[REQ] Possible Lyric Corrections for "Team Rocket Forever" / "Roketto Dan yo Eien Ni"

[EnthalpicDrizzle]

http://www.animelyrics.com/anime/pocketm/pmrdyen.htm

I know very, very little about Japanese, but the lyrics in this translation seem a little off in places, comparing the English to the Romaji.

For example, I know from several different examples that the phrase "itsuka" means "some day", "one day", "some time", etc. The word "itsuka" is present in the romaji, but not in the English version.

The tenses also sometimes seem arbitrary. For example, "Yume ga hontou ka, hontou ga akumu" supposedly translates to "Dreams are reality? Reality will be a nightmare". However, both of these use "ga", so it seems to me more like it should be "If dreams will become reality, reality will become a nightmare", which actually makes more sense than outright stating that dreams are real. (Then again, this is Team Rocket, the ones who say that truth and love are evil in both the Japanese and English mottos.)

But, as I know very, very little Japanese, I could be wrong.

[Datenshi]

I'm sadly lacking in enough patience to go through the entire song, so I'll have to leave that up to someone else, but as for the points that you raised.

>itsuka wa shuyaku
Your point is valid, but I don't think that the original translator missed the word entirely.

The line would read: 'One day we will be the heroes' which isn't so far from 'Once we assume command', but not exactly the same thing either. It's a hairy point.

>Yume ga hontou ka, hontou ga akumu
Actually, both you and the original translator are overlooking the 'ka (=or)' here. Correctly, the sentence should read: "Whether dream is reality, or the real is the nightmare'.

[[Also, in case anybody of authority will see this, I stumbled upon a mistake in the transliteration which I might as well point out, which is a surprise seeing how competent Blue Penguin-san is, but I suppose we all have our slips.]]

>Donden kaeshi
= Donden gaeshi

There are a few more questionable points as to the translation, but what the hey, it's a difficult song to translate.

[Kaitou Ace]

Hm, well I am somewhat wary of messing with a translation at the moment ^_^; I know how hard songs can be to translate, so it's expected for a person to take some liberties with the literal meanings to get the main thrust of the song through. I did make the romaji correction meanwhile, and I'll keep an eye on this thread here, so if it does seem some of the translation is completely off, I'd be willing to make some corrections to it.

[LavaBug]

it is well freely translated and sometimes off a good deal...
but as far as i can see it's keeping the idea in overall, so i wouldn't change it unless people start complaining on mass...

[Datenshi]

I agree.

I only wish I could have had a minute of discussion with the original translator to sort of smooth out the rough edges a bit, but I guess it's no use wishing about past things, is it not?

[LavaBug]

you actually could...his contacts are written under the lyrics...
(hopefully they are still valid)