Hitler has only got one ball,
Göring has two but very small,
Himmler is somewhat sim’lar,
But poor Goebbels has no balls at all.

Above is a song delightfully sung by British school children since the 1940s, there is nothing young children seem to like more than to spread the word of the state of the German wartime high command’s testicles.

The tune used is much older however. The Colonel Bogey March was written in 1914 as a song for soldiers to march to. Since then it seems to have been used and often lyrics added for many different purposes such as selling oil, building bridges and insulting Germans.

During lunch at school one day I was shocked to hear my students start singing their own version, which went a little bit like this:

サル　ゴリラ　チンパンジー
saru gorira chinpanjii
monkey gorilla chimpanzee

サル　ゴリラ　チンパンジー
saru gorira chinpanjii
monkey gorilla chimpanzee

サル　ゴリラ　サル
saru gorira suru
monkey gorilla monkey

ゴリラ　サル　サル　チンパンジー
gorira saru saru chinpanjii
gorilla monkey monkey chimpanzee

A far more simple and less insulting version than what the British like to sing but where does it come from and why does every Japanese school kid I come across know it?

It all stems from a Japanese TV show called Minna no Uta (Everybody’s Songs). The show is broadcast as 5 minute shorts and used as filler between regular programming, sometimes the shows are aimed at children and at other times they are used to introduce new pop acts to people. The format has obviously proved successful as it has been running since 1961 and is still shown today.

Back in 1963 Minna no Uta, in one of their children’s segments, introduced the above song to the tune of the Bogey March and it stuck. It must have struck a cord with someone as over time it became popular with children and now is sung up and down the land. There are even actions, as shown by this lovely diagram I made.

Quite why it got popular I’ve no idea, the Japanese wiki page I’ve been getting my info from didn’t disclose that information so I can mearly leave you with a Japanese performance of the song for you to sing along to instead.

Since I began trying to translate things laying about from Japanese into English (such as these), it can sometimes be very difficult to choose if I should go for a literal translation or one which conveys the general feeling. This is not too much of a problem when translating short sentences on the posters I’ve been showing you but with TV programmes and songs, when people are speaking naturally, it is difficult.

This children’s song, Fushigi na Poketto (The Mysterious Pocket), illustrates the problem well. Here is the song and my little translation:

ポケットの中にはビスケットがひとつ
poketto no naka ni wa bisuketto ga hitotsu
Inside the pocket there is a biscuit.

ポケットをたたくとビスケットがふたつ
poketto wo tataku to bisuketto ga futatsu
Hit the pocket and there are two biscuits.

もうひとつたたくとビスケットがみっつ
mouhitotsu tataku to bisuketto ga mittsu
One more hit and there are three biscuits.

たたいてみるたびビスケットはふえる
tataitemiru tabi bisuketto wa fueru
Every time I give it a hit, there are more biscuits

そんな不思議なポケットがほしい
sonna fushigina poketto ga hoshii
I want a mysterious pocket like that.

そんな不思議なポケットがほしい
sonna fushigina poketto ga hoshii
I want a mysterious pocket like that.

When I first looked up the song back in the day, the translations claimed that fushigi na translated to magical. Half learning the word this way, it led to a few confused faces when I tried to use it in conversation. According to the dictionary, fushigi means mystery (among other things). With this word therefore I chose to use the literal translation, half out of spite for learning the word incorrectly before.

Tataku is the next word that caused me bother, my dictionary tells me it means to strike or to clap but in the context of this song I don’t think that is really suitable. Probably being partially influenced by this video, I’m using to hit in my translation.

Grammar translation problems rear their ugly head next. ~temiru can easily be translated as to try ~ and this is often how it is used but more accurately it means ‘doing something tentatively’. I could have translated tataitemiru as try to hit but that gives off the impression that they might not be able to do it, which I don’t think the song is trying to say. I used ‘give it a hit’ instead, I’m not sure that works terribly well either however.

The last word to confuse me is fureru, here the dictionary says that it means to multiply or to increase. This is all well and good but does that sound right for a song for pre-schoolers? Not really. If I make the word multiply simpler I end up with the definition, ‘more of something’, so that is as good as anything to put there, I guess.

You may have noticed that the video above has its own translation, I don’t agree with it. Maybe because it’s strayed too far from the original and that the meaning of the words has been change a little bit too much. Especially with the 3rd from last line, just putting “biscuits, biscuits, biscuits” there kind of misses the point, I think. Also it may not have been done by a native English speaker as they couldn’t even spell ‘biscuit’ properly, which is quite the drawback when you are translating a song about them.

I have always known that translating things is hard and the more I do it myself the more respect I have for those who do it professionally.

Finally, as it is a children’s song, it is ripe to be perverted, much like the fellow does in the video below. He made me laugh out loud on the train.

As I said in the last post, many people have clubbed together to do their own little bit for those most affected by the quake and tsunami. Famous people from all over the world are helping too. Some have been finding ways to raise cash, such as Yoshiki of X Japan fame who sold his piano and Eiji Kawashima who auctioned off his Asian Cup winning gloves. Others have simply offered words of encouragement, such as Tom Cruise’s mate, Ken Watanabe and all the F1 drivers.

