This Day Is Finally Bored (Google Translate Awarded Poetry Prize)

[koganbot]

Most translation sites just copy others, often without attribution. So there's one basic translation of T-ara's "Lovey-Dovey" going around, possibly originating at pop!gasa. Here's the first verse and the chorus. Translators, I'm not impressed, especially not by "those passing by couples." (The ~ sign after "Woo" means a whole lotta woo, I guess (I hear "oo oo-oo oo-oo, oo oo-oo oo-oo").)

It's so cliché — again today I am alone
I'm so bored — eventually this day will
Woo~ just pass by like this

Look look, look at those passing by couples
I can love like that too but
Woo~ I'm so lonely

Me too, Lovey Dovey Dovey Uh Uh Uh Uh
Lovey Dovey Dovey Uh Uh Uh Uh
Don't leave me alone now
Now Lovey Dovey Dovey Uh Uh Uh Uh
Lovey Dovey Dovey Uh Uh Uh Uh
Where are you?

Lovey Dovey Dovey Uh Uh Uh Uh
Lovey Dovey Dovey Uh Uh Uh Uh
I will definitely find you
Someone who will melt me, who's been frozen for so long
Where exactly are you?

To be fair, I do like those Emily Dickinson dashes in verse one.

And I did find a different version at K-Wave Times. Turns "those passing by couples" into the more idiomatically agreeable "those passing couples," though "passing" as a stand-alone adjective seems ungainly. (Why not, "those couples passing by"?) Perhaps this translation is intended to be literal; it drops the "cliché," making me suspicious:

It's clear that I would be alone again today
It's so bored and meaningless time today, after all
(Woo Woo Woo Woo Woo Woo Woo Woo Woo Woo) It would pass as always

Look look look at those passing couples
I could love like them, too
(Woo Woo Woo Woo Woo Woo Woo Woo Woo Woo) I'm so lonely

Me too, Lovey Dovey Dovey Uh Uh Uh Uh Lovey Dovey Dovey Uh Uh Uh Uh
Don't leave me alone anymore
Now Lovey Dovey Dovey Uh Uh Uh Uh Lovey Dovey Dovey Uh Uh Uh Uh
Where are you? Yeah oh

Lovey Dovey Dovey Uh Uh Uh Uh Lovey Dovey Dovey Uh Uh Uh Uh
I will find you without fail
It's so cold that I'm frozen... where are you who can warm me?

These translations leaving me unfulfilled, I decided to take matters into my own hand. Well, not my hand, or even my mind, as I don't speak Korean. But the magical hand of Google Translate. Grabbing Hangul lyrics from Chacha 짱, we see this:

너무 뻔해 나는 오늘도 혼자서
아 심심해 결국 이렇게 하루가
(우우우우우 우우우우우) 지나가겠지

봐봐 지나가는 저기 커플 좀 봐
나도 저렇게 사랑할 수 있는데
(우우우우우 우우우우우) 우 너무나 외로워

나도 Lovey Dovey Dovey Uh Uh Uh Uh Lovey Dovey Dovey Uh Uh Uh Uh
더 이상 혼자 두지마
이제 Lovey Dovey Dovey Uh Uh Uh Uh Lovey Dovey Dovey Uh Uh Uh Uh
너는 어디에 에 Oh
Lovey Dovey Dovey Uh Uh Uh Uh Lovey Dovey Dovey Uh Uh Uh Uh
너를 꼭 찾아 낼꺼야
너무 오래 얼어버린 나를 녹여버릴 너는 도대체 어디에 있는지

And from there, Google Translate weaves its spell. (Weaves its spell? How does one weave a spell? Where did this expression come from? How is a spell made from thread or indeed from any combinatory parts? Maybe waving a spell, like waving a wand?)

Today alone, I do not like the math I
Oh, this day is finally bored
(Ooo ooo woowoowoo woowoowoo)'ll pass

Look, look at a passing couple there
I can love you like that
(Ooo ooo woowoowoo woowoowoo) Ooh I feel so lonely

I Lovey Dovey Dovey Uh Uh Uh Uh Lovey Dovey Dovey Uh Uh Uh Uh
Do not let alone anymore
Now, Lovey Dovey Dovey Uh Uh Uh Uh Lovey Dovey Dovey Uh Uh Uh Uh
Oh where are you in
Lovey Dovey Dovey Uh Uh Uh Uh Lovey Dovey Dovey Uh Uh Uh Uh
Sure you will find her
I melt the frozen too long, you know where the hell

This is great! Alone, I don't like the math either. "I melt the frozen, you know where the hell." Indeed I do.

