Peter Low

Translating Songs that Rhyme

Abstract This article concerns ‘singable translations’ intended for performance in the target language. Translators have often assumed that a song-translation must rhyme as much as the original, and equally well. This false assumption underlies their poor strategic thinking, and prevents them from doing justice to four other aspects of the complex task: sense and naturalness (which are requirements of normal translating), plus rhythm and singability. No wonder singers often reject their efforts as unusable. Quoting the great composer-librettist Wagner, and some 20th century song-translators such as Drinker and Kelly, the paper highlights the need for flexibility, notably in the frequency and quality of rhymes. A score-sheet is proposed for evaluating not only true rhymes but also near-rhymes, which should be part of every song-translators toolbox. The article ends with a comparative evaluation of three English versions of part of a Schubert song.

Singable translations of songs

Abstract The making of singable translations of songs is a complex task, chiefly because the target text must be compatible with the pre‐existing music. This article discusses strategies for doing this, and recommends what the author calls ‘the pentathlon principle’ ‐ a deliberate balancing of five different criteria, identified as singability, sense, naturalness, rhyme, and rhythm. It urges translators to consider the specific characteristics of each song‐text, and warns against any general a priori view that identifies a single feature as absolutely sacrosanct: the more margins of compromise are available, the greater chance of a successful target text. The practical examples are translations into English of a German Lied (art song) and of a French popular song.

Translating jokes and puns

Abstract If a joke is not translated as a joke, the translation is bad. This article asserts that almost all verbally expressed humour is translatable, given appropriate strategies and reasonable criteria for success. It focuses on two problem areas, language-specific jokes (in particular puns) and culture-specific jokes, distinguishing these from more manageable kinds of humour. A brief survey of research on puns is given, followed by practical advice to increase the translators responses to wordplay, and a systematic way to proceed instead of just waiting for inspiration. Translators of humour (like writers of humour) have a licence to use language creatively, and this enlarges the options for handling outrageous jokes. There follows a shorter discussion of culture-specific jokes and how they differ from ‘universal humour’. Some light must be shed on obscurity, yet obviousness is a killer of humour. Suggestions are made about how to bridge cultural gaps without killing the joke, and also about the cultural problem of obscenity. The article ends with a list of eight strategies available to any translator faced with a joke and keen to rise to the challenge.

When Songs Cross Language Borders: Translations, Adaptations and 'Replacement Texts'

Abstract When a song created in one language is sung in another, its text will be either a translation, an adaptation or a ‘replacement text’. This article attempts to distinguish between a song-translation and a song-adaptation, in terms of the latter’s unforced deviations from the meaning of the source text. It also discusses the option of devising a new set of words which fit the tune but have no reference to source-text meaning. Translating, it is argued, is the wrong word for this activity, and so the resulting lyrics, neither translations nor adaptations, are termed ‘replacement texts’. To illustrate these categories, the article examines the 1968 show Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, which treated Brel’s French songs in three different ways. Though singable translations may stray from strict semantic fidelity, the paper argues that freer renderings (those with significant deviations from the source-text meaning) are best not termed translations at all, but adaptations. Although adaptations or replacement texts are not condemned, the article addresses ethical questions about the extent to which these practices err by infringing the rights of the original song writers and by misleading their audiences.