Shiina Ringo, a woman I am in complete and utter awe of, chose to do what she does best, sing a song. With Tokyo Jihen she covered an old song from the 60s called Yoake no Uta (Daybreak Song). As with most things she does, I instantly fell in love with it. I tried to find a translation but my googling skills failed me, upon looking at the Japanese lyrics however I noticed that the song is actually very simple. So I got out my dictionary and thought I would have a go at translating it myself.

——

夜明けのうたよ
yoake no uta yo
Oh Daybreak Song,

私の心の きのうの悲しみ 流しておくれ
watashi no kokoro no  kinou no kanashimi  nagashiteokure
Wash away yesterday’s sadness from my heart.

夜明けのうたよ
yoake no uta yo
Oh Daybreak Song,

私の心に 若い力を満たしておくれ
watashi no kokoro ni  wakai chikara wo mitashideokure
Fill my heart with the vigour of youth.

夜明けのうたよ
yoake no uta yo
Oh Daybreak Song,

私の心の あふれる想いを 判っておくれ
watashi no kokoro no afureru omoi wo   wakatteokure
Flood my mind with understanding.

夜明けのうたよ
yoake no uta yo
Oh Daybreak Song,

私の心に おおきな望みを 抱かせておくれ
watashi no kokoro ni  ookina nozomi wo   dakaseteokure
Grant my biggest wish and inspire me.

夜明けのうたよ
yoake no uta yo
Oh Daybreak Song,

私の心の 小さな倖せ 守っておくれ
watashi no kokoro no  chisana shiawase  mamotteokure
Protect the small amount of happiness in my heart.

夜明けのうたよ
yoake no uta yo
Oh Daybreak Song,

私の心に 思い出させる ふるさとの空
watashi no kokoro ni  omoidasaseru  furusato no sora
You remind me of the sky of my birthplace.

After the movie was uploaded on YouTube Ringo posted this message on her official website:

Born in 1978, I’d never heard this song sung, not even once. But the music was in a songbook I looked at constantly when I was young. At my house we were only allowed to play out loud for a short time, so I ended up spending much more time just silently looking at the notes. There was a kind of great sadness I went through until I remembered this song buried deep in my memory.

I just now performed the song with my friends. But really, I would like everyone to sing it quietly to themselves. As a prayer to the people who tragically lost their lives. And with the greatest respect for the two wonderful songwriters who secretly gave all of us living today this gift.

(I was going to try and translate this message myself but it turned out that the
official website had already done it, so I used that translation instead, sorry Ringo)

Translating things is really hard. I’m not sure about much of this and took a few liberties. If anyone disagrees with the translation I posted here or has suggestions feel free to correct me in the comments, this is all a big learning expirience.

Oh and just in case, this song was by Izumi Taku and Tokiko Iwatani and performed by Tokyo Jihen. It is copyright whoever copyrighted it.

As I begin my second year as an AET, my mind begins to turn to matters of teaching and how to be a better teacher. One aspect of classes that always gets me is the warmer.

The theory behind the warmer is to get your students ready to start thinking in English mode and to get them hyped up for the lesson. In an elementary school this usually takes the form of a game or a song. The difficulty with warmers is striking a balance. If you find a game the kids like you have to be careful that you don’t let it completely engulf the rest of your lesson or that you don’t use it too many times, familiarity breeds contempt.

Songs tend to be more repeatable but you have to be careful with the older kids, they tend not to like the singing. I can vouch for this, being faced with a whole class of stone faced, frowning 6 graders just staring at you as you try to get them to sing If You’re Happy and You Know It Clap Your Hands can put a bit of a dent into your enthusiasm.

One set of songs that I really found interesting though is Dansinglish. Only used in one of the schools I teach at, Dansinglish is used as a warmer for the entire of the third and forth year classes. In total there are 8 songs and over the course of 2 years they are taught to the kids.

For those who are not au fait with the lyrics here is a small example:

What’s your name?
My name is Masami.

Ouch!
Are you alright?

Let me try! Let me try!
This is fun.

That is a small part of the first song which is imaginatively titled Hello. Each line has a corresponding action, for example, Ouch! has you touching your head, while My name is Masami has you showing an imaginary name tag.

Thinking back, it was my very first day of work that I was confronted with this and my impressions were: This is rubbish. I didn’t know any of the dances, the kids didn’t seem to know any of the words and the only one who seemed to be getting anything out of it was the home room teacher.

Gradually though, over the course of the year I learnt the dances and the kids (mostly) learnt both the words and the actions. It became rather fun, I would genuinely look forward to doing it (especially with the 3rd years). It was a great opportunity to ham up the mimes and see if I could get the kids to do the stuff in the same over the top way.

By the end of the year I felt that most of the kids knew both the actions, the words in the songs and, most importantly, enjoyed it. However other than a bit of a laugh, what is the educational value of all this? Are the kids just parroting lines and not realising the meaning of their words or are they taking it all in?

I hope that with the actions they have a bit of context about what is going on and in similar situations would be able to repeat this language even if the usage or tense is not quite right. Next year I think I will test them by conspicuously banging my shin on a table yelling “OUCH!”, to see if I can get an “Are you alright?” out of them. I do hope though that the next time I go up to one of them and ask “What’s your name”, I’m not told “My name is Masami”.

That would be heartbreaking.

Unless their name actually is Masami, then that would be ok.

When I searched for this stuff on Google I was shocked to find the only mention of Dansinglish was on a forum where some teachers were moaning about it, but how could you not enjoy this:

This post has been a submission to the April 2011 Japan Blog Matsuri hosted by NihongoUp.