What Goes Into Translyrics, Anyway??

I have been writing translyrics since I was 13. It’s one of my favorite parts of making Vocaloid covers, getting to interpret and breathe new life into songs. It’s helped me start as a lyricist because these skills do translate into writing original music.

So what goes into translyrics? How do you write them effectively? I’ll tell you! Also, know whatever I write here isn’t absolute. There’s lots of different individual styles and ways of writing, and this is just mine.

STRUCTURE

Growing up, I absolutely adored Oktavia’s covers, and a big part of this is that there was so much attention paid to the lyrics. What it taught me is that you do not need to just minimally edit an existing translation to write translyrics. Taking lines you already like and just adding or removing a few words to make it fit the syllable count — you CAN do that, sure. But to be honest, I think it’s boring!!

Oktavia would take liberties that would make the song more interesting to sing and listen to, that had its own internal logic even if it didn't necessarily make sense without dissecting it. For this, I always think back to her HAPPY SHAPE lyrics.

By establishing a similar sound using harsh consonants, the emphasis is in the same place as it is in the original version.

And again, there is a logic to the phrase!

Stan up → Become a devoted fan of something [in this song’s case, Toshiyuki’s religion]
Stance up → To take a stance, to assume bold body language → Get ready to fight for something [Toshiyuki’s cause!]
You’re no stand-up → As in a stand-up guy → “you’re not a faithful person [if you don’t conform]”

In any song, the syllables that are stressed are gonna be the words that are the most important. It’s where the rhymes go, where people’s attention is naturally drawn towards. This is usually at the end of a phrase or line, though it can also be in the middle.

Don’t waste your emphasis with a filler word just because you need it to rhyme! I like to try to make it integral to the line itself.

1. Making up a rhythm rather than following the song’s
2. Cramming in a word with too many syllables where it shouldn’t be

GREY AREA: Slotting in a word that falls a syllable short
You can do this and just extend the vowels, but it’s up to personal and stylistic preference. I usually don’t like doing this.

“Megake” is 3 syllables and “take aim” is 2. It forces the line to become “take aaaaeem, taaaa-ayke aim”.

But there’s a pause for one beat in the middle of the line. Rather than being two groups of 3 syllables, it can be divided into 2 syllables, then 4. “Mega, ke-megake”.

So while I’m not really a fan of what I wrote here, I definitely could see why stretching things out could work. There are also ways to cheat the number of syllables.

Could’ve also used the word “Maybe”… but I like that “probably” is a little more certain, you know?

RHYMING

While AABB and ABAB are the most common structures for rhyming, you’ll also notice it in other places. Here, words in bold rhyme at the end of their structure, while words underlined rhyme in the middle of the structure.

Also note the use of “pastime/time past”.

These lines from Oktavia’s version of Hitogawari oscillate between rhyme and repetition, as if to show the disordered thinking of the speaker.

Also, I don’t think it’s a huge deal if a rhyme scheme breaks structure every now and then.

I’m gonna be really pretentious for a second and bring up Shakespeare, who wrote entirely in iambic pentameter. But he also regularly had characters break away from his expected structure, and this was to communicate certain information to the audience about who these characters are without saying a word.

So if a song lyric suddenly breaks away from a rhyme scheme, why would that be? Can we interpret it as having meaning that isn’t “the lyricist was too lazy to deal with it?” I think so.

Generally, I try to avoid having two lines right next to each other end with the same word, but in some cases it’ll just be what I end up preferring the most.

WORDPLAY

There are ways to do English wordplay — one idea that comes to mind is utilizing homophones, or words that sound similar but are spelled differently. Also, putting a bunch of very similar sounding words together, or rhyming with them. However, if a Japanese song is very wordplay heavy, chances are you’re gonna need to make compromises.

In this song, the word “shingin” has a very on-the-nose double meaning: it’s pronounced and intended to read as its English counterpart, being rendered in katakana, but it sounds the same as the word for “groaning”. When I wrote for this part, I decided to forgo that double meaning because I could not think of a way to incorporate it.

