Korean Music Time! #3: 장윤정 - 올래

I guess I haven't done one of these in a while, so here it is. Instead of Jo Yong-Pil this time, it's another favorite of mine, Jang Yoon-Jeong. I was able to translate this song in two days, and I thought it'd be good to share here.

I think I did better at taking some poetic license this time rather than being completely literal in the translation. While this is still a little clunkier than I'd like it to be, I think it flows fairly well for the most part. As always, this comes with a disclaimer that I'm still learning Korean and I can't guarantee the accuracy of this translation. It's the best I can tell, but if a better Korean speaker than me wants to offer any suggestions or corrections, I'm all ears.

Here's a performance video of a remixed version of the song for your enjoyment:

 

올래
Come On

(Verse 1)
살랑 살랑 불어오는 바람타고 왔나요
Did you come riding the gently blowing wind?
내 맘을 흔들흔들 흔들리게 해놓고
Causing my heart to tremble so

(Bridge)
알고도 모른 척 한다면
Though I know if you pretend not to know
너무나 얄미운 당신
That’s quite audacious of you

(Chorus)
올래, 올래
Come on, come on
튕기지 말고 내게 다가올래
Instead of playing hard-to-get, come closer to me
니 맘에 들었다면  /  날
If I got into your heart
한번쯤 안아 봐도 괜찮아
In about a minute you’d embrace me, which would be OK
올래, 올래
Come on, come on
멋지게 후끈하게  /  다가올래
It’s a wonderful way to warm up, come closer to me
살며시 입 맞춰도  /  난
Even if you give me a gentle kiss
모른 척 눈감아 줄게
I’ll pretend not to notice and overlook it

(Verse 2)
힐끔힐끔 바라보는 그대눈빛 알지만
Glance, glance, though your staring eyes know
모른 척 돌아서면 애가타서 어쩌나
If you turn around to feign indifference how anxious you’ll be!
하지만 후회는 안 해요
However, have no regrets
내 맘에 쏙 드는 당신
My heart is captivated by you

(Chorus)

I'm not sure how well my translation conveys the intent of the words, so I'll give a few thoughts on my reading of this song. It's not particularly deep, as you can see, so this won't involve any heavy analysis.

The general theme of this song is that she's really attracted to a guy, but he refuses to make a move. She's basically saying that she knows he likes her, and if he'd only take the first step she'd be his.

The title itself (pronounced "Ol-lae") seems to mean something like "Why don't you come?" rather than "come on," but that felt too awkward. If you notice, the same pattern appears in the second line of the chorus, so "come closer to me" is probably more like "why don't you come closer to me?" While the translation here might make her sound fairly forward, in the Korean understanding of the lyrics she'd probably come across more as gently encouraging.

The line "that's quite audacious of you" might not be the best choice, but I couldn't think of anything better. My understanding of what that line is trying to say is that she's annoyed by the fact that the guy won't act on his feelings for her, because she really wishes he would.

The line "in about a minute you'd embrace me, which would be OK" is another one I'm unsure of. I think the gist of it is supposed to be, "you'd want to hold me in your arms immediately, and hey, I wouldn't mind if you did."

The final two lines of the chorus "Even if you give me a gentle kiss/I'll pretend not to notice and overlook it" probably sound a little odd too. I think what she's saying is that if he tried to steal a small kiss she wouldn't be offended, because she actually wants a kiss from him.

Finally, the second line of the second verse, "If you turn around to feign indifference how anxious you’ll be!" was probably the most difficult for me. I'm not completely confident in that translation, but that was the feeling I was getting from piecing it together word-by-word. Basically, she's indicating that she can tell he likes her because he keeps stealing glances but tries to hide it.

Translating these songs is really a lot of fun for me. I've translated several others, and some only partially, but I can't tell you how rewarding it is to see the story develop as you go through each line. When you're finished you can appreciate the song in a new way.

It's made me wonder if translation would be a good career path for me to pursue. I saw a list of good jobs for introverts, and translator was on it. While I'm hardly fluent in Korean, I think little by little I'm gaining an understanding of it. I still can't really speak it, but written Korean is clearer than it was when I first started learning. I also saw a list of "critical languages," i.e. ones that are in high demand for translators, and Korean was on it. If I really applied myself, could I become fluent in this language and make actual money translating? I've always loved language, and the ability to work with it (without having to deal with people in the process) might be right up my alley. It's definitely something I'm considering.