that foreign music blog🌎

Someone suggested that I show how I use Japanese music to study. It’s something I never really thought about sharing, because I wanted to focus mostly on the music, but part of the reason I started listening to Japanese music was to practice hearing Japanese in a natural setting.

One thing you have to remember about lyrics, or 歌詞 (kah-shi), is that, just like with English lyrics, they aren’t always grammatically correct. This, however, hasn’t prevented me from expanding my knowledge on the language.

To start our learning session, the first song we’ll examine is Yonige’s “Goodbye Prisoner” (さよならプリズナー/sa-yo-nah-rah pu-ri-zu-na-).

What I look into when I want to learn a song is not necessarily how much I like it, but in its speed and repetitiveness. This is key when learning lyrics, especially when you’re just starting off.

The repetitive verse of Yonige’s song  allows us to focus on one of the target grammars used: “any”

何もない、何もない、何もない

何でもない日々です。

何もない、何もない、何もない

何でもない部屋で

何もない、何もない、何もない

何でもない時間に

君がいただけだった

“de-mo” attached to the words for what, where, when, and who create the meaning of ‘any’.

だれでも (dah-re-de-mo) anyone

何でも (nahn de-mo) anything

いつでも (it-su de-mo) anytime

どこでも (do-ko-de-mo) anywhere

when you add ない (nai), it makes it negative.

だれでもない no one/ no body

何でもない nothing/ not anything

いつでもない never/ not always

どこでもない nowhere/ not anywhere

Next, a bit of kanji practice:

何 なん  nahn (what)

時間 じかん ji-ka-n (time)

日々 ひび hi-bi (days/daily)

部屋 へや he-yah (room)

君 きみ ki-mi (you)

So, with the knowledge we’ve gained, we can attempt to translate:

“There’s nothing, nothing, nothing

The days aren’t anything

There’s nothing, nothing, nothing

There isn’t anything in the room

There was nothing, nothing, nothing

Not anything at the time

It was just you”

While I’m not sure how correct or incorrect this translation is, let’s keep learning together!

Next time,  we’ll learn tatami words, likeドキドキ (doki doki), from one of my favorite songs: Aya Matsuura’s Doki Doki Love Mail!