What do her Chinese songtitles translate as?

[evolution7931]

I was just on Ayu's official Chinese website and I can see that all of her albums and singles have official Chinese titles. The title of (miss)understood caught my eye { (步)解 } because I can see that her name is in brackets and I'm wondering if it's a pun or something.. when an announcer on some Taiwan TV show read the title he went "Ha!" XD

I also noticed that the Ayu-mi-x title has some sort of pun to it. {濱崎-不-一樣} because the first two symbols are her last name (bin chi) and then the 3rd symbol reads as "bu", so its read just like it normally would be, although the 3rd symbol is different.. it means "not" or something.. I'm not good with chinese.

So as you can see, all this sparked my interest. Can anyone translate all of her Chinese titles for me? Here is a list:

Albums:
(miss)understood- (步)解
MY STORY - 私物語
Memorial Address - 憶在步言中
A Ballads - A 抒情精選
RAINBOW - 濱紛彩虹
I am... - 唯我是問
A Best - A 精選
Duty - 以聲作責
LOVEppears - 愛現
A Song for XX - 給XX之歌

Songs/Singles:
BLUE BIRD - 青鳥
Startin' - 起步
Born to Be... - 天賦…
Bold & Delicious - 放手一搏
Pride - 自豪
HEAVEN - 天堂
fairyland - 夢遊仙境
STEP you - 追隨
is this LOVE? - 是愛嗎?
CAROLS - 頌歌
INSPIRE - 刺激
Moments - 剎那
No way to say - 難以言喻
forgiveness - 原諒
Voyage - 旅途
Free & Easy - 自由自在
Daybreak - 破曉
Dearest - 最愛
UNITE! - 心手相連
NEVER EVER - 絕無僅有
AUDIENCE - 觀眾
SURREAL - 超現實
SEASONS - 四季
Far Away - 遠走
vogue - 時尚
fly high - 高飛
kanariya - 金絲雀
appears - 現身

Some of them seem sort of the same, while some seem more different..
BIG THANKS TO ANYONE WHO HELPS!

Well, I mean, the titles of singles in Chinese are basic translations of each English title.

For the ayu-mi-x title, it would translate into "Hamasaki - not - the same" which would implicate that the songs are remixes and not the originals.

For the (miss) understood title, the 步 is Ayumi's name but it also sounds like 不, which means "not". It would be a play on words (Ayumi) understood or (not) understood. It's actually a pretty great translation of the title that holds both meanings that Ayumi tried to convey.

[royle]

Albums:
(miss)understood- (步)解

Actually the chinese translation for it is as interesting as the English one.
(步)解 if u read it as a whole word. Its the same meaning as 'not understand' Take note. the pronouce for 步 is same as 不 which is the meaning for No.
So the meaning will be "(not) understand" or "(not)understood"

On the other hand, 步 can be consider as ayumi as this is her name, 解 is understand. "(ayumi) understood. This could be translate as "Ayumi understand."

MY STORY - 私物語

The choice for words for this translation is very very beautiful. I think they only use this kind of when u are writing a poem. 私 means 'My' same with japanese i think. 物語 is something like "my things" Not so sure about it. But its a very pretty translation indeed.

Memorial Address - 憶在步言中

憶 is 'memory'. 在 is 'at'. 步 stands for ayumi. 言 means 'what someone said or words' while 中 means 'inside'. Direct translation will be. The memories that inside ayumi words.

On the other hand, If u read closer. As what i mention just now, 步 can be 'no or not'. The whole meaning for this translation will be "The memory that can not be told by words; All the memories were speechless, or you can not tell other your memory with words.'

A Ballads - A 抒情精選

This is a very normal translation. 抒情 means ballad. 精選 stands for best collection. It would be " The best collection for Ballad".

RAINBOW - 濱紛彩虹

This is a very direct translation also. 濱紛 means "colourful, or diversity" 彩虹 stands for "rainbow" So, it will be Colourful Rainbow.

I am... - 唯我是問

This is a very interesting translation. I cannot really translate it words by words. The whole meaning is like, " I am taking all the responsibility, everything you can count on me."

A Best - A 精選

A is stands for Ayumi as this is her symbol. 精選 is for Best collection as 精 is best and 選 is collection. It will be, The Best collection for A.

Duty - 以聲作責

以 can means as "using, taking". 聲 meaning "voice, sounds". 作 can translate as " as, using." 責, a direct translation for this will be "responsibility". but you can not translate it as "resposibility" here.

Actually 以身作責 is an chinese idiom meaning "you must behave as a good example for others to learn" But in here，they change the 身(body) to 聲(voice, sounds). Meaning that, Ayumi will using his voice to make a good example for others, this is the direct translation. It can be translate as Ayumi will be a good example for others to learn also.


