Kthleen
Avatar mostly by Asci
- Joined
- Feb 1, 2005
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I just see it as seeking to understand the power within every Pokémon, using anastrophe to achieve rhyme. To me, it makes no less sense than "Just can't stop 'til your power I master" (after all, English is a subject-verb-object language, so how does the apparent object-subject-verb form "your power I master" make any sense?).Anyway, I'm surprised people seem to have doubts about the lyrics... it's definitely "teach" and not "each" in that line, or at least it should be... "each" wouldn't really make sense.
Though I did find something rather interesting:
Someone on the discussion page for "Pokémon Theme" said that the Spanish version says "teach" (""Enseñe a Pokémon de entender / El poder que hay dentro" which literally translates to "Teach Pokémon to understand / The power that's inside". The verb Enseñar = "to teach"."). The problem: it was actually a fan translation. What's more, I found a page with the real Spanish versions, both Latin American and European, along with a bunch of other languages, and... well:
Spanish (Latin American):
Yo viajaré de aquí a allá, buscando hasta el fin./¡Oh! Pokémon yo entenderé tu poder interior (I will travel from here to there, searching until the end/Oh Pokemon, I will understand your inside power)
Spanish (European):
Al fin podré desentrañar/el poder que hay en Pokémon (At last I will be able to solve the mystery/In the power that is in Pokemon)
Catalan:
per fi podré desentranyar/el poder dels pokemon (I'll finally be able to reveal/The power of the Pokémon)
French:
Je parcourrai la Terre entière/Traquant avec espoir/Les Pokemon et leurs mystères/Le secret de leur pouvoir (I will traverse the whole Earth/Hunting with hope/The Pokemon and their mysteries/The secret of their power)
German:
Ich streife durch das ganze Land/Ich suche weit und breit/Das Pokemon um zu verstehen/Was ihm diese Macht verleiht (I roam the land/I search near and far [for]/The Pokemon to understand/Where it gets this power from)
Portuguese (Brazilian):
Pelo o mundo viajarei/Tentando encontar/Um Pokémon e com o seu poder/Tudo transformar (I'll travel through the world/trying to meet/a pokemon and with his power/change everything)
Portuguese (European):
Pelo mundo viajarei/Tentando encontrar/Um pokémon e com o seu poder/Tudo transformar (I will travel across the world/Trying to find/A Pokémon and with its power/Transform everything)
Finnish:
etsin aina vaan,/ja Pokémonin jokaisen,/mä opin tuntemaan (I'm still searching/And I will learn to know/each Pokémon)
Arabic (classical):
Sa usafiru abr al’ard/Bahithan fi kolli makan/An Pokemon adati salaam/Quwwatin la tuhan (I’ll travel around the earth/Searching everywhere/For Pokemon, the tool of peace/Power that won’t be disgraced)
Russian:
В путь смелее, пробил час./И недруг пусть боится нас./Ведь победный светит знак,/Друг другу, врагу враг. (Off we go daring, the hour has come/And let the villains fear us/You see, the sign of victory shines/Friend for friend, enemy for enemy)
Bulgarian:
Аз ще ида на край света,/ще търся ден и нощ/...и ще разкрия тайната,/мощта на покемон. (I will go to the end of the world,/I'll look for it day and night/and I'll reveal the secret,/the power of Pokemon!)
Yo viajaré de aquí a allá, buscando hasta el fin./¡Oh! Pokémon yo entenderé tu poder interior (I will travel from here to there, searching until the end/Oh Pokemon, I will understand your inside power)
Spanish (European):
Al fin podré desentrañar/el poder que hay en Pokémon (At last I will be able to solve the mystery/In the power that is in Pokemon)
Catalan:
per fi podré desentranyar/el poder dels pokemon (I'll finally be able to reveal/The power of the Pokémon)
French:
Je parcourrai la Terre entière/Traquant avec espoir/Les Pokemon et leurs mystères/Le secret de leur pouvoir (I will traverse the whole Earth/Hunting with hope/The Pokemon and their mysteries/The secret of their power)
German:
Ich streife durch das ganze Land/Ich suche weit und breit/Das Pokemon um zu verstehen/Was ihm diese Macht verleiht (I roam the land/I search near and far [for]/The Pokemon to understand/Where it gets this power from)
Portuguese (Brazilian):
Pelo o mundo viajarei/Tentando encontar/Um Pokémon e com o seu poder/Tudo transformar (I'll travel through the world/trying to meet/a pokemon and with his power/change everything)
Portuguese (European):
Pelo mundo viajarei/Tentando encontrar/Um pokémon e com o seu poder/Tudo transformar (I will travel across the world/Trying to find/A Pokémon and with its power/Transform everything)
Finnish:
etsin aina vaan,/ja Pokémonin jokaisen,/mä opin tuntemaan (I'm still searching/And I will learn to know/each Pokémon)
Arabic (classical):
Sa usafiru abr al’ard/Bahithan fi kolli makan/An Pokemon adati salaam/Quwwatin la tuhan (I’ll travel around the earth/Searching everywhere/For Pokemon, the tool of peace/Power that won’t be disgraced)
Russian:
В путь смелее, пробил час./И недруг пусть боится нас./Ведь победный светит знак,/Друг другу, врагу враг. (Off we go daring, the hour has come/And let the villains fear us/You see, the sign of victory shines/Friend for friend, enemy for enemy)
Bulgarian:
Аз ще ида на край света,/ще търся ден и нощ/...и ще разкрия тайната,/мощта на покемон. (I will go to the end of the world,/I'll look for it day and night/and I'll reveal the secret,/the power of Pokemon!)
Notice the theme of most of the ones based on the English version (that aren't completely out of the left field like the Portuguese, Arabic, and Russian): "I want to understand/uncover the power within Pokémon." Notice what it's not: "I want to teach Pokémon about their power" (not knowing German, that apparently implied "for" makes it look to me like "I'm traveling in order for my Pokémon to learn about where their power comes from," and if that counts as teaching, that's still... one out of how many?).
So what does that mean?
1. It was supposed to be "teach." Through some comedy of errors, however, whoever typed up the lyrics either accidentally forgot the T or copied a version where the T was torn/cut off or otherwise destroyed, then sent this mistaken version to everyone else (2.B.A. Master CD people, foreign translators, English singers), and everybody used this mistaken version.
2. It was supposed to be "teach." Through another comedy of errors,
a. the foreign language translators either didn't get printed lyrics and had to listen to them and almost all of those people heard 'each,' or they did get a typed version that did say 'teach' but most of them still, for whatever reason, decided to translate it talking about seeking to understand the power of Pokémon rather than seeking to teach Pokémon about their power (and, save for German, those that didn't talk about understanding the power of Pokémon talked about something completely different, like "tools of peace" and not disgracing their power, winning, or using the power of Pokémon to "transform/change everything");
b. the English singers are saying 'teach,' but something (in the recording process, mastering process, even just the instrumentation) keeps destroying or otherwise rendering unclear that T (and, apparently, for some strange reason, only that particular T; after all, do you hear "Uh catch them is my real est, uh train them is my cause," or "you each me and I'll each you," or "Come with me, the ime is right. There's no better eam"?); and
c. the "each" on the 2.B.A. Master CD insert was just a random, if unfortunately opportune, typo (or alternatively, whoever typed them up was also putting down what they heard, and they also misheard it as "each").
3. It was supposed to be "each." John forgot what he wrote ~15 years ago, and when asked about it recently, he thought something like, "Yeah, 'teach' makes sense. It must have been meant to be 'teach.'"
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