Opinions on Who... (Chinese Version)
 

The low quality radio rip is out somewhat thanks to Ayumiko and Realayu, and Ayu sounds fantastic in it!

Her Chinese is so fluent and it basically makes Who... so... OH MY GOSH.

Like I swear, it's amazing.

If you haven't heard it yet, check it out here: http://www.mediafire.com/?9jd3jmtjiwi

Remember. This is just a low quality MP3 recorded from the radio and the high quality version should be coming out in two days.

I think it's absolutely amazing! Ayu did such a wonderful job on the song. I cannot wait for the HQ version~

I think ayu did a great job on Who...(chinese version) her chinese is indeed fluent, as if it comes naturally to her...

it's so nice... can't wait for HQ

the quality its very low, but I like it. I don't know chinese, but her pronunciation its good :D

do you guys speak chinese? haha, I don't so I don't know how fluent she sounds lol...the quality isn't the best, so I'm not inclined to say her Chinese is all that impeccable. better than mine, at least. hehe

when I first heard the chinese version...I was in tears. Ayu put a lot of effort into this. I'm happy ayu decided to do this. For those who don't know, she is singing in mandarin like AT07 but the lyrics sounds different than AT07...well ayu did mentioned she had to write the lyrics in chinese. Thank you ayu~

The quality is very low, so im really looking forward to the high quality one =p

Ayu's pronunciation was quite okay, when i first listen to it i find it abit weird but nevertheless i quite like it!..and I'm touched by the effort ayu had put in.

at least ayu already give all her effort...

learning chinese is not very easy. and i think singing in chinese will be more difficult ^^;;;;

It sounds so weird xD; Just because it's her in CHINESE! I think it's so epic! I can't wait for the HQ version! I wonder if they will release the lyrics? I love to read along to a song.

She did such a great job! I love the song.
Now I can't wait for the HQ version :laugh

need HQ.....
>_<

Gaaah, looking forward to the HQ version :)

I like it~

I wouldn't know if she did a good job pronouncing it, but it's definitely a good effort and a smart move. She sounds great.

THanks for sharing truehappiness <3 Can't wait to check out ^_^

omg i love it!! i mean her chinese is so clear! i think i would be able to understand if we get a more HQ rip

and i think her vibrato works great in chinese! i mean it didn't have the effect like who...(10 anniversary) the vibrato to me was very smooth~ and flow with the song

I'm Chinese and I hear it like all the time and listen to C-Pop a TON...

She's definitely done really well with this imo.

imo, it sounds unnatural for her to be singing in another language. I don't like it =/

You get used to it. Like when some singers sing in Japanese and then in English and then in Chinese and then in like, Thai or something..

However, you either love it or hate it imo even if you get used to it...

To be perfectly honest, I was never too keen on this idea to begin with. I thought, and still think, it's ridiculous for her to sing in a language she didn't appear to have a grasp on. Now, maybe she does have a grasp on it, based on LQ rip, you can sorta guess she put a lot into it, but you can't tell, it's too LQ. It's awkward to hear her English interjections in her songs, and it's awkward to hear this version of Who... Hopefully, in HQ, it'll sound better.

omg o-o i feel like crying TwT~~~~
I feel so touched suddenly o-o... TT^TT~

i think her pronoucation is actually pretty good~ omg (at least I can HEAR WHAT she's singing ... gosh ... unlike.... >.>;; )

I don't have any feeling because I dont know what she sings.

Wow cantonese radio lady XD!!

Wow, it sounds great. I can't wait to hear a HQ version of it. I'm chinese and i understand a bit of it since i suck at mandarin LOL!

Wait, so you don't have any feeling for her Japanese stuff either? Huuuh?

I wonder if she changed the message of the song for China/HK/SH/TW... it'd be cool if she kinda "revamped" Who... imo. Oh, and I think that the fact that Ayu doesn't sound like she's simply singing "sounds" but is actually singing in Chinese... it just makes me feel so proud of her.

