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A little question here...

quamp

止まれません!
15 Jan 2007
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O.k., recently I translated a song (titled 夢見たい★エンジェル隊) for a web site where lyrics can be wiki-like edited. I'm a bit confused about things here on one particular line.

The kanji is thus:
マンモスまいる(はいチーズ!)

I had originally translated it thus:

A mammoth defeat (yes cheese!)

Then someone else came along and translated it thus:

A mammoth defeat (up against the wall!)

Next someone translated it thus:

A mammoth annoyance (it's cheesy!)

Finally, someone translated it thus:

A mammoth smile (say cheese!)

My question is: who's the most accurate?
 

マンモスまいる(はいチーズ!)


まいる means to fall, surrender, beaten, etc.
So among the translations "a mannmoth defeat" would be the closest.
As for はいチーズ, it's a phrase one say when taking a photo of someone, so
it's "say cheese!"
 
It seems like there's a pun in there, too: the すまいる part with the はいチーズ part. That is, take the end of マンモス and まいる, and you get something like "a mammoth defeated! smile, 'cheese!'" I could be wrong, though.
 
マンモスまいる(はいチーズ!)
[/B]
まいる means to fall, surrender, beaten, etc.
So among the translations "a mannmoth defeat" would be the closest.
As for はいチーズ, it's a phrase one say when taking a photo of someone, so
it's "say cheese!".

Well, this is what Jim Breen's Japanese-English dictionary says is the definition of まいる:

参る 【まいる】 (v5r) (1) (hum) to go; to come; to call; (2) to be defeated; to collapse; to die; (3) to be annoyed; to be nonplussed; (4) to be madly in love; (5) to visit (shrine, grave); (P)

If it's any consolation, a number of the other lines in the song didn't make sense either.
 
I don't think being a native means knowing everything, but at least for me the word "be annoyed" does not match the word 参る - when one says
参った, it means the person is at a loss or up to the wall, feeling like to give up and flee from the spot, etc. (similar to 困った) while annoyed suggest slight anger if my understanding is correct.

And the sentence マンモスまいる gives me a picture that a mammoth is defeated and surrender saying 降参!(like waving a white flag).
(参った or 降参 can be used in various situation - when one is challenging with a quiz and another tried to solve it, and after some time finally gives up - then that person says 参りました or 降参 then ask for answer, for instance.)

But anyway, I did not realize it is a pun until Glenn mentioned it - it does make sense that マンモスまいる is followed by はいチーズ then!
It seems to be the pun that is very hard to translate into another language... maybe you can make it up something similar though different in meaning. When it comes to translation and pun is involved, you cannot always be accurate and make sense at the same time. 😅
 
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