Flowers Will Bloom (花は咲く/Hana wa Saku)

（下に少々日本語でも書いております。Some Japanese below.）

「花は咲く」 (Hana wa Saku), or "Flowers Will Bloom" is a song produced by NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) to support the March 11, 2011 disaster recovery efforts. ⁠

The composer, lyricist, and singers of the original Japanese recording all have ties to the Tohoku regions affected by the disaster. The song itself is a message from those who lost their lives to those who survived. (http://www.nhk.or.jp/ashita/english/song/)⁠

⁠Since the 10 year anniversary is right around the corner, I've been thinking about this song recently, and for the first time, I took a real look at the official English lyrics and compared them to the original Japanese lyrics.

Today, I'd like to share with you the beauty and subtleties of translation through these lyrics. Below you'll find the original Japanese lyrics. If you are unable to read Japanese, not to worry! My English translation, as well as the official English lyrics, and then the Japanese translation of the English lyrics (for those who have Japanese as a dominant language) are all included as well.

Please note that I have only included the first verse and chorus of the piece.

If you do some Googling, you may find other translations of the Japanese lyrics. Even though none of them may be 'wrong', they didn't feel accurate enough to me, so the above English translation is mine.

Below, you'll find the offical English lyrics by Roger Pulvers.

The rhythm is of course different between the two English versions, since I simply translated the lyrics, whereas Roger Pulver had the additional requirement of ensuring the English words would match the melody and would be singable.

日本語母語話者の為に英語の歌詞を日本語訳にしてみました。上でご覧になったオリジナルの歌詞に比べますと少し雰囲気が違うように感じます。

歌詞とは歌に合わせる言葉なので、訳すだけではなく、曲のメロディーやリズムに合わせる必要があります。

英語と日本語の歌詞をご覧になってお気づきになったことはありますか？ご感想など、お聞きしたいと思います。

震災当時、日本にはいませんでしたが東北との繋がりが強い私には思い出の曲です。あの日から10年がたってもつい最近の出来事のようにも感じます。

Translation, in a sense, is word art. Language ability as well as cultural proximity and knowledge sets great translators apart from good ones. However, in many cases there is no wrong translation, just personal preference, whether it is the preference of the translator, original author, or someone else.

I'm curious to know what your thoughts are of the different lyrics. What do you notice between the nuances, focus word choice, etc. between the two languages?