Who... in English soon, plz...

hrm...wow. i can't say anything regarding her fluency, i have no clue, but i think its really cool to hear her singing in a different language. i never expected she'd do something like this.

although, i have to say, i'd love an english version of Who... too!

i think her chinese is pretty ok~ i mean, i can catch a few words here and there, and least she don't mumbles like jolin >_<

Well, I'm sure the HQ version is a lot better. My dad could hear the Cantonese reporter, but the Ayu vocal was so distorted..

An English version of Who... would be awesome, too...I mean, we know Ayu knows English, maybe not as well as most of us, but she knows enough. :P Let's just hope. :) Until then, I am waiting for the HQ of the Chinese version~ :banana2

Chinese is my mother tongue and i cannot understand anything. Some invidual words perhaps but i can't make out the lyrics! I keep listening to it and i'm having headache. haha. The quality is too low. A better quality vesion is required!

I really like the Chinese version!!!! I hope there is a better quality soon^^

Seriously in this quality we can't say or have any opinion on the song... but I think the chorus is different from AT07 I can't believe she changed the lyrics!!!!

ayu sounds really cute when she sings in Chinese :luv2

does anyone have the lyrics in chinese?

At first I was not that amazed,but I listened a few times and it's quite good.

i understand chinese but..the quality was bit bad for me to really hear how good ayu pronounced etc :)

Yeah, I'll listen to it again when a higher quality comes out. Usually I can take low quality ones, but this is so low. (At least it's available.)

I can't tell if I like it or not. In fact, because it's in Chinese, it doesn't sound like Ayu at all! And is it in a lower key?? *hopes not*


Okay, I can understand if it's lowered because it's a different language and maybe it's harder to sing. I'd just be disappointed because her range keeps growing shorter and shorter. :(

Her range imo seems to be fine..

Like, it's not at all suffering as much as Mocchi from ELT's has. Mocchi's range has lowered to the point where high notes barely even come out anymore.

Listening to her lives from A COMPLETE / AT07 / AT06 / CDL07-08 leads me to believe that Ayu is still a strong vocalist. People just don't give her enough credit for it. (CDL07-08 had some bad moments, but come on. A while before she lost a best friend AND was told her hearing was like, gone.)

i think in like half a hour, a HQ rip should come...cause my dad told me he's able to pick up the CD at 12 PM in Taiwan, and it's 11:30 PM in Taiwan

Well, I think the LQ rip we have so far is a pretty good indicator of how good it'll sound.. especially at such a low quality as this and it STILL sounds good.

We'll have it in a few hours, so just wait a bit.

i cant even pick out what she is singing from that LQ..

o.o

but i'll wait happily :)

HQ Version is up

http://www.wretch.cc/album/ayu200403

thanks to pommy408

sounds sooooo good

i think she changed the lyrics....cant really understand her mandarin

the complete version is soo beautiful!!

omgg

I think she sounds liek mumbling and its not so clear...but we can listen to her effort ^^ and English version will be nicer IMO...for some people pronouncing Chinese may be a bit difficult

Mmmm the pronunciation sounds so funny. I can't make out what she's saying even though I speak Chinese. XD Great effort, though. I like her voice there. :3

I understand why it's about one-two keys lower. Ahaha. It took me a while, but she sounds a LOT deeper in Chinese.

A great version. :)

touched.. speechless... totally overwhelming...
nonetheless.. she SANG in chinese.... she must hv took numerous nights and numerous times to record this version... i dunno wat to say...

yeah. though ayu is not born chinese, but i guess her pronunciation is quite good already :D ( can u imagine she spend how much time just to sing a diff version for one song??? O___o ) but hor, i dun really can get what she sing in the chinese version -.- does anyone of u got the chinese version lyrics please?
hmm, i still prefer the original version :D

^ psst!! look at the thread i posted, some guy took a pic of the booklet with the lyrics!

^ hmm pommy, can u please kindly gimme the link please? cuz i duno where to find the thread that u've posted to ... >_< sorry

http://www.ahsforum.com/forum/showth...ewpost&t=80131
lol here, and i added the chinese text~ so it's not just a pic

She sounds great, in my opinion! ^^ I don't know Chinese, so I can't say anything about pronounciation, but she sounds good to me.
I might like this version more than the Japanese AC version.

