Hamiltonを日本語で

May 23, 2024 8:26 PM

Please enjoy “My Shot” from Hamilton in Japanese, translated and performed by actor and musical translator Gen Parton-Shin (辛 源).

Bonus song: “Helpless” in Japanese, also translated by Parton-Shin.

Previously: “Alexander Hamilton” in German

posted by mbrubeck (13 comments total)

Okay, that was AMAZING!
posted by lepus at 10:09 PM on May 23

Someone show this to Lin Manuel Miranda STAT.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 3:45 AM on May 24 [3 favorites]

What the FUCK that was incredible!!
posted by MiraK at 3:50 AM on May 24

Wow, "Helpless" is fantastic, these folks are absolutely killing it.
posted by MiraK at 3:55 AM on May 24 [2 favorites]

The Schuyler Sisters in Japanese
posted by Your Childhood Pet Rock at 5:32 AM on May 24 [2 favorites]

Bro.
posted by xigxag at 5:36 AM on May 24 [2 favorites]

I really like Eliza’s acting in the “Helpless” video.
posted by Songdog at 7:18 AM on May 24 [1 favorite]

Oh wow, Your Childhood Pet Rock, that YouTube channel has four songs translated by Reina Mochizuki, including Alexander Hamilton.
posted by mbrubeck at 7:24 AM on May 24 [1 favorite]

I often watch international productions of Broadway musicals on YouTube.
posted by Czjewel at 7:34 AM on May 24

Gen Parton-Shin sent me the two videos below of songs from “Hamilton” — “My Shot” and “Helpless” — that he translated into Japanese. I had questions. He answered them. (2020)

Translating Hamilton: Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story? (2021)

Translating Broadway's Hamilton to Japanese, by Gen Parton-Shin (2019)
posted by rory at 8:18 AM on May 24 [4 favorites]

OMG, these kick ass. I just started learning Japanese(So, you know, mostly still just learning the characters for now) but I'm curious about something here: One of LMMs big talents is being able to write lyrics to complicated lines so that the key words land at emphasis points (this is a talent that basically all great lyricists have, but Miranda's works tend to be a lot denser than most, in terms of lyrics-per-minute.) With Japanese being so syntactically different from English, was Gen Parton-Shin able to maintain that?

In any case, these were increible and thank you for posting them.
posted by Navelgazer at 10:21 AM on May 24 [1 favorite]

He uses a French accent for Lafayette. Incredible.
posted by ceejaytee at 12:09 PM on May 24

He uses a French accent for Lafayette. Incredible.

And Hercules Mulligan uses classic Japanese “tough guy” dialect, with the rolled R sound and all, which is perfect.

One of LMMs big talents is being able to write lyrics to complicated lines so that the key words land at emphasis points… With Japanese being so syntactically different from English, was Gen Parton-Shin able to maintain that?

Not 100% but it’s definitely there. A good example from “My Shot” is the English line:

The PLAN is to FAN this SPARK into a FLAME

which Parton-Shin translates as:

yuME wa haDE da. HONŌ no you ni ENJŌ

literally “The dream (YUME) is brazen (HADE); to blaze (ENJŌ) like a flame (HONŌ).” The stressed syllables also line up with the pitch accent on yume and hade, which is a nifty trick.

But yeah, the difference in word order and syllable structure between Japanese and English makes this very hard to do consistently.
posted by mbrubeck at 5:12 PM on May 24 [1 favorite]