Learning Korean through music: 아이들은 by 김윤아

A post from another site of mine that I originally wrote on 2004.02.15. No YouTube video seems to be available for this, although you can hear another example of her solo work here that is a bit reminiscent. Remember, the translation is done as literally as possible, in order to help the student.

Original post from 2004:

I'm not quite finished with the 자우림 songs yet, but I just remembered that 김윤아's(the singer for the band) solo album is much easier to hear and probably better for learning Korean than the rest of the songs I'll introduce here. It's a lot softer than 자우림, lots of piano and singing and nothing too heavy.

The first song is called 아이들은 (children), and no surprise, it's about children.


Song lyrics

아이들은 착한 주인공이 행복해지는 동화를 듣고 자라나지.
아름답고 착한 사람들은 모든 것을 다 갖게 된다 배우지.
그 애들이 자라면서 바라본 세상은

강을 건너 늪을 지나 성에 가더라도 이룰 수 없는 소원과 바램들.
포기 하고 싶은 지친 밤이 와도 시련에 사람은 어른이 된다고
애써 스스로를 다독이면서

아이들은 혼자 자라면서 상처받으며 진실을 알아가게 되지.
아름답고 착한 사람들은 오히려 더 큰 상처를 안고 살아가지.
그 애들은 자라나서 무엇이 될까
Children are raised on stories where the good character ends up happy
They learn that beautiful, kind people eventually come to possess everything
The world that they see as they grow up...

Ford a river, cross a swamp, go into a castle, those wishes and hopes that you can't achieve
Even when a night comes when you are so tired and just want to give up, tests are what make people into adults
As you make efforts, pushing yourself bit by bit

Children learn about truth as they grow up by themselves and hurt from time to time
Beautiful and kind people are hurt even more than most as they live out their life
What will those children become when they grow up...


아이들 - children. Can be abbreviated to 애들.
착하다 - kind
행복하다 - to be happy. 행복해지다 - to become happy
동화 - children's story
듣다 - listen
자라나다 - to grow up
아름답다 - beautiful
사람들 - people
모든 것 - all things
갖다 - to have. 갖게 되다 - to gain something (ie not have something before, and achieve the state of having something)
배우다 - to learn
자라면서 - as (they) grow up. The 면서 is the particle that gives the meaning of 'as', of two things happening at the same time.
바라보다 - to gaze
세상 - the world
강 - river
건너다 - to cross
늪 -  a swamp
지나다 - to pass
성 - castle
가더라도 - even if you go. The -더라도 gives the meaning of 'even if'.
이루다 - to realize, achieve. 이룰 수 없다 means to not be able to realize.
소원 - a wish
바램 - a hope. This is made by putting a ㅁ under the verb 바래다, to hope, which turns it into a noun.
포기하다 - to give up. 포기하고 싶다 - to want to give up
지치다 - to be exhausted
밤 - night
오다 - to come. 와도 - even if (something) comes
시련 - a test (not a school test, but one of the tests that life throws at you)
어른 - adult
되다 - to become
애 쓰다 - to make an effort
스스로 - to oneself
다독이다 - to push slightly. Also 다독거리다.
혼자 - alone
상처 - wound. 상처를 받다 - to get wounded, receive a wound. 상처를 받으며 means 'as one receives a wound'. 며 is similar to 면서 above.
진실 - truth
알아가다 - to start to know something (that you didn't know before)
오히려 - even more
더 - more. Often paired with 오히려 above.
안다 - to hug, to take in
무엇 - what. Abbreviated as 뭐.
될까? - what will become (of them)? ㄹ까 on a verb gives the meaning of 'what will happen?' 'what should we do?' and so on. 뭐 할까? - what should (we) do?