Like The First Time (처음처럼) By T, Like The First Time (처음처럼)

Why does my heart throb so often? Why does my chest

often feel lượt thích it’s going to burst? Why do I often keep

running out of breath? It’s like I will go crazy

Why vì chưng I often feel like I’m suffocating? Why so often?

This is not the first time I’ve fallen in love, I’m not innocent

You often again và again make me feel this way

Nothing too difficult here. First, as we’ve seen in just about every other song translation, again “만” doesn’t mean “only” but is just added for emphasis. Next, “죠”, short for “지요” is an ending meaning “right” that turns the sentence into a tag question, but I haven’t put it like that in the text because just lượt thích in English, tag questions often aren’t real questions, và clearly aren’t here (again, they just seem to be for emphasis). Finally, there’s the construction “~ㄹ 것 같다” which is used twice, & literally means ” -thing-same ”, or effectively “it seems like/looks like/appears that … will do/be”; hence “Why does my chest often feel lượt thích it’s going khổng lồ burst?” và “It’s like I will go crazy”, although admittedly the latter doesn’t sound that great in English.

One thing of great interest khổng lồ me personally though, because it sort of came up in another translation, is the “오다” added lớn “가쁘다” in 3, with a tag question at the end added on vị trí cao nhất of that giving “가빠오죠”. Now “가쁘다” means “gasping for breath; difficulty in breathing”, but what does the “오다” (“come”) added lớn that bởi vì to it? Well, this is what I originally learned, from page 16 of the grammar & vocabulary guidebook that comes with 5A of the Sogang Korean series:

If you’d rather have an English explanation though, then this is what my trusty Korean Grammar for International Learners (KGIL) says on page 340:

When <“오다” & “가다” are> expressed as auxiliary verbs, they signify that an action is carried out continuously và repeatedly over a period of time. In keeping with the original meaning of these verbs, the patterns mean “continuous performance of an action over time in the past as one comes toward the ‘present and continuous’ performance of an kích hoạt over time into the future (away from the present)” respectively.

Quite a mouthful unfortunately, which I think it could be better edited (I’m sure an “and” is missing in it), và I think the above diagram is a must to make any sense of it! But hopefully, now you can see why I chose “Why vị I often keep running out of breath?” for “왜 자꾸 숨이 가빠오죠” at least, rather than “Why do I often run of breath?”. Granted, they effectively mean the same thing, và “Why bởi vì I keep running out of breath” would sound better in English (like in the translation in the video). But with the “자꾸” is still in the Korean unfortunately, then I’ll allow it khổng lồ awkwardly remain in the English too (and same logic goes for line 6).

그댄 나를 기쁘게 해요 그댄 나를 느끼게 해요

처 처음처럼 처 처음처럼 처 처음처럼

그댄 나를 미치게 해요 자꾸자꾸 원하게 해요

처 처음처럼 처 처음처럼 처 처음처럼

처 처음처럼처럼처럼 처럼처럼처럼처럼

처 처음처럼처럼처럼 처럼처럼처럼처럼

처 처음처럼처럼 처처처처럼처럼

처럼처럼처럼처럼 처처처처처음처럼

You make me feel happy You make me feel you

Like the first time lượt thích the first time like the first time

You make me feel crazy I want you again and again

Like the first time, like the first time…(etc)

Easy as, but it’s just impossible for me to vì chưng a literal translation and keep a straight face sorry: for instance the first line would be “As for you – me – joyfully – do” then “As for you – me – feelingly – do”…gotta love the way Korean uses adverbs. More seriously though, I don’t think “기쁘다” should ever be translated as “joyfully” in English (the first entry in Korean dictionaries, but used by precisely zero native speakers), and it’s a red flag for me for any translator that does.

After that, I think “again & again” is more appropriate than the literal Korean “often often”.

왜 자꾸 열이 나는 거죠 온몸이 자꾸

왜 자꾸만 다 달아오르죠 왜 자꾸만

왜 자꾸 아찔아찔 하죠 정신이 없어

왜 자꾸만 주 죽을것 같죠 왜 자꾸만

사랑 사랑 지금껏 말로만 했던건지

그댈 만나고 난 느껴요 난 진짜 사랑이 뭔지

Why vì I often get this fever, Why does my whole body

often burn, Why do I often

get so dizzy & lightheaded, It’s crazy

Why is it often like I’m going to die, Why did I often

love through only words before now

After meeting you I feel it, I what real love is

Again easy, but it’s difficult to lớn know where one clause and/or sentence begins and the other ends, although of course the resulting numerous translations would all pretty much amount to lớn the same thing.

