The Many Translations and Mistranslations of mimi no aru robot no uta

[lagoluna]

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mimi no aru robot no uta (best known as Song of the Eared Robot) by mimi-roboP currently has 2 main translations (1, 2) in addition to a couple of other lesser-known ones floating around, and I have problems with each and every one of them, but I think their flaws are worth analyzing and I want to discuss them here rather than just posting my own translation and leaving it at that. I hope that, in articulating my feelings about these translations I will be better able to convey what this song means to me and why I chose to retranslate it the way I did. After all, isn’t it at least a little interesting that such a definitive UTAU song has languished from lack of a proper English translation for over a decade now?

耳のあるロボットの唄 (Jpn.)

まとめたなら　細かく包んで
影をよけて　ここまでおいで
ゆく先々　たどる道しるべ
たずね歩き　ここまでおいで
朽ちた言葉　ねじられた言葉
沈む言葉　それでも綴れ
ひとつふたつ　つらねつながれた
phonemeの列　意図　意味をもて

隠された　マルコフの
最尤の名の下に

恋をして　恋をして
恋をして　ふられ　また　捨てられて
過去をみて　枝を切れ
泣きたくなっても　まだ　N　を増やせ

旅の前に付けた　韻律の
意義はそこに　言葉はどこに
上へ　下へ　うねるF0の
カタセシスの　ありかをさぐれ
息を切らし　波に乗せられた
パラ言語の　意図　意味を聴け
息を捨てて　綴られた言葉
うずまきまで　たしかに　揺らせ

そして

恋をして　恋をして
飽きられて　ふられ　また捨てられて
円を描け　赤く塗れ
泣きたくなっても　それでも　かき集め

前を見て　舵を取れ
泣きたくないなら　また　歌え歌え
恋をして　恋をして
その過去を　捨てて　ここまでおいで

It’s a deceptively difficult song to capture, simple in its construction but overflowing with nuances and ideas left unexpressed, with overlapping imagery and metaphors. There’s a delicate balance between its stilted delivery and poetic phrasing, meant to emulate the mind of a robot falling in love and getting its heart broken repeatedly, gradually becoming more human along the way. It’s also about the relationship between UTAU voicebanks and their users, the people who Teto falls in love with and who eventually move on to new software once the novelty wears off.

The first translation for this song from 2009 provides well, nothing except for its title. It’s essentially fanfiction, remixing some of the words and ideas that appear in the song to produce something entirely different, there’s not much to be gained by picking over the specific choices in its lyrics. It reads like an amateur project written by someone in way over their head, and I don’t mean to be rude when I say this. This is normal for vocaloid/UTAU fantranslations, because that’s exactly what they are most of the time. In spite of that though, I think Song of the Eared Robot is probably a perfect title. Translating the adjective phrase ‘mimi no aru’ as ‘eared’ captures the awkwardness of the title perfectly without becoming unwieldy. It’s iconic for a reason

RENA (2009) (x)

Song of the Eared Robot

Gather all of the things that would help protect you against
The shadows of which you never want to walk through
Go forward, disregard everything but the future
Don’t be afraid to ask to always stay by their side
Words you could never speak only get contorted
Even so you should still write them down before they sink
Two different types combine to make only one meaning
The phoneme made into exactly what was wanted

Hidden among us is that markov
At least that’s what it’s probably called

I think I’m in love I think I’m in love
I think I’m in love even though i know i’m nothing new
See past the branches that hinder your sight
Increase the levels of N and you’ll stop crying

Traveling long ago on the beat of poetry
Does it all have to have a meaning? you should write it down for me
Goals that have no purpose undulate between ones that do
While we are still trying to find what might happen
Waving back and forth so that your breath can run out
There still is the secret paralanguage to suggest
That you’re only waving to avoid having to write down
Why your whirlpool feelings keep shaking, vibrating

And

I think I’m in love I think I’m in love
Even though i’ve grown tired of being nothing new
Draw a big circle and paint it red
Maybe when there’s enough color then i won’t ever cry

Look before you steer this life into dust
You don’t want to cry again you only want to sing
I think I’m in love I think I’m in love
Throwing away the past you can’t ever seem to forget

It’s a little unclear to me if this translation was meant to be translyrics, some parts of it fit the tune and others don’t. It’s definitely been adapted as translyrics a couple of times but every instance has to change or awkwardly extend some of the lines.