By the way, about the Chinese lyrics: Are they (almost) a one to one translation or different lyrics overall?

^ thanks pommy ! :DD

her chinese isnt that good, but i know she had already took alot of effort to do it, this is a very good for a newbie, and i hope she will do it better in the concert! and i think i have the right to comment it since i'm a chinese speaker too

i think it is rather good for a newbie like sebby said~ i wouldn't expect her to be fluent in it, as long as i can understand just a little bit, then i'm good
but many parts, i was confused as to if ayu was singing in chinese or japanese @_@
some one on another forum if they didn't look at the lyrics, they would think korea :lech

LOL.
Do you speak Chinese?
She doesn't sound very fluent.

If she was fluent, it sounds as if she has not spoke in twenty years and then tried to. Her voice is wonderful, but her enunciation was horrible.

I like it! ^_~

Not because her Chinese is amazing or anything... I don't speak it, so I can't tell, but just the fact that she did this is so cool! Wish she'd do an English version too, though... Or Norwegian! XD

I've noticed the differences in the pitch they used on the Chinese version of Who... to the Japanese version.

The Chinese vocals are okay but not powerful as the Japanese version.
I think it lacks on emotion and strength.

But her Chinese is a wow!
I didn't know that she was fluent and very clear to that language.

And I want to hear her English version of Who... .


OVERALL: I give it a 4 stars to the Chinese version of Who... .

As a chinese, i feel very proud of her...of coz..u may not what she is singing because of some..accent

but if u just read the lyrics and listen..i think u can tell she really tried...
and she can do better next time!! hahaha

i lvoe it...despite a lower key, i think she sounds so gddddd

(she hsa to pronounce her "Sh" instead of "S"...Like SHUO and not SUO...haha)

I just reached the chorus!! and ITS ALMOST PERFECT OMG...very impressed...

I think she sang this using Hanyu pinyin right?...coz for "Di"..(prnounced as "De"...she sang it using the *** pronunciation of "de" lol...cute)

Meeh. Dont really think a lot of it, But then again I dont particually think much of Who.

And the supposed 320 version I got was definitely not a CD rip cos it was sludgy and muffled. And tbh I dont feel motivated to find a proper version cos it isnt that amazing to me.

^ermm ok...dun dampen our mood then... :D

anyway...for this line...别离渡过的夜晚
I heard 陪你渡过的夜晚

well i bet Ayu tried hard....but i really had a hard time understanding :P
i sent the mp3 to my cousin in taiwan....cause i thought maybe im not actually an native mandarin speaker so i dont know the language good enough ...since im born in sweden but she thought the same thing her first comment was "what is she singing?"

Overall i think this was a good try from Ayus side and i bet alot of chinese/taiwanese fans are pleased :)

Uh. Why should my opinion effect other people

I'm touched by it. I'm a cantonese speaker not a mandarin speaker (I'm learning mandarin right now XD) so I really can't make a comment. :( But the fact that she made an effort is enough. HAHA

I don't like chinese music or know Chinese though I felt a lot of things from ayu singing in Chinese.
As I don't hear it I don't know the standarts but she sounded really awesome, overwhelming and smooth!
I won't listen to it much (as I'm not into chinese music/songs) but this version sounds really good.

I couldn't make out what Ayu was singing about in the song, but she sure shows a lot of effort! :D Kudos to her for that!

It was perfect! I think it's a big step forward
I'm happy that she prefer chinese language ) and make ASIA tour instead europe

I am touched by ayu's effort too!! Which Japanese singer (that i know of) actually records her song in another language just to please her fans from other parts of ASIA?

Her mandarin is so good for a japanese!!!! She must have put in a lot of effort.. Although it's not perfect, but it's definitely good!!

And i like the lyrics. It kept on emphasising on "Who" which is actually the title of the song. So the Chinese lyrics actually maintained the original meaning of the song.

it's a perfect song!! although i must say a difference of key at the beginning sounded pretty awkward after listening to the 10th anniversary version so many times.

The singing was definitely good. I liked the singing in the Chinese version more than the Japanese (new) version.