I hope that in Korean these words really do have the overtones and undertones Google Translate unearthed. The burning flames, the arithmetical isolation. Words and music by Shinsadong Tiger and Choi Kyu Sung.

Of course, in performance it's not about yearning and melting, but rather shuffle dancing and frizzing hair:

"T-ara 'Lovey Dovey' mirrored Dance Practice" (Watch on YouTube)

(But actually, Hwayoung became even more energetic when she hit the main stage.)

Comments

[askbask.livejournal.com]

Opening words "너무 뻔해" translated as 'too cliche' can work, but isn't literal, and "it's clear" comes off as too weak.

'뻔해' is, for example, also used in Miss A's "Good Girl, Bad Girl", there talking about a girl being 뻔해 or the 'you' person being 뻔해 for suggesting that. That becomes being 'obvious' in one translation, which is also a dictionary suggestion along with clear and predictable.

But the expression can also be used for a blatant lie, or a 'blatant' person. In JYP's youtube translation of the song, and these (his?) subs are always loosely translated and sometimes diverge a lot of from the actual lyrics, the question is if a girl dancing like that is a hoe, (and that suggestion is 'too low'). Even if the word can't be translated like that on its own, being 뻔해 is being forward, shameless.

When talking about a situation I feel 'it's clear' is too apathetic. It's more like they're sick of it because it's so predictable. "Damn it, alone again". So 'cliché' works, but it shows you they're not being literal and could've done a better work with the couples passing by.

[koganbot]

Could the lyrics be addressing the listener as well as the situation? That is, might "뻔해" refer not just to the circumstance's being obvious and a cliché, but to her, too, being obvious or clichéd in bringing it to our attention? And Google Translate's "I do not like the math" could be "I don't like the formula."

Buried in there must be a Korean idiom for not liking math or something. Google gives us "It is so clear" for "뻔해" standing alone. When we lop off "너무" ("too" as a stand-alone), Google generates "As predictable as I am alone today" for the rest. Looking at each word individually, we get "too," "it is so clear," "I," "today," and "by yourself." The first two words together ("너무 뻔해") are what produce "I do not like the math," with the rest combined as "I am alone today." The first three words combined ("너무 뻔해 나는") are rendered as "I am so predictable as" in Google. (This all assumes that the Hangul itself was transcribed accurately.)

By coincidence, I've also been trying to understand 2NE1 in "Scream" going "Itsumo no situation." Is mostly translated as "It's the same old situation" or "it's the usual situation." Maybe even a cliché?

I have to turn my head until my darkness goes

[koganbot]

Btw, I was attempting to be somewhat comic in presenting my "dissatisfaction" with the first translation, which may well be pretty good, despite the botched passers by. Together, the three translations provide a rich feel for a situation (though of course I can't vouch for their accuracy).

And I like this situation as presented, the couple walking by and the narrator going, "I could do that too, I could give such love and be part of such love," while at the same time the situation is informing her that she's not a part of such love, she's just the spectator, it's not for her.

Re: I have to turn my head until my darkness goes

[askbask.livejournal.com]

Maybe, but I'm going with the google translate bot being drunk. I have seen inexplicable translations several times. You can suggest improvements*, so maybe the feedback system screws up some results.

(*as in suggest another translation for the Korean you've entered)

sorry for the edits ^^

[sub-divided.livejournal.com]

You're probably not being serious, but Lovey-Dovey presents the same point of view as Roly Poly i.e. the songwriter just isn't one of those people who can love casually. She envies those people. When she's in love, it's craziness - people turning into zombies and eating each other. That's why she's alone again.

And that kind of love is a cliche in Korea pop music: CL wearing the straitjacket in "I am the Best" was a step up, but how many videos are there where the group is dressed in white and then they're dressed in black and then they're dressed in white again? Ans: A lot. Personally I think it's because sex and drugs are banned in K-pop, so "mania" is the only kind of euphoria that's left.