Bluepenguin’s translation, the most commonly used, is much closer but still lacking in some areas. Frustratingly, it struggles with incorporating terms such as ‘Markov chain’, ‘paralanguage’, and ‘catathesis’ and has an obvious error in the chorus, misreading furareru (to be dumped) as furerareru (to be touched) and more bizarrely, akirareru (to be grown tired of) as dakishimeru (to embrace).

Bluepenguin (2012) (x)

Song of the Robot with Ears

While compiling, minutely wrapped up
I’ve come this far, throwing off shadows
I’ve gone many places, following signposts
I’ve come this far, walking and searching
My words have been rotten, my words have been twisted
My words have been submerged, but still I weave them
Connecting and connecting one to another
The string of phonemes takes on intent and meaning

To the root of the most outstanding name
In the hidden Markov chains

They love me, love me
They love me, touch me, then they leave me
I look at the past and sever the branch
Even when I want to cry, I add another N

The rhythm I took on before my journey began
There is the meaning – where are the words?
The F0 undulates up and down
I fumble around for the location of its catathesis
Holding my breath, I was carried by the waves
Inquiring about the intent and meaning of the paralanguage
Letting out my breath, I wove the words
Swinging them into a spiral

And so

They love me, love me
They embrace me, touch me, and leave me
I draw a circle and stain it red
Even when I want to cry, I gather it up anyway

I look forward, take the helm
I don’t want to cry, so I keep singing, singing
They love me, love me
Throwing that past away, I’ve come this far

The most recent at time of writing, and one of the better translations is SoD’s, this time definitely intended to functions as translyrics.

SoD (2023) (x)

Song of the Eared Robot

Compiling, computing, configuring all of these strings
From the shadows I’ve shaken free, I have come this far, it seems
I’ve traveled far and wide, visited places, and followed signs
Walking and searching, I  have managed to climb this high
Words whose meanings are wrong, words that no longer belong
Words submerged and so they fall, yet I still weave them in song
One, then two, connecting, joining together by the strings
A line of phonemes brings  something with intent and meaning

In the roots of the hidden Markov chain
Finding the meaning of the most likely name

Fall in love today, fall in love today
Fall in love today, then one day, get dumped, and thrown away
The past can’t be changed, I throw it away
Even if I want to cry, I add one to N anyway

Before I began searching, the rhythm that I was playing
Right there was the meaning, but the lyrics were missing
Up, down, undulating, the F0 continuously
Catathesis, I seek, but where would such a thing be?
Hold my breath all the way, I’m carried out by all the waves
What’s the meaning conveyed  by paralanguage would you say?
Let my breath out after long, the words I wove into this song
Let them spiral along, swaying in where they belong

And so we

Fall in love today, fall in love today
Grow bored of it all, then one day, get dumped, and thrown away
Draw an O okay, dye it red with stain
Even if I wanted to cry, I gather it anyway

Future, I will face, I will take the reins

I don’t want to cry, and so I will sing out, sing out today
Fall in love today, fall in love today
Throwing the past out, far away, look how I’ve come all this way

Perhaps the best aspect of this translation is the extensive footnotes and author’s commentary it comes with, including a link to very useful discussion page about the song. Regardless of my opinion on the translation itself, these have been very helpful resources for formulating my own take on the song.

I think that because this version was written as translyrics first and foremost it lacks a strong character voice, suffers from inconsistent imagery, and removes a lot of the poetic symmetry from the lyrics:

ここまでおいで appears three times in the lyrics and is translated separately each time,
“I have come this far, it seems”,
“I have managed to climb this high”, and
“look how I’ve come all this way”.

(oddly, the Bluepenguin translation this one is based on avoids this and uses “I’ve come this far” in all instances)

過去を見て and 前を見て become
“The past can’t be changed” and “Future, I will face”.

phoneme の列　意図　意味をもて and
パラ言語の　　意図　意味を聴け become
“A line of phonemes brings something with intent and meaning”
“What’s the meaning conveyed by paralanguage would you say?”

Perhaps this seems nitpicky but I think that the limited and repetitive phrasing of these lyrics is an important part of the song’s identity, and one that is completely replicable in translation.

This translation obscures a lot of the ship and water imagery from the second half (changing 舵をとれ “take the helm” as “take the reins” and うずまき “whirlpool” as "spiral", which is not incorrect, strictly but...) and it inserts a “weaving as songwriting metaphor“ which, I’m neutral on, I think it works fine, other translations have done this as well.