Just 3 things of note. First, that although “정신이 없어” on line 3 is literally “without a mind”, “mindless”, or “absent-minded”, and that it’s especially tempting khổng lồ translate it in that vein given the context of the “왜 자꾸 아찔아찔 하죠” before it (“Why bởi vì I often get so dizzy và lightheaded”), in reality it’s most often said to lớn express one’s annoyance at some crazy and/or untenable situation. Lượt thích me trying to lớn write this post with two toddlers literally climbing all over me & the desk demanding to lớn listen to lớn KARA for instance, or both of them bawling their eyes out when I tell them 5 times every other night is quite enough.

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Next, the “주” in “왜 자꾸만 주 죽을것 같죠” on line 3 (“Why is it often like I’m going to die”) is just lớn emphasize lớn the “death” part (“죽다”).

Finally, in line 6 the “건지” in “했던건지” had me stumped for a little while. The “던”, of course, refers khổng lồ “recollection of a state in the past, or of a repeated, habitual, or uncompleted kích hoạt in the past”, and the “~았/었/였” size before that “gives clearer expression to the notion of ‘completeness’ & also expresses experience” (KGIL, pp. 318-19), but “건지”? Then I realized it was short for “것인지”, or literally “thing-is-yes?”, another way of saying “I guess”.

그댄 나를 기쁘게 해요 그댄 나를 느끼게 해요

처 처음처럼 처 처음처럼 처 처음처럼

그댄 나를 미치게 해요 자꾸자꾸 원하게 해요

처 처음처럼 처 처음처럼 처 처음처럼

처 처음처럼처럼처럼 처럼처럼처럼처럼

처 처음처럼처럼처럼 처럼처럼처럼처럼

처 처음처럼처럼 처처처처럼처럼

You make me feel happy You make me feel you

Like the first time lượt thích the first time like the first time

You make me feel crazy I want you again & again

Like the first time, lượt thích the first time…(etc)

No explanation: that’s the chorus again!

리무진에 champagne bling bling jewelry chain

나를 원해 목이 메인 그런 남자 oh no

항상 발길에 채이는 그런 남잔 just pain

Don’t wanna play this game 꺼져버려 이젠

Now I wanna pump up my gain this is about a man

You know you’re the only man 넌 나를 너무 잘 알기에

나를 기쁘게 기쁘게 기쁘게 해줘

나를 느끼게 느끼게 느끼게 해줘

Limousine champagne bling bling jewelry chain

I don’t want a man who wants me so badly he chokes oh no

I don’t want a man who always gets pushed around by a woman just pain

Don’t wanna play this game Get lost now

Now I wanna pump up my gain this is about a man

Now I wanna pump up my gain this is about a man Since you know me so well

You make me happy happy happy

You make me happy happy happy

Finishing the translation of this tuy nhiên late last night, và composing an introduction lớn (hopefully) pique your interest as I fell asleep, then that was the first thing I wrote this morning. In hindsight though, it’s a little frivolous for how provocative this verse is.

In particular, lines 2 & 3. But as they were also the hardest parts of the song to translate, then I’ll keep the introduction as it is for now just in case I’ve misinterpreted them.

The difficulty was because at first, little things meant that they were quite different khổng lồ what you’d expect given the rest of the song. For instance, there’s a phrase “사랑에 목을 메다” which means you’re very in love with someone, so much so that you’re sort of hanging around their neck all the time. But then in line 2 it’s not actually “목이” but “목을”, and “목을 메다” means “choke”.

With that in mind, then “나를 원해 목이 메인 그런 남자” literally gives “me-want-choke-kind of-man”, which was very very easy khổng lồ interpret as “a man that wants khổng lồ choke me”. But to lớn put it mildly, that raised alarm bells. Instead, there’s really 2 clauses here “나를 원해” and “목이 메인 그런 남자”, giving “me-want” and “choke-kind of-man”, and cobbling those together I came up with “I don’t want a man who wants me so badly he chokes”.

That seemed out of place, but it made sense in the context of line 3, “항상 발길에 채이는 그런 남잔” literally being “always-a kick-get kicked-kind-of-man”, but which I interpreted as “always-gets kicked -kind of-man”, & presumably by his female partner. The English “just pain” cobbled on the kết thúc of that though, is probably just virtually random English, and too much shouldn’t be read into it.

Taken all together then, then there’s a huge double standard: the female protagonist is không tính tiền to feel powerless in wake of her desire for her man, but a man that feels the same way about her, và is prepared to spend a lot of money on & get pushed around by her to lớn win her heart? That’s unacceptable.

Which is fine I suppose. But why I say the verse is provocative though, is that given the context of the woman’s weakness & passivity in the song as a whole, then I’m left with the uneasy feeling that she at least wouldn’t mind if things were reversed. That she wants to be dominated by him.

What vì chưng you think? Is there something to lớn that, or should I reconsider after having my second coffee?

처음처럼 cheoeumcheoreom“Like the First Time”Absolute First Album2009.11.27
Boram, Qri, Soyeon,Eunjung, Hyomin, Jiyeon	Lyrics/작사: 방시혁Composer/작곡: 방시혁Arranger/편곡: 원더키드 (Wonderkid)