One year ago, after listening to the song I liked, "Music" by Nyarons, for a long time, I was frustrated that the lyrics for this song were not available on NetEase Cloud Music. So I took the initiative to find the lyrics and decided to translate them while I was at it.
When it comes to Japanese, I am a complete beginner. The Japanese anime I watched as a child only taught me how to understand some common anime expressions.
With the appearance of ChatGPT, all text processing work has become easier, including translation. However, translation is not just about conveying the meaning, but also about conveying the original artistic conception. Translating song lyrics, in particular, is even more challenging as it requires maintaining the rhyme and other higher requirements. Since my goal was to submit the translated lyrics to NetEase Cloud Music, I didn't focus on maintaining the rhyme.
So, what do we need to do? It's nothing more than achieving the three words that translators always talk about: "accuracy, fluency, and elegance." All translators are troubled by these three words.
ChatGPT only translates the general meaning, omitting the language learning aspect that translators are required to do. In my actual usage, ChatGPT is somewhat accurate, but it falls short in terms of fluency and elegance, at least for the Japanese song lyrics translation that I did.
This is not to say that ChatGPT is not useful. It is indeed useful, but it falls short in terms of accuracy, fluency, and elegance.
Take this sentence for example:
Original:
アイロンを きれいにかけたハンカチ
ChatGPT translation:
熨得整整齐齐的手帕
The final version I decided on is like this, preserving the original spacing:
熨斗 熨好的平整手帕
As readers can see, ChatGPT falls short in terms of accuracy, fluency, and elegance. It is a mistake to assume that using ChatGPT can easily achieve translation.
So, where does the usefulness of ChatGPT that I mentioned earlier come into play?
Naturally, for lazy people like me who don't study the original language properly and just rely on translation, the main benefit is to convey the meaning. Translating the meaning is something that traditional translation engines can already do. The greater role of AI lies not in ordinary translation, but in analyzing each word and phrase.
In terms of word and phrase analysis, ChatGPT is excellent. It is a powerful dictionary. It can explain individual words and analyze particles separately.
My task is to find the best Chinese counterpart based on these words and phrases, using my Chinese language skills acquired from childhood like assembling building blocks.
To achieve accuracy, I need to put in the effort to carefully consider each word and phrase. When translating "Mimosa" by Nyarons, I struggled with the word "ミモザ" - "Mimosa".
The literal translation is "mimosa," but it's definitely not that simple. The connotation of the word is not the same as the Chinese "mimosa." The mimosa in Japanese is not a decorative plant in a vase, and moreover, the cover of the song is not a mimosa. So I started searching for related information. According to the Japanese version of Wikipedia:
Translated into Chinese:
- The general term for plants in the Mimosa genus of the Fabaceae family, such as mimosa. Its original meaning is that when the leaves are stimulated, they move like ancient Greek mimes (mimos), which developed into pantomime.
- Common names for plants in the Acacia genus of the Fabaceae family, such as Acacia dealbata. It is named after the mimosa flowers imported from the south of France to the UK, which are called "mimosa." Although the leaves of Acacia dealbata do not move when stimulated, their leaf and flower morphology is very similar to that of the Mimosa genus, so they are often confused. Nowadays, this usage has been widely accepted.
So is it Acacia dealbata? 🤔 The cover looks like it, but Acacia dealbata is not a plant that can be placed in a vase. I got stuck on Acacia dealbata for two days and even thought it was the right answer at one point.
Let's think step by step,
1. According to the second meaning, search for Acacia dealbata on Baidu Baike and Wikipedia. No answer.
2. Use a plant recognition app like Xingse to identify the plant. It shows Acacia dealbata. No answer, but it looks similar.
3. Search for the names of Acacia dealbata and Acacia dealbata in various languages on Wikipedia...
I know readers are here to see the result, so I won't go into detail. I can only say that in this matter, having a scientific name for every plant and animal is great, taxonomy is great, thank you.
First,
- Acacia farnesiana
- Acacia delavayi
- Acacia dealbata Link
They are all plants under the Fabales-Mimosoideae-Acacieae-Acacia category. In China, Acacia farnesiana and Acacia delavayi are more commonly referred to as Acacia. Acacia dealbata Link has a specific name, which is Acacia dealbata.
In Japanese, the Mimosa genus is collectively referred to as Acacia, and there is also the common name Mimosa.
Mimosa does not have the meaning of mimosa in China.
Let's look at the leaves on the cover,
The small leaves are dense, which is the shape of unopened Acacia dealbata leaves. The leaves of Acacia are larger and have a linear or circular shape.
So, in the end, I confirmed that this "Mimosa" refers to Acacia dealbata. The title is the original English word "Mimosa" for "ミモザ，" so it is better not to translate it. Just "Mimosa." Unfortunately, I uploaded it too early, and the final version is not on NetEase Cloud Music.
After saying so much, this is about "accuracy," being faithful to the original text. Next, I further improved the translation of the lyrics for this song, preserving the original spacing:
アイロンを きれいにかけたハンカチ
熨斗 熨好的平整手帕丁寧な生活の気分 感じていたいけど
细致生活的心情 想要感受そういうの 許しながら生きていたい
这样的情况下 在原谅的同时想要生活着諦めじゃなく 放棄を愛していたいの
不是放弃 而是希望去爱着放下
I want to preserve the artistic atmosphere and mood of the original lyrics and follow the emotional direction of the song, so I didn't remove the original spacing. It has a sense of textual beauty and word beauty. This is something that current AI models cannot achieve and requires human intervention.
The lazy user of ChatGPT is not so lazy after all. I racked my brains just to achieve accuracy, fluency, and elegance.
After translating the lyrics a few times, I don't think I will easily translate lyrics anymore. I started translating lyrics because of my love for songs. When translating lyrics, I would continue to listen to the song and try to find its artistic conception. This is a heavy blow to my love for songs. Listening to a song repeatedly will eventually make me tired of it. Only songs that I truly love can make me listen to them hundreds of times in a row. The two songs mentioned earlier are the ones I truly love, and I will spend time pursuing the accuracy of a word, continuously listening to find the artistic conception, and fully immersing myself in the translation process.
This article doesn't have much substance, only two points:
- AI translation can serve as a powerful dictionary by analyzing words and phrases;
- To achieve good translation, one needs to invest love and passion.
So thank you, readers, for reading this far.