When it comes to the character voice, I think a large problem with this translation is an inconsistent tense. mimi no aru robot no uta is written entirely in imperative form, it's a very distinguishing trait that’s awkward to replicate in English without implying a second-person perspective. It’s a deliberate choice to capture the voice of a consciousness that exists only in the present moment, without a past or future, whose actions flow together without a clear relation to each other or a definitive end goal in mind. Some translations come closer than others in this regard but I don’t think anyone has yet seriously attempted to convey this aspect of the song: The Bluepenguin translation uses present, past perfect, and some present progressive, and past tenses, The SoD translation uses present, past perfect, progressive present, progressive past, and future tenses. This one particular feels messy and arbitrary, these choices were almost certainly made solely on the basis of how many syllables were required to fit the rhythm (although I think the final verse being written mostly in future tense is clearly deliberate). But needless to say I’m not a fan…

~~~~

After I finished composing my own I managed to dig up two more (1, 2) old translations, so for completion’s sake let’s go over them as well.

Opticalpopcorn’s translation was published as a now-unlisted Youtube video which I found reposted to an anime lyrics site. Since it’s unlisted I’ll assume that it’s probably no longer up to the creator’s own standards and spare it from criticism. It looks like it’s largely based on the Bluepenguin translation (carrying over the ‘akirare - embrace’ mistranslation). It improves on the Bluepenguin translation in some places but also introduces some new errors of its own.

Opticalpopcorn (2015) (x) (unlisted)

Song of the Eared Robot

If one were to summarize all of the finely wrapped-up things
Throwing off shadows, I've made it this far
Going many places, following the signposts
Walking and searching for answers, I've made it this far
The words have decayed, the words have been twisted
The words have sunk, but they still are being woven
One by one, connected painfully
The line of phonemes takes on intent and meaning

The Markov chains lie hidden in the name of the best

To be in love, to be in love
To be in love, and to be thrown away again
Looking at the past and severing the branch
Even though I want to cry, X only keeps increasing

The rhythm that had developed before the journey began
The purpose is right here, but where are the words?
Up and down, the F0 undulates
Searching for the location of its catathesis
Holding your breath, being swept away by the waves
Listening to the paralanguage, and its intent and meaning
Letting out your breath, still weaving the words
Spinning them into a spiral, slowly and surely

(And so)

To be in love, to be in love
To be embraced, and to be thrown away again
Draw a circle, stain it red
Even though I want to cry, I'll gather it back up

Facing forwards, taking the helm
If you don't want to cry then just keep singing and singing
To be in love, to be in love
Throwing that past away, I've made it this far

The next translation I found tucked away in a remix cover with no advertisement. At this point I’m delighted to read more attempts at this song so let’s get into the 2020 Syo translation!

Syo/cowboy_bibimbap (2020) (x)

Song of the Eared Robot

If I put it together, I carefully cover up the pieces
I avoid the shadows and only come here
Signposts follow along the path I’m on
I wander in search of something and I’ve only come here
My words faded away, my words were twisted
My words are sinking but still I write them
One and two in a row, tied together
A sequence of phonemes that have intention and meaning

It’s hidden away in Markov models
In the name of Maximum Likelihood

I fall in love. I fall in love.
I fall in love, I’m dumped and thrown away again
Look towards the past. Cut off the branches.
Even though I want to cry I still make more connections

At the beginning of the journey,
The prosody’s meaning is there, but where are the words?
Undulating up and down
Search for the catathesis of F0
Running out of breath, I was carried away by the waves
Listen to the intention and meaning of paralanguage
I abandon breathing, my words are spelled out
Swinging them into a spiral

And so

I fall in love. I fall in love.
I’m fed up, I’m dumped and thrown away again.
I draw a circle and paint it red
Even though I want to cry I scrape it all up

I look ahead and take the helm
If I don’t want to cry I just sing and sing
I fall in love. I fall in love.
I abandon the past and only come here

I think I probably prefer this translation over the SoD one but it has some odd sticking points of its own. I’m not sure why the author translated ここまでおいで as “only come here”, it feels so unnatural and there’s no precedent for it, it doesn't blend in with the phrases that come before it at all… This one also has some issues with inconsistent tense (using simple present, imperative, simple past) but I think it’s closest tonally of all our available options.

“Even though I want to cry I still make more connections”: An odd take on this line, removing the mathematical terminology, especially considering that it introduces a reference to maximum likelihood estimation in the Markov chain line, I don’t know what to make of it.

