 |
| From YouTube |
Raw wheat, raw rice, raw eggs!
Doesn't do much for you? Something a really proud farmer would say?
Well, try the Japanese version and say it three times fast: nama mugi, nama gome, nama tamago! （生麦生米生卵）
If you were able to do that without dislocating your tongue, congratulations! You've entered the world of hayakuchi kotoba（早口言葉）. Basically, these are the Japanese equivalent of tongue twisters.
Indeed, Japan has its version of "Peter Piper picked a peck of peppers!". My mother once showed me a picture book filled with hayakuchi kotoba...fairly stumbled around those so I gave up quickly. However, I saw the pros handle it like pros when I watched the comedy group The Drifters（ドリフターズ）and a few guests do them all to a funky beat on "Hachi-ji da yo! Zen'in Shuugo"（八時だよ！全員集合）back in the 1970s.
Commenter Rob recently informed me of a couple of bands who had opted to dive into hayakuchi kotoba through song as well. There is the guitar pop-rock band MONO NO AWARE whose raison d'etre is playing around with the sounds and meanings of words, and so this particular song of theirs must have been right up their alley. In fact, their "Kamukamo-Shikamo-Nidomokamo!"(It Might Bite, It Might Bite!) was something that I'd heard on the NHK kids' music segment "Minna no Uta"（みんなのうた） some months ago. And yep, pretty much all of the lyrics consist of hayakuchi kotoba so great learning for students of the language. The song was a track on their third original album "Kakegae no nai Mono"（かけがえのないもの...Irreplaceable Things） from October 2019.
MONO NO AWARE is a four-piece band with vocalist and guitarist Shuukei Tamaoki（玉置周啓）, guitarist Seijun Kato（加藤成順）, bassist Ayako Takeda（竹田綾子）and drummer Yutaka Yanagisawa（柳澤豊）. They've been around since 2013 and their band name comes from the Japanese idiom talking of the impermanence of things.
According to Rob, the Osakan pop-rock band Haku（ハク。）also gave their cover version of "Kamukamo-Shikamo-Nidomokamo!" in the last month or so, and may I say that vocalist Ai could have topped Tamaoki at the rapid fire rattling of those twisters. Maybe there could be a battle of the bands involving those two in the same ol' Drifters' way. Many thanks to Rob.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acquvFQDfU0
ReplyDeleteThis is giving me FOMO about not having Japanese fluency this tongue twister bit
Hi, Robert. I swear that Mr. Ohtani was about to dislocate his jaw at times getting through those ultra tongue twisters. It's not easy for an "ippin geinin" to strike a home run but I think he has. You should take a look at him here; I think he's refined things a bit more and added some new twisters.
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-6UQaa5snk
Any english lyrics
ReplyDeletei found the lyrics searching ( haku - mono no aware ) on google. in my opinion the girls cover sounds way better than the guys
Deleteraw wheat raw rice raw egg 生麦生米生卵
ReplyDeleteI don't have anything, so let's go to the store and buy some. なんもないからお店に買いに行こう
red pajamas yellow pajamas brown pajamas 赤パジャマ黄パジャマ茶パジャマ
It's left in a mess and it's a big nuisance. グチャグチャなまま置かれててメチャ邪魔
Frog Pyoko Pyoko 3 Pyoko Pyoko かえるぴょこぴょこ3ぴょこぴょこ
The more I keep it, the more it grows and now it's 15 pyoko pyoko. 飼えば増えて今や15ぴょこぴょこ
New Year's Jazz Chanson Show 祝新春ジャズシャンソンショー
First of all, I went around 3 times and won an award for excellence. まず3周まわって優秀賞 The customer next to me often eats persimmons. 隣の客はよく柿食う客だ
When I was eating a lot, I heard that the bamboo was about to melt. よく食うときに聞き耳立てたらば竹やぶやけかけた There are two chickens in the garden. 庭には2羽ニワトリがいるが
The garden is suddenly too big for two birds. 2羽には庭がにわかに広すぎるな
Every day, the width of the crack on the snake's cheek 日々ヘビの頬のヒビの幅や
I was scared by the width of the crack on Habu's cheek. ハブの頬のヒビの幅にビビって
A monk who is good at drawing 絵の上手な坊主が
I skillfully drew a picture of a monk and Jaws on a folding screen. 上手に屏風に坊主とジョーズの絵を描いた
I don't know if it's a mule or a donkey or a donkey or a mule. ラバかロバかロバかラバか分からないので
When I compared a mule and a donkey, I couldn't tell if it was a donkey or a mule. ラバとロバを比べたらロバかラバかわからなかった This nail is a hard nail to pull out. この釘は引き抜きにくい釘だ
It's hard to pull out, but it's still better if you can pull it out. 引き抜きにくいが引き抜けば引き抜けるだけまだマシだ This may bite you twice! これは噛むかもしかも2度もかも！
Maybe twice 2度もかも
Don't bite. If you're worried about not biting, you might bite! 噛むな噛むなと迷い困り構えてると噛むかも！
This might bite you too! これは噛むかもしかも君もかも！
Maybe you too 君もかも
I feel like biting, but I'll always have a c'mon attitude. 噛む気もするけどいつでもカモンな構えでいよう The shoulder clap machine I bought was expensive. 買った肩叩き機高かった Oh my apologies to the greengrocer おやおや八百屋にお謝り
Maybe the parents have already apologized to the potato shop? もしや親はイモ屋に謝り済み？
I ate lemons and melons with ease. レモンもメロンもペロンと食べたが
The mystery of bananas is still a mystery. バナナの謎はいまだ謎なのだぞ
Taurus Leo Scorpio Various おうし座しし座さそり座さまざま
Huh? あれ？
That's Andromeda. あれはアンドロメダ座だぞ
A pig hit a pig and a pig hit a pig. ブタがブタをぶつとぶたれブタがぶったブタをぶったので
The pig that was hit and the pig that was hit fell down. ぶったブタとぶたれたブタがぶったおれた Don't say tongue twisters 早口言葉を口々に口にしな
Thanks, jaybe-mono for the translation of the lyrics.
Delete