[Translation] Mad World (lyrics)

[tenshi no hane]

Then it would be 思っている, not 思う.

Anyway, I did change the "if it were you" to "if it's you" for clarity.

[4Seasons]

Originally Posted by tenshi no hane

Then it would be 思っている, not 思う.

But if I remember correctly 思っている = "thinking right now", busy with the action

思う = "thinking" generally

I don't see where the "would" comes from. To me it seems like the literal translation is "if you, at this time think what?". Of course, that's improper English, but it's most true to the original meaning, isn't it?

Originally Posted by spanishfan

"a time like this" can be translate as "this days" in this context, i think.

"Tell me, if it were you,
what would you think at a time like this?"

It might be about despite everyone we live in the same time, but not to everyone happens the same things.
My interpretation of this part could be something like this "If you were the person who occurs that thing, would you still think this days are such great?"

The same with the part with 生きる(ikiru, to live) "how would you live these days if it were you that person"

That's good.
But it becomes a problem in the chorus about "era". Everyone is living in the current era, so it doesn't make sense.
"if you, how live in this era" works.
"if you, how would you live in this era" doesn't work. The person is living in the era.

I think most accurately in terms of meaning not grammar, the sentence would be like:

"In your case, how are you living in this era?"

Edit: From time to time there are these lyrics from Ayu that I think work really well in Japanese but just don't translate well to English.