102 - Music Transcends Words

Yesterday, I somehow found myself wandering around YouTube, watching various Japanese videos, when I came across this particularly sad and, I thought, beautiful advertisement.

The company producing the video is 東山堂/Tosando (Music).

You can watch the video here:

It even had some useful language which, I think it goes without saying, we'll be looking at now. I've tried to keep my translations relatively straightforward, but I believe you'll find that some of these lines require quite a bit of imagination. The Japanese simply does not match up with the English well.


皆様、お話に花の咲いているところではございますが
みなさま、おはなし に はな の さいている ところ では ございます が
Ladies and gentlemen, I'm terribly sorry to interrupt your conversations, but...
Literally: "everyone + talk + に + flower + の + is blooming + place + では + is + but."

This is a pretty difficult sentence starting out, as the speaker is using really flowery language. We just saw 花(はな / "flower")and 咲く(さく / "to bloom")in the last lesson, but as you can see the meaning is significantly different here. Rei told me that she's heard a version of this phrase 話に花が咲く(はなし に はな が さく// "a conversation blooms"), several times.

I'd never heard it, but I was able to more or less understand the meaning the first time I watched this. When the flower of a conversation blooms, then I guess you'd be in the middle of a nice, interesting conversation? Makes sense... maybe... Although I'm definitely still a ways from being able to form nice, super-polite sentences like this. Maybe I should practice or something.

Note that 咲いている attaches to ところ. This ところ doesn't really mean "place." Rather, it's a grammatical function meaning "in the middle of VERB-ing." In this case the verb is "blooming." We'll look at it some other time.

Also, ございます is basically just a super-polite version of です... or ある, "to be."


ここで新婦のお父様、山中ヤスヒロ様より、新婦レナ様へメッセージがございます
ここ で しんぷ の おとうさま、 やまなか ヤスヒロさま より、 しんぷ レナさま へ メッセージ が ございます
Now the father of the bride, Mr. Yasuhiro Yamanaka, has a message for his daughter Rena.
Literally: "here + で + bride + の + father + Yamanaka Yasuhiro-sama + from, + bride + Rena-sama + へ + message + が + has."
Note: より is a fancy way to say "from."


ヤスヒロ様、よろしくお願い致します
ヤスヒロさま、 よろしく おねがい いたします
Please go ahead, Yasuhiro-sama...
Literally: "Yasuhiro-sama + please"
Note: 致します(いたします) is the humble form of します(i.e. する).


お父さんピアノ弾けるんだ
おとうさん ピアノ ひける ん だ
I didn't know your dad played the piano.
Literally: "dad + piano + can play + んだ."
Note: For a detailed look at this ~ んだ, check out Lesson #46. Also, though you probably can't hear him saying the お in お父さん, he's definitely intending to say it.


やめてよ
Stop.
Note: This sounds a little feminine, by the way. When speaking strongly like this, a guy would probably say やめろよ, the imperative + よ.


やめてよ
Stop.


その曲...なんで
その きょく... なんで
Why did you have to pick that song.
Literally: "that + song... + why"
Note: I thought translating this just as "That song... why?" would sound a little strange in English. This is the nuance I got from it.


下手くそ
へたくそ
You suck at this.
Literally: "extreme clumsiness // very bad (at something)"
Note: This is a really common & useful (though rude) word. Let's memorize it!


そこはもっと優しく
そこ は もっと やさしく
Play that part softer.
Literally: "there + は + more + softly"
Note: I was tempted to translate this, "You're supposed to play that part softer." I think any English translation will feel overly wordy compared to the Japanese, unfortunately.


不器用なくせに
ぶきような くせ に
You know you're no good at this stuff.
Literally: "clumsy / unskilled + even though"
Note: This was the hardest line for me to translate. ~ くせに means something like "even though," but it didn't make sense to me why she would say "even though you're clumsy" here. Asking Rei, her interpretation was that the bride is saying, "Why would you go to all the trouble of learning this even though you're no good at this kind of thing?" Thus, my translation above.


えっ
Huh?


頑張ってよ
がんばって よ
Don't give up.
Note: I hate translating all forms of 頑張る(がんばる // to... persevere? keep at it? not give up? fight? hang in there?). *_*


頑張れ
がんばれ
You can do this.


頑張れ...お父さん
がんばれ...おとうさん
Don't give up... Dad.


音楽は、言葉を超える。
おんがく は、 ことば を こえる。
Music transcends words.
Literally: "music + は, + words + を + exceeds."
Note: Cool line, yeah?


Audio Tracks:
01) 皆様、お話しに花の咲いているところではございますが
02) ここで新婦のお父様、山中ヤスヒロ様より、新婦レナ様へメッセージがございます
03) ヤスヒロ様、よろしくお願い致します
04) 父さんピアノ弾けるんだ
05) やめてよ
06) やめてよ
07) その曲なんで
08) 下手くそ
09) そこはもっと優しく
10) 不器用なくせに
11) えっ
12) 頑張ってよ
13) 頑張れ
14) 頑張れ...お父さん



Did you cry?

If so, sorry. Or... if not, sorry? I don't know.

頑張れ、皆様
がんばれ、みなさま

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