"Always" by Erasure - Frakrr/Meoauniaea!!!!

Started by judytuna, August 29, 2010, 04:09:55 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

judytuna

Preliminary video (chorus)
Erasure Song

Dear LNers: I typed this out on my computer months ago, but apparently I never posted it. Travesty! Now that Txur'itan got a video of me singing it at the LN.org SFbay meetup, I decided it's high time the translation got finished.

WHEREAS:
The Adult Swim flash game "Robot Unicorn Attack" is the bomb diggity, and has brought my attention to the 1994 song "Always" by pop-synth duo Erasure, a song which is changing my life;
WHEREAS:
We have recently been gifted the definition for Karyu Pawl's favorite word, meoauniaea - a noun - harmony, living at one with nature;
WHEREAS:
Meoauniaea has eight syllables;
WHEREAS:
The line in the oft-repeated chorus of the aforementioned song, "harmony harmony oh love" is exactly eight syllables;
LET IT BE THEREFORE DECREED THAT:
This song must be translated into Na'vi.

YOU GUYS. THIS COINCIDENCE MAKES ME WEEP WITH JOY.

So here is what I have so far, and it is riddled with errors. I haven't even tackled the second verse yet. I beg for your aid.





Last edit: 8/31/10. Incorporates fixes from tigermind (irayo! irayo!). Half-done.





















nìna'vi
original english lyrics
Frakrr
Always
Always
FIRST VERSE
piak s<iv>i ngeyä menari (does piak si mean what we think it does?)
open<SUBJ> you-GEN DUAL-eye
FIRST VERSE
open your eyes, i see
mesa piak lu
DUAL-it open are
your eyes are open
rä'ä lu tsleng fpi oe
don't be false for the sake of me
wear no disguise, for me
z<iv>a'u mì+ tayo
come<SUBJ> into field/open territory
come into the open



PRECHORUS
Krr a livu wew wrrpa (needs revisiting)
when is<SUBJ> cold outside
PRECHORUS
when it's cold, outside
oel tok fìtsengit kea lunfpi srak?
i am-here for no reason srak?
am i here, in vain?
Nga-l niä txon-it
you-ERG grab night-ACC
hold on, to the night
Ke layu kea txopu
not be<FUTURE> not fear(noun)
There will not be any fear
also difficult... other possibilities for "shame" include hrrap
there will be no shame






CHORUS CHORUS
frakrr, oe new l<iv>u nga-hu
always, i want be<SUBJ> you-WITH
always, i wanna be with you
uvan s<iv>u nga-hu
play<SUBJ> you-WITH
and make believe with you
rivey nìmeoaUNIAEEEAAAAA
live in harmony!
and live in harmony HARMONY OHHH LOOOVEE
frakrr, oe new l<iv>u nga-hu
always, i want be<SUBJ> you-WITH
always, i wanna be with you
uvan s<iv>u nga-hu
play<SUBJ> you-WITH
and make believe with you
rivey nì meoaUNIAEEEAAAAA
live in harmony!
and live in harmony HARMONY OHHH LOOOVEE








SECOND VERSE

SECOND VERSE
melting the ice, for me

jump into the ocean

hold back the tide, i see

your love in motion


...then prechorus and chorus again x 1000 =D






Old draft 1 below the spoiler.

Kì'eyawn

Tewti, ma judytuna!  Tìkangkem atxantsan!

I think i noticed just a couple minor things.  Let's take a look...

FIRST VERSE
piak s<iv>i ngeyä menari

There's actually some disagreement right now about how piak si works grammatically.  Assuming that it means "open" in the sense of "the flower opened" (which seems to be the majority opinion right now), then you're absolutely right.

ke l<iv>u tsleng fpi+ oe

"Don't" is a command in the negative--"Don't do that!"  So instead of ke you want rä'ä.  And in that case the SBJ is optional—i'd probably drop it, myself, which makes up for the added syllable.  So,

rä'ä lu tsleng fpi oe

PRECHORUS
krrpe l<iv>u wew wrrpa

Ack!  Talk to Prrton about this =P  "Krrpe," "Pehrr," and all similar words are for questions—questions only.  You either want Krr a at the start of this line or a krr at the end.  I'd go with beginning so as not to mess with your structure too much.  So,

Krr a livu wew wrrpa

Although keep in mind some languages don't use "to be" as the verb to describe the weather (French being a common example); so be prepared we'll hear differently from Karyu Pawl, and then this line will need revisiting.

oe lu fìtseng fpi+ he'u srak?

Okay, first, when you're physically inhabiting a space, the verb isn't lu but tok—but this verb is tricky, because it behaves as a transitive verb, with the subject taking the ergative [ -(ì)l ] and the place being occupied taking the accusative [ -ti/-(i)t ].  So "I am here" is Oe-l tok fìtseng-it.  Second, English uses the word "thing" a whole lot when Na'vi has more words to choose from—and a general rule is not to use "thing" when you actually mean something more specific (ngaytxoa, omängum fra'uti explains this a lot better than i do...).  In this case, "for nothing" actually means "for no reason."  We know "reason" is lun, but we don't have a specific word that means "no reason" like ke'u means "no-thing," so i would say kea lun.  So,

Oel tok fìtsengit kea lunfpi srak?
But even if you pronounce oel as "wel," you still get one syllable too many.  Hmm...  I was thinking of using luke instead, but that still gets you one syllable too many.  Will think on this further...

nga-l niä txon-il

You're right, it might be too idiomatic, but i can't think of a better way to put it.  At any rate, you've got a wee mix-up with cases—txon should be accusative, as it's the object—the thing being grabbed.  So,

Nga-l niä txon-it

l<ay>u ke txopu

Hmm...  This is really a nuance thing, but technically what you have says "There will not be fear"—or, at least, it would if you move ke in front of the verb.  Ke layu txopu.  But for a closer translation, this is a case for Navi's exciting double negative, which would look like this:

Ke layu kea txopu
So yeah, this literally says "There will not be no fear," but i tend to translate it "There will not be any fear" in my head, so i remember i need that double negative.

CHORUS
rivey nì meoaUNIAEEEAAAAA
HRH.  I like it.  It's inspired.  The only thing i wanted to say was to remind you that, if you're gonna use nì-, it goes directly on the word, no space.  So nìmeoauniaea

And that's all i've got.  Awesome job on this translation =D
eo Eywa oe 'ia

Fra'uri tìyawnur oe täpivìng nìwotx...

Na’ringHufwe

She has a beautiful voice!  :o

Oel ngati kameie!!!!!

`Eylan Ayfalulukanä

Ah, that brings back memories of a nìtxan prrte` txon

I am looking for more Na`vi to memorize. Perhaps this will be next.

Irayo nìtxan, Judytuna!

Yawey ngahu!
pamrel si ro [email protected]