This is kind of on a tangent, but I was always suspicious of learning a language through song lyrics. I'm not saying it isn't fun, but if English language song lyrics are any indication, grammatical rules go right out the window for the sake of fitting words into a rhythmic pattern, and that's not to mention the compromises inherent in getting words to rhyme (although this doesn't seem to be a concern with Japanese song lyrics).

I haven't yet seen this discussed, but what do you guys/gals think? Is this a viable way to improve your Japanese, or just an amusing thing to do on the side?

-Tom

The given translation is closer than your attempt, but not right.
First, you have to ignore line breaks and guess where sentences end by context. Sometimes the phrasing in the actual song helps, sometimes not.
Anyway, without line breaks, look at it as one sentence, (I'm not looking at the whole song so this could be wrong, but, it seems all right)

迫り来る衝撃へと恐れずに飛び込む真実が君にも流れ込む

PhraseA: 迫り来る衝撃: The approaching impact
PhraseB: 恐れずに飛び込む真実: The reality of fearlessly leaping into

These kinds of phrases, the verbs are describing the noun, you can't break the meaning up the way you tried to do.

Anyway, the larger compound phrase 迫り来る衝撃へと恐れずに飛び込む真実 is the subject of the sentence, and you get, "The reality of fearlessly leaping into the coming impact streams into you."

(Assuming that the next line isn't another modified noun, negation, or conjunction that extends the sentence, in which case that would just be one clause in something even bigger... but it seems like a complete sentence as is.)

Song lyrics are one of the hardest things to translate because they are ambiguous, lack context, jump around in non-sequitors or poetic tangents, use archaic or romantic terms, etc.

A lot -can- be learned from song lyrics, but early on, mostly music can only serve as vocabulary reinforcement and you have to trust other people's translations. If you can't read a newspaper or a novel, then you're going to get -really- lost in song lyrics.

(You don't need to be able to read the world's most difficult literature, just to have enough to follow average adult writing in full native form with idiomatic expressions and all. After a certain point, there's a divergence between what it takes to understand poetry and music and what it takes to understand more complicated or subtle prose.)

If you love music and listen to it anyway, I definitely would encourage you to read the lyrics and study the vocabulary in them and check translations for a (rough) guide to meaning, but I wouldn't get hung up on creating the exact-right translation yourself.

It is syntactically ambiguous, but I wonder if the 'truth' or 'reality' can 'fearlessly leap'? It seems more likely to me that 君 is leaping and understanding the truth of what that leap means.

The one or two sentences is also ambiguous, but it feels to me like a strongly stated sentiment as one sentence and a pair of nonsequitors as two sentences.

I believe that songs are an excellent material for language study. There are couple of reasons for that. Firstly, songs are indeed native material. They are not another Core deck - the vocab and the patterns there are authentic. Secondly, language study requires constant repetition in order to ingrain in your brain common collocations, correct usages, sentence structures – songs provide painless (if not enjoyable) repetition, and they give you those other elements (collocations, usages, structures) as well.

Having said that, if you are at the beginner, early intermediate level, Japanese songs are going to present a bit of a problem. At those levels, you didn’t see enough native texts to be able to decipher meaning of the Japanese lyrics on your own. If you can find reliable translations of songs you enjoy, however, then by all means go for it. You will learn a lot and your study will be much more satisfying.

As for me, I regularly listen to 森田童子 whose lyrics (some of them, that is) are translated by her fan. If you like that kind of music you are set if not, keep on looking – it’s definitely worth it.

I like 吉田拓郎 a lot, and his lyrics make good practice since he doesn't overdo it with the flowery phrases. There are also translations available for his well-known songs (じゅん、夏休み and a few others）. Highly recommended both musically and as study material .

That being said, I think it'd be a good idea to look up some lyrics for bands in English before attempting any translations or study, if only to see if it's nonsensical or not. Some songs really are just non sequitur galore with no actual logics behind them. Anime songs especially tend to be like that =/.

Learning through songs is definitely a fun and interesting way to learn Japanese. It also helps to read through other translations on the web to see the interpretations of various patterns that might not be clear to you. Many songs contain flowery lyrics that should not be taken literally and there are some that kind of bend some grammar rules for artistry's sake.
I remember the very first song I attempted to translate: GACKT's Last Song