Her pronounciation isn't perfect because at least 30% of the time, I can't really make out what she's singing. It becomes clear if you look at the lyrics along with the chinese version, but, she doesn't sound fluent at all is what I'm trying to say. XDD

Not that I have any problem with it. I think it's really sweet to make a chinese version, and it also sounds quite nice. :D

The lyrics are REALLY well written. What they did was they pretty much translated the original into Chinese and worded it so that it fit with the music AND the meaning was pretty much the same. It's the work of a genius!

I don't speak Chinese, but I still like this version. :)

Maki Goto did it also for her legion of Korean fans! :angel

Umm the Chinese version sounds nice, but I still prefer the original Japanese (not 10th anniversary) version a lot better. A English version of Who...would be nice I suppose, but I would prefer A song for xx or something.

as much as i love ayu, as much as the lyrics is very touching indeed, as much as how much effort she put into it, i don't she singing it... it sound more like dialect chinese... LOL... hokkien plus a lil of cantonese plus a lil of hakka... its like all over the place...

great effort i say

now i really want to go back to taiwan to watch her perform.
i hope they will put it on the chinese version performance on the dvd though

ill have to say this really touched me cuz its the first song by ayu i can actually understand just by listening

Chinese is probably one of the harder languages to sing in..

I mean, how often do you find a Japanese singer/group doing a Chinese version of their song? Usually they do English versions..

(Of course, there are exceptions like BoA who did like English, Japanese, Korean.. etc..)

though, i can't catch what she's trying to sing, i mean the chinese words, but i love the way she sang it... sounds so different from the japanese version one..i don't really care if she's good or not in singing the chinese words, because she's a japanese and she doesn't need learn to be a fluent mandarin speaker first just to record a chinese version...

we all know the reason why she wanted to record the chinese version, because she wants to appreaciate the chinese fans.. that's a gift for the chinese fans... and it's very interesting to hear Ayu singing in another language, right?

also Ayu on the chinese version sounds not like AYumi Hamasaki at all~~ sounds so different from her usual high-pitched vioce... i think that this is the kind of voice that i've been waiting for.. no need to strain the voice..just let it flow.....

i love the chinese version much more than the original version~

Somehow, I feel as though her lower register was used to the best of its ability with this new edition of Who... like it's not too deep or manly, and it has a gorgeous tone to it.

That said, her Chinese pronunciation does need some work. I can kind of tell what words she's trying to say (like a xin or something at times or mei yi tian or w/e..) but.. it's all over the place. Props to Ayu for even doing it though. Most artists would try to avoid doing something like this unless it was a small snippet (see Who... @ AT07)

true...but i can't understand any of BoA's chinese at all...haha..first time i listened to the song i thought BoA was singing korean!

haha i heard the song and was trying hard to decipher what ayu is singing but nevertheless a good try.. :D

I think the price of singing Chinese based on Japanese is that the language becomes kinda.. slurred in a way?

Like, I'm sure she had a Chinese speaker to help her with pronunciation, but I'm also pretty sure she WASN'T singing based on the Chinese lyrics.. instead she probably used a katakana sheet or something.

I'm expecting her to sing this at all the AT08 stops as a replacement for Dearest or Voyage.

i like it
her voice sounds sweet & her pronuntiation is good :D
go ayu, goooo

MirrorcleHeaven: Your signature has hapiness in it. There's a missing p.

And the final (well, my final) verdict on Ayu's Chinese (My dad is pro and knows like a ton of dialects):
Her Chinese is very hard to understand. It has a heavy Japanese accent and only certain words like "mei yi tian" and "sen pien" are clear to him. He says that her Chinese sounds KINDA like Chinese, but the accent is so heavy, he'll have to listen with headphones to know what she's actually saying.

I listen to C-Pop a lot as I stated before, and her Chinese is kinda slurred / pronounced strangely. But the thing is, her voice sounds AWESOME, but the accent gets in the way.

Now that the high quality version is out, I have to say that I love it! The lowered key is growing on me by the second and I think her voice is absolutely beautiful! It's so much better than the "10th Anniversary" version, too. :D

Of course, I can't say whether or not I think her Chinese is good or not since I do not speak the language. I do have to say that it sounds beautiful coming from someone who only sings Japanese!

