Korean Music Time! #5: Shin Yoo - Flower Water (신유 - 꽃물)

I don't know how much you guys like these song translation posts, but it's my blog, and I do like them, so...ha. I decided it might be good to Romanize the artist's name and put the song title in English for the post title. Do you like that, at least?

For the first time, I'll be translating a song I don't actually own. I came across this song on YouTube a while back and thought it was nice, and it didn't hurt that the lyrics were simple enough for me to understand a few lines on my own. I had a rough translation sitting around for a while, but today I thought it was time for me to make a "final" translation (I put "final" in quotes because my raw Korean skills leave them subject to future changes, but as it currently stands, I'm comfortable enough with what I have).

The singer's name is 신유 (Shin Yoo), and he's apparently part of the younger generation of trot singers. I have a soft spot for trot (as evidenced by my love of Jang Yoon-Jeong), a genre that probably doesn't get translated into English that often. Trot was developed as music for people to dance the foxtrot to, and these days it's mainly thought of as old people's music in Korea. If you want to see some lavish production values, check out this performance of today's song:

꽃물
Flower Water

(Verse)
꽃물이 들었어요
Flower water got inside
외로웠던 나의 가슴에
My heart that once was lonely
빨강 노랑 분홍빛에
Red, yellow and pink shades
곱디 고운 사랑 꽃물이
The ever-so-sweet flower water of love
어서 내게로 오세요
Kindly come toward me
어서 손잡아 주세요
Kindly give me your hand
나는 그대 남자에요
I am your man
하나도 아낌없이
Without reservation
하나도 남김없이
Without exception
모두 모두 줄게요
I will give you everything, everything

(Chorus)
눈물일랑 주지 말아요
Let’s have none of those tears
아픔일랑 주지 말아요
Let’s have none of that pain
이제는 그대만이 나에게 전부에요
Now you are my one and only
영원히 영원히 영원히
Forever, forever, forever
꽃물든 나의 가슴에
Flower water that’s entered my heart
상처를 주지마세요
Please don’t hurt me
그대를 사랑 합니다
I love you

As you can see, this song is not particularly complex. If you're trying to learn a pop song in Korean, this one is probably as good as any.

I suppose you might be wondering what exactly is meant by "flower water." According to a co-worker of mine, it refers to the pigment of the flower. In fact, my attempt to understand that word in a different song I was translating was what led me to this song in the first place. I originally translated the title as "Flower Pigment," but that sounds too technical and not very poetic, so I went with "Flower Water," as that's the literal meaning anyway ("꽃" means "flower" and "물" means "water"). Judging by its use in the song, the flower water symbolizes the feeling of love.

There are a few parts that make me wonder, as I think the Korean lyrics might be incorrect. I used the lyrics from the above video, which appear to be the "official" version, but I've seen some other versions that have small differences, and I wonder if those may have been what the song's writer intended. For instance, the line "빨강 노랑 분홍빛에," which I translated as "Red, yellow and pink shades" was the one that gave me the most trouble. Some versions have the line as "빨강 노랑 분홍빛의," which seems to make more sense based on the common usages of color words I can find ("에" and "의" are pronounced similarly, if not the same). Expressing colors in Korean is more complicated than in English, so even the line the way it is gives me the most uncertainty.

Another Korean line which I think is incorrect is "나는 그대 남자에요" ("I am your man"). I believe it should be "나는 그대 남자예요," which other versions have it written as.

The first two lines of the chorus, which I begin with "Let's have none of..." also are a little unclear to me. The translations I have seem to fit what I can find, but the "-일랑" particle doesn't seem to be used that much, so it's hard to find a good explanation of it that would give me more confidence.

I think the line where I'm most proud of my translation is "이제는 그대만이 나에게 전부에요." The literal translation as best I can tell would be something like "Now only you to me are everything." I thought a better alternative would be "Now you are my one and only." It seems to capture the same sentiment in a less-clunky way. Gosh, I feel like a real translator when I think of stuff like that!

As always, comments, corrections and suggestions are welcome.

Korean Music Time! #4: 조용필 - 친구여

I thought I'd do another one of these, because, what the heck, I've translated several songs and not bothered to do a post for them. I might as well keep whatever readers I have left interested. Here's another classic from Jo Yong Pil that's was fairly straightforward to translate. This song seems to be pretty iconic in Korea, so it's only appropriate that the English-speaking world get a taste of it.

Here's a video of the legend himself performing it live, apparently in recent times. He doesn't hit the soaring high notes like he used to, but it's great nonetheless.

친구여
Oh, Friend

(Verse 1)
꿈은 하늘에서 잠자고
The dream sleeping in the sky
추억은 구름따라 흐르고
The memory flowing along the clouds
친구여 모습은 어딜 갔나
Oh friend, where did your image go?
그리운 친구여
Oh friend I long for

(Verse 2)
옛 일 생각이 날 때마다
Whenever I think of the old days
우리 잃어버린 정 찾아
I find our missing affection
친구여 꿈속에서 만날까
Oh friend, might we meet in a dream?
조용히 눈을 감네
Silently I close my eyes

(Bridge)
슬픔도 기쁨도 외로움도 함께했지
Didn’t we share sadness, happiness and loneliness?
부푼 꿈을 안고 내일을 다짐하던
Full of dreams, we used to promise each other tomorrow
우리 굳센 약속 어디에
Our firm promise wherever

When I first translated this song I assumed the friend he longed for was simply away, but after re-reading them, I've begun to wonder if his friend is supposed to be dead. The first two lines seem a bit unusual, so I wonder if they're hinting that his friend has gone to great beyond. I don't really have much else to say about this song, I just think it's very beautiful.

In other news, I'll probably be back in the U.S. by January at the latest, so I'm looking forward to that. It's no secret that my job here hasn't been working out, and that I've realized I'm not cut out to be a teacher. Hopefully I can return to a new life where I'm free to find my way as an introvert.