~~~~

So with all that out of the way, I now present my own (free to use with credit) translation! I had two personal goals for this translation. First using progressive (-ing) tenses for every main verb to mimic the style of the original, I mentioned before that translating it as a series of imperative verbs would make it difficult to avoid implying a second-person perspective but I think that it is also very important stylistically for all of the main verbs to have the same ending sound (and as a bonus software processes are displayed to the user in present progressive, so it helps give a more robotic impression). Second I wanted to avoid using any pronouns for the singer (with one exception), in all of the previous translations I felt like the frequent use of “I” and “me/my/mine” was a little too anthropomorphizing. I wanted to convey the tension between the singer’s lack of humanity and her interiority this way.

Song of the Eared Robot (Eng.)

After compiling it all. Packaging it up neatly
Cutting out the shadows. Having reached this place at last [^1]
Gently guided forward. By the signs along the way [^2]
Walking so far and long. Having reached this place at last [^3]
Words lost to decay. Words twisted out of shape
Words sunken underneath. Composing with them anyway
Connecting one to the next. Chaining them together
A row of phonemes. Bearing meaning. Intentionality

Using maximum likelihood estimation on this hidden Markov chain
Determining the probability of [^4]

Falling in love again. Falling in love again
Falling in love again. Just to be discarded. Thrown away
Turning toward the past. Severing the branch
Wanting to cry and yet. Adding one to N again

Before even setting out. The rhythm carrying
Meaning all of its own. But which words will fit inside
F0 oscillating. Up and down and up again [^5]
Grasping blindly for it. That elusive catathesis
Holding in a breath. In those words carried over waves
Listening for. Paralingual meaning. Intentionality [^6] [^7]
Letting out a breath. Carefully composed words
Swirling into. A whirlpool. Swaying as they’re swept away

and I am [^8]

Falling in love again. Falling in love again
Grown tired of. Discarded. Thrown away
Drawing out a ring. Dying the center red
Wanting to cry and yet. Picking up the pieces anyway

Turning toward the future. Standing at the helm
Wanting to cry no more and so. Singing on and on and on
Falling in love again. Falling in love again
Stepping out of the past. Having reached this place at last

~~~~

[^1] a bit of a tricky line, it has to blend into the first verse unobtrusively but it also needs to be bold enough to serve as a fitting end for the song…

[^2] you’ll have to read a secret “I am being” before that line, sorry. I wanted to avoid using “me” so I couldn’t translate it as “gently guiding me forward”

[^3] everyone else seems to translate tazuneru as 尋ねる “to search for/inquire” and not 訪ねる “to visit”. the original line was written without kanji so I assume both meanings are intended, but if we can only choose for the purposes of translation, surely it should be 訪ねる

[^4] unsurprisingly no one here has a strong grasp on japanese mathematical/statistics terminology, including me. in the end I opted to translate what I believe was the intent behind that line’s inclusion, rather than the words themselves.

[^5] odd that everyone uses “undulate” here… when oscillate feels much more natural (undulating already means to move in a wave like fashion) for this reason it seems redundant to describe a wave as undulating

[^6] my notes app says “paralingual” isn’t a word but it is to me. it bothers me that other translations use the word paralanguage as though it is the object of the line eg. “Inquiring about the intent and meaning of the paralanguage”

[^7] since the song is written in imperative I think it makes sense to assume that パラ言語の　意図　意味 (meaning and intent conveyed through paralanguage) is the subject of 波に乗せられた (carried over waves), waves of course being both sound waves and water waves

[^8] before even starting I knew that I wanted to use “I” exactly once, and slip it in right here in the transition into the chorus. I hope I was able to recreate the emotions the song evokes in me this way

Comments

[stepnix]

big fan of this kind of digital archeology *and* learning more about lyric translation. gonna share with some Teto Enjoyers o7

[lagoluna]

I'm glad you enjoyed it ^_^ I always get really excited when songs have a bunch of different translations to compare!

[jellyfishlover]

I was linked here recently and I just wanted to say that it was really fun to read through all these translations side by side and hear your thoughts on them. Seeing your own translation with notes was super interesting as well. Thank you for compiling all this together!

[lagoluna]

waaaa thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed reading