Additionally, in another part of the same song, another untranslatable bit arises:

These kanji all mean different things, but are all pronounced as “A”. This has no way to exist in English.

Hana Ichi Monme is a game with an equivalent in the United States to Red Rover. Different translators choose to deal with its inclusion by either translating its name in a literal sense, or localizing it.

And sometimes, it doesn’t get translated at all:

There isn’t a right or wrong answer, as much as there are interpretations. There is a level of grace offered here with choosing not to translate a word or concept at all.

No one calls the Siinamota song “Sasameku” by its English name, Whisper. The word “sasameku” is used as almost a catchphrase throughout the song, repeated and rendered in katakana, and thus it remained untranslated by AngelSubs.

Lo-Fi Times ends with a “saraba” (サラバ), an archaic word for “goodbye” combined with being rendered in katakana.
So I took out one of English’s own loanwords for it, “au revoir”. It could’ve been “fare thee well”, to give it that old vibe, but it doesn’t sound good when it’s repeated over and over quickly.

Doing research and familiarizing yourself with basic Japanese is a really good skill to have, because it helps you learn more about what the song is trying to convey. The ways hiragana, katakana, and kanji are used can give a lot of information that might not immediately be clear. Translator’s notes usually provide needed context, but it’s good to look up anything you don’t know.

Writing lyrics is a series of choices. The more intentional you can get, the better. I often end up letting my translyrics sit for days until returning back to them, seeing which choices I like and which ones I want to change.

ON VOCALOID CULTURE

In my opinion... as long as you can get the idea of the song across, and what the lyrics are trying to say or evoke, you can and should take liberties with them. Of course there’s a limit to how far you can go, but I think people are afraid to experiment because of stigma around “not being accurate” that are rooted in ideas from a different time in the Vocaloid space.

It’s a lot bigger of a deal if an English coverist in 2014 makes a cover that gets really popular when it seems to be misinterpreting lines from the original song, because that version affects public perception of the song. But Vocaloid is much bigger now, much more accessible.

There is an idea that a single translation or cover of a song can become definitive, when in reality nothing really is except for the original version. There’s very influential covers, yes. But they are still able to be viewed as one interpretation rather than the correct answer. Even translations considered the ‘most accurate’ get replaced every now and then.

So even when songs have official translations endorsed by a producer (or their label, in Siinamota’s case), I’ll still look to previous reliable interpretations rather than take it as truth.

A lot of covers from a decade ago or longer are based on translations that have been deprecated since the time of their release.

Which version is Juby’s lyrics based on?

Youtaite are not inherently translators. It’s quite rare because of the skills required, and for the most part we rely on the work of translators. Youtaite are interpreters, and one person’s interpretation is going to have deviations from another’s. Especially in abstract songs where you have to make decisions on what you are singing about when it might not be clear.

THE ANNOYING PART OF IT

I can’t go out of my way to listen to other youtaite anymore!!!
Most of the time, at least. If it’s a song that I’m planning to cover, that I haven’t finished lyrics for, I try to steer clear of outside influences. This usually means that I don’t go looking for covers of my favorite songs — it protects my workflow, but also isolates me from the community… When I’ve been shaped by a certain cover and I try to write my own lyrics, it ends up like a telephone game, where I’m more influenced by someone else’s work than the original song’s storytelling.

“So why not just use other people’s lyrics?” A lot of the time as I listen to a song I later want to cover, I end up having very specific lines in mind. And it’s pretty rude to pick and choose from someone else’s lyrics… like, what was wrong with that line in particular? You either use the whole thing or you don’t use it at all. I’ve grown quite particular about my process, but I’ve found a lot of joy in it.

The second I hit the upload button though, I'm free :)

FINAL ADVICE

Think about the lyrics that stick in your head, and dissect why you like them. Doesn’t have to be Vocaloid, either. Listen to lots of different kinds of music. Read poetry. I only know and used the word ‘hidebound’ in one of my final drafts because it was in a Chekhov monologue I had to memorize. Creating work you like starts with figure out what it is you like. Practice, and above all, have fun!!!