This is something of an exercise for me in translation.  Usually, I just translate meanings and try to be accurate to the original, but I don’t really worry about beats.  This means that while the meanings are (relatively) accurate, if it was a song you actually couldn’t sing what I had just translated.

I thought that was silly, since if you really like the melody of a song, it’s really fun to be able to sing that in your own language!  So this time, I really tried far more to get the beats to match than I did to keep the meanings 100% perfect.  Perfect example?  The title actually really just means “Happy Synthesizer” – but you’ll see that in translating it, I added “new” to it. This is because due to Japanese’s insistence on katakana readings, there ends up being another syllable when they sing it.  I could have translated it as “My Happy Synthesizer” instead, but then it starts with an “m” noise and not an “h,” and since “shin” can be used to mean “new,” (shinsesaiza is synthesizer in Japanese – note it starts with ‘shin’), I decided to make the translation as “Happy New Synthesizer” instead.

There are many other instances where I warped the original meanings to fit something that would make more sense in English, as well, but I’m not going to go through them all.  I’ll just plop this out there, and maybe, somewhere, someone will have some fun listening to the song and singing along with it in English.

The original can be found here: http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm12825985 or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poiZSEjQBgw (nico is the original place it was published, then someone graciously copied and re-released it on youtube for the non-Japanese society 8) ).  Or, you can join me in my dancing obsession, butsudankamen, as he dances to it: 

Happy New Synthesizer

ハッピーシンセサイザ　君の　胸の奥まで
Happy new synthesizer        Straight to your heart
届くようなメロディ　奏でるよ
I feel this melody will play    Right to you

儚く散った淡い片思い
Scattered feelings                  Unrequited love
笑い話だね　今となれば
It’s a funny thing to say          When I look back at it now
見る物全て　輝いて見えた
Everything seemed to glow     When I saw you that night
あの日々がキレイに　笑ってるよ
It was so gorgeous then         While you were laughing

我慢する事だけ　覚えなきゃいけないの？
Is it really required for me to remember such things as patience?
「大人になって頂戴ね？」　ならなくていいよ
“Would you just act your age?”     Isn’t something I’ll say
知らない事ばかり　知らないなんて言えなくて
Everything that you don’t know     It’s okay to stay like that
「大変お似合いで」　ウソついてゴメンね
“You look good under stress”       Sorry for saying a lie

ハッピーシンセサイザ　君の　胸の奥まで
Happy new synthesizer  Straight to your heart
届くようなメロディ　奏でるよ
I feel this melody will play          Right to you
つまらない「たてまえ」や　ヤな事全部
That boring public face  Everything that you hate
消してあげるから　この音で
I’ll erase it all for you     With this song I made

何の取り柄も無い　僕に唯一つ
There’s no page for me        Yet there’s this one and only
少しだけど　出来る事
What can I do?  Well            It’s just a small  thing
心躍らせる　飾らない　言葉
It’ll make your heart dance   Words that aren’t just garnishment
電子音で伝えるよ
With electric chords             I’ll send them to you

好きになる事　理屈なんかじゃなくて
Being able to like you       It wasn’t born from theory
「こじつけ」なんて　いらないんじゃない？
There’s no need to say, yeah        “That’s so far-fetched,” right?
時代のせいと　諦めたらそこまで
That it’s all the age’s fault That I should just give up already
踏み出さなくちゃ　何も始まらない
Don’t stomp it out so soon           That way nothing will ever start

「ゴメンね夜遅く　寝るところだったでしょ？」
“Sorry for calling so late            Were you about to go to sleep?”
「驚いた　私もかけようとしてた」
“What a sweet surprise           I was just about to call”
心の裏側をくすぐられてるような
The inside of my heart                        This ticklish fluttering
惹かれあう2人に　幸せな音を
For us two to be attracted       It’s surely a happy sound

ハッピーシンセサイザ　ほらね　楽しくなるよ
Happy new synthesizer        See what I mean? It’s getting fun
涙拭うメロディ　奏でるよ
A melody to wipe your tears                        I’m playing for you
強がらなくたっていいんじゃない？　別に
You don’t have to act so strong       There’s no need; it’s okay
自分に素直になればいい
You can be a little meek      To yourself now and then

何の取り柄も無い　僕に唯一つ
There’s no page for me  Yet there’s this one and only
少しだけど　出来る事
What can I do?  Well      It’s just a small  thing
ちょっと照れるような　単純な気持ち
A little bit of light to shine          A simple sensation
電子音で伝えるよ
With electric chords       I’ll send them to you

ハッピーシンセサイザ　君の　胸の奥まで
Happy new synthesizer  Straight to your heart
届くようなメロディ　奏でるよ
I feel this melody will play          Right to you
つまらない「たてまえ」や　ヤな事全部
That boring public face  Everything that you hate
消してあげるから　この音で
I’ll erase it all for you     With this song I made

何の取り柄も無い　僕に唯一つ
There’s no page for me           Yet there’s this one and only
少しだけど　出来る事
What can I do?  Well               It’s just a small  thing
心躍らせる　飾らない　言葉
It’ll make your heart dance      Words that aren’t just garnishment
電子音で伝えるよ
With electric chords                I’ll send them to you

ハッピーシンセサイザ　ほらね　楽しくなるよ
Happy new synthesizer        See what I mean? It’s getting fun
涙拭うメロディ　奏でるよ
A melody to wipe your tears                        I made for you
強がらなくたっていいんじゃない？　別に
You don’t have to act so strong       There’s no need; it’s okay
自分に素直になればいい
You can be a little meek      To yourself now and then

何の取り柄も無い　僕に唯一つ
There’s no page for me  Yet there’s this one and only
少しだけど　出来る事
What can I do?  Well      It’s just a small  thing
ちょっと照れるような　単純な気持ち
A little bit of light to shine          A simple sensation
電子音で伝えるよ
With electric chords       I’ll send them to you