mainly because as soon as I heard this song I not only loved it, but I also recognized that it touches on many of the old mythologies of Western Civilization (Pandora's Box, Eve and the Forbidden Fruit). With only a slight tweaking of the lyrics (and not even changing the meanings) I could use phrases and words that I feel will generate a stronger emotional response among English speakers, just because so much of the imagery is part of our culture. (It's why I decided to refer to this as the Genesis translation).

I'm not fully satisfied, mainly because my movie editor is worthless- I couldn't even place the subs in the black bars at the bottom of the screen, and several times couldn't get them in quite the right place. Not to mention my computer decided to start freezing while I tried to complete it. Also, the source video isn't as high quality as I would have liked. Maybe I'll come back to this if I ever get a better editor.

Anyway, the following are some links to other translations:

The original Vocaloid version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQP7avT0QGA
The original translation for this version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhOL1TxuzeM
A wonderful English Fandub (very impressive): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NP-GdsoOYYQ

Probably the most significant change I made didn't even have to do with the mythology issue though. It starts when Rin (the robot) sings "As I recall, all my days..."

The original Japanese is something like: "This day, that time. All the memories dwell in my heart, making it overflow"

Well, "this day, that day" is, I believe, a saying that I've heard often, and I might be wrong, but I believe it means that the person using the phrase is referring to an important event or memory- so important that it can be referred to simply as "that time". So I think the implication is that Rin is remembering all these memories that are now becoming meaningful to her, now that she can feel emotions, so much so that her heart is overwhelmed. I think my lyrics did a good job of communicating that intent- more so than a direct translation would. (Unless of course I'm wrong and don't understand the meaning, which is always a real possibility.)

Probably the thing most people notice is that I used "Soul" for "Kokoro" instead of "heart". Kokoro has a deapth of meaning to it that usually coincides pretty well with heart, but this time I just felt "soul" captured the meaning better.

There were a few other places I made some changes. Feel free to compare my translation with the others.

Now, originally this was sung by the Vocaloid Rin Kagamine (first link above). However it appears this version was sung by a person called "Namanyuruko". Although I have heard a lot of arguments about this fact. I don't know the truth, figure it out for yourselves, as personally I don't care who sings it.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Kokoro
• Pandora
• Box
• Rin Kagamine
• Eden
• Eve
• Forbidden Fruit
• Genesis
• Gratitude
• Fall
• Creation
• Hope
• Joy
• Grief
• Plan
• Happiness
• Vocaloid

[bikeridingducky]

@1madmartagan1 where can you get the vocaloid program, do you know?

[1madmartagan1]

@bikeridingducky

I would probably go check out the Vocaloid wiki, which has a ton of info on them. I know zero-g also has a Demo for some of the Vocaloid programs.

[himokimaeko]

I love your translation. Where is this version of the song from? I love the dialog.

[1madmartagan1]

@himokimaeko All the information I have is included under the More Info button.

[MoonFireRat]

Is the robot from an anime or something?

[1madmartagan1]

@MoonFireRat

Nope. Vocaloid is a program for an artificial voice that will sing a song written by the user. Each Vocaloid voice has a image "packaged" with the program. The one here is Rin Kagamine. These images are then commonly used for user creations of videos to go with the song they (or someone else) wrote.

So in this instance, someone wrote this song, and used the Rin Kagamine Vocaloid to sing it. They then used Rin's image to create drawings that went with the song.

[Dinru]

I first watched this video before I knew about Len (or Volcaloids in general), and I always interpreted the scientist as being a father, and replicating his daughter. But I digress.

[Dinru]

This is amazing. You are very talented at translation :) This is the best translation of this song I've ever found! Thank you for posting this :D

[gurrenlaguann97]

for some reason I keep crying....... suck it up just suck it up......wahahahaha!!!!!! good video too

[acutelatios]

at 4:35 the flowers that grew around rin looked like wings

[ZakSaturdayLover11]

OMG that's Len talking in the beginning o.o

[ladymichiyobu]

@lalalaXnanaXlalala in some versions

[MitchellRS5]

okay, i think these lyrics are way better then the original ones,

im not even kidding!

Great Job on the lyrics~ ^w^~!

[MoonFireRat]

@1madmartagan1 I see! Thanks for telling me!