(Also, listening to this makes me want an English version. Not that I'm like, "Okay, Chinese is done. Sing an English version within the next week!" I just hope that in the future she expands her music into Europe and the USA and then we can hear an English version! :D)

You are right. I mean, it's expected for some singers to have lower (decreased) ranges. I'm just disappointed at how she can barely sing a high D now. (I'd love to hear at least a high E flat one more time. ^^) However, like you said, her lower range does bring out a stronger range. :D

A lot of you are talking as if you haven't seen the lyrics yet,

In case you haven't, try here

you can find:
1. english translation (singable)
2. english translation (pure meaning)
3. pinyin transliteration
4. chinese/pinyin intermixed.
[Edit]
5. Comparison of "A Complete ~All Singles: Who... (Chinese Version)" with the "Asia Tour '07: Who...(Chinese version)" [one verse only]

I made it to help everyone, I hope it's useful! :)

ouuch chinese people can't understand her? chinese is so difficult and i want to be a translator of chinese -___- for me it sounds good... well i'm not chinese but i can't notice that it doesn't sounds natural, like other chnese songs i've heard... but i'm really happy she did it, is really a hard effort, she spent a lot of time for the lyrics... idk... well i think she have to make an english version XDD maybe, i'm almost sure, she'd sound better in english ^^

and also.. the lyrics ar enot the same as in AT 2007 in HK right??? of course i don't understand but it sounds different from the other ^^


byee!

Her vocals are much nicer here than on Who...(10th anniversary version) however, it's still ridiculously awkward to hear her singing in Chinese. It almost feels wrong.

Over all, I listened to it once, probably won't listen to it again.

is there traditional chinese lyrics? I can't read simplified....

go here

This is the thread in the news section talking about the Chinese version of Who...

In the first post, click on the spoiler, there is a scan of the actual lyrics from the actual booklet.

In traditional chinese of coss ;)

thanks

she probably used sung it with pinyin, thats why she cant get the right pronunciation cuz it does havent the tone marks

but good job ayu, best song of 2008

it... sounds funny.

but she her voice is good!

Wow I love it, it's beautiful, a lot of hard work put into this. I WANT AN ENGLISH ONE :D

i think ayu did a good job...amazing job...
but what dissapointed me is that she use lower key for this who version
and it made the song kinda flat...

i heard the HQ release today, and i have to say that i really LOVE it^^

i don't understand chinese at all but i like her voice soooo much XD

i was expecting to hear the same words she sang on her Asia Tour, so i have to ask did she change them or were those in another language (mandarian i think....)??

I asked my parents to collaborate and translate. It's like, the same as the other one. lol.

@ren0210989

see my link at the top of this page.
-

She will have sung it with katakana, pinyin can take a while to learn, katakana is a much easier option for her, we saw her practising from katakana for the AT '07 chinese verse of who...

also, tone marks are irrelevant when singing. even chinese singers don't sing the tone. think about it, how you supposed to sing a certain set of notes if you have to be changing the tone of each word according to the language?

Tone isn't the issue, Ayu's pronunciation is just a bit off on certain words and sounds.

Ayu probably sang it according to some katakana, and thus the weird pronuncation. Although, she didn't really have time to learn it amazingly.. so perhaps the AT08 lives will be different if she does sing it.

OK I heard/downloaded this earlier on & I have to give her credit for trying to sing in Chinese as for a Japanese artiste to do that it's tough .

Her chinese take on Who... is quite decent but it's something that I wouldn't want to listen to again

Really? I played it over 20 times and now it's stuck in my dad's head. Trying to sing the REAL Chinese lyrics to Who... is freakin' HARD.

LOL :laugh

yes I know it's hard . Maybe because I already heard the original 10th anniversary take on Who ... , that's why I didn't like the Chinese take as much as I thought I will .

I don't really like it if you're trying to sing in another language where you're not fluent to begin with but I give ayumi respect for trying to do such a thing as it's not an easy thing to do in the 1st place

You don't like it? I think it shows that Ayu is willing to diversify.

You never know, perhaps we will see a Chinese lyric pop up in a future song instead of an English one.