LOVEppears - 愛現

For this, There is no such english word. So, the chinese translation will be the translation for "LOVE" and "Appears"
愛 means "LOVE". 現 can be translate as "appears, show up". But when this two words put together. It can be " someone who like to show off" (it doesnt necessary in a bad way, it can be a good way too) =)

A Song for XX - 給XX之歌

This is a direct translation. The chinese translation for it is same as the English tittle. A song for XX.


Sorry for my engrish..

[AyUmIXx]

woww..this is interesting..
thx for the information about it..

[immel]

Cool information, sort of adds a small extra dimentsion to her titles .

[evolution7931]

Wow! Thanks royle and devilayu! I think it's so interesting how they did the (miss)understood title! They're all so cool... !

[Delirium-Zer0]

I like the chinese title for "Duty" alot. It really goes into why she called the album "duty" to begin with, and replacing "body" with "voice" was very interesting and again, accurate to her reason behind the title.

[kinix]

I like (miss)understood best.
Cos in chinese it actually sound like 步姐.
姐 means sister.

[marca]

i think those people who are responsible for thinking up these chinese tittles are quite amazing... not only do they have to translate from english to chinese, they also have to try to keep intact the meanings of the original tittle...

my personal favourites are the (miss)understood and duty translations... especially (miss)understood because of the dual meanings of the tittle, and as i know chinese myself, i know how awfully difficult it is to find suitable chinese words to translate the tittle while keeping the dual meanings in tact... and i have to say they did remarkably well...

[Catzi]

Memorial Address has an interesting translation.

[mimika]

i actually like the chinese translations of her song titles

and i think they do a very good job on the chinese translation of her lyrics too

[sitara]

this is so so interesting!! thank you for this!!
i love the translation of ayu-mi-x the best!! XD

i still wonder, why do the chinese translate names too? why isn't ayumi called "ayumi" by the chinese? this is very interesting, can someone help?

[LacusClyne]

Originally Posted by sitara

this is so so interesting!! thank you for this!!
i love the translation of ayu-mi-x the best!! XD

i still wonder, why do the chinese translate names too? why isn't ayumi called "ayumi" by the chinese? this is very interesting, can someone help?

they used the original kanji from 浜崎あゆみ. あゆみ is read as 步 in chinese.

[sitara]

Originally Posted by LacusClyne

they used the original kanji from 浜崎あゆみ. あゆみ is read as 步 in chinese.

but why do they do that? it sounds so weird!!
so they would also turn an european name chinese, by trying to fnd kanji for it?
your own name should be internationally the same! XD

[kiwi]

Originally Posted by sitara

but why do they do that? it sounds so weird!!
so they would also turn an european name chinese, by trying to fnd kanji for it?
your own name should be internationally the same! XD

What's the point...Why should Chinese try to find alternate characters that "sound" like 'Hamasaki Ayumi', when 濱崎步 is her written name..? If they did that for all Japanese and Korean stars, the stars would have to sign their name differently in Chinese speaking countries than if they used the original Chinese characters which are their name.... And imagine how many words would be needed just to make up "Ha ma sa ki A yu mi". What a long name......

For non-Japanese and Koreans though, they find characters that sound like the person's name. For ex., Barack Obama, they don't translate his first name (I don't think?), but his last name is 'phonetically' translated as 奧巴馬, which is.. sort of like "ao ba ma"

Even if they did translate her first name to phonetics, it would probably end up being something like 愛玉米 which is like..Ai yu mi (Love corn) but not... (Maybe not...since people who read the newspapers would be confused...'what's this about loving corn and holding a concert..??') and what if they choose words that don't exist in Japanese...then the celebrity would have problems..or what if they choose something but it means something else in Japanese...etc.

And, with the different dialects, they would probably have to use one writing in Taiwan/Mainland, and another in HK or something. How inconvenient...

----

For the GUILTY album, they held a contest before it came out for people to make a translation for the name of the album and they would get...something free. I'm actually not sure if they do the translations in China, since China is bad at translations. China and Taiwan have different translations anyways.

Majority of the Singles are direct translations. The albums are always interesting though

[prussian blue]

Originally Posted by sitara

but why do they do that? it sounds so weird!!
so they would also turn an european name chinese, by trying to fnd kanji for it?
your own name should be internationally the same! XD

kiwi said it all

Originally Posted by kiwi

----

For the GUILTY album, they held a contest before it came out for people to make a translation for the name of the album and they would get...something free. I'm actually not sure if they do the translations in China, since China is bad at translations. China and Taiwan have different translations anyways.

Majority of the Singles are direct translations. The albums are always interesting though

i saw that competition in the avex taiwan official site too i was thinking to make one, but i have no idea what to name it

[pommy48]

i love ayu's songs in chinese~ they're really creative~

[Chibi_Venus]

This makes me want to learn Chinese. Like, seriously! ^^

Thank you so much for all of these!

This is interesting!

[prussian blue]

for an add on, GUILTY is 原罪. it transalte to "original sin" ok... weird enough