User blog comment:Streetneko/Errors in Korean lyrics/@comment-26239285-20160220084837

I can't comment on the Korean lyrics, but the Japanese lyrics&mdash;the ones actually in Japanese&mdash;are mostly OK. Occasionally the occasional typo gets in, either by the original producer or somewhere along the way, and the error propagates as the lyrics get copied across the internet.

Romaji is another matter. Plenty of it is good, but much is littered with mistakes, like words split in half or words joined together, or incorrect readings for kanji (didn't they actually listen to the song!?). The Japanese language rarely uses spaces between words so that's part of the problem, but then I've seen incorrect romaji accompanied by a good translation, so you wonder what's going on! (Maybe they were done by different people?)

There's no easy solution. Who is going to pay a professional translator? It's all done by fans, and many are doing the best they can.

Personally, I don't think we should set the bar too high. Songs are for entertainment, and translation needs to be fun for it to happen. Sure, if the bar is set too low, subs are full of errors, and non-native speakers miss out on appreciating the intended meaning. On the other hand, if the bar is set too high, then very few works will be translated, and fans will miss out on even more.

Basically,
 * take translations with a grain of salt;
 * if you see a mistake, just correct it!