Translation is a formidable endeavour. It is even more challenging to translate a lyrical text. I enjoyed listening to music and I especially like songs produced in the 50s and 60s. For that reason, that instant when I hear an excellent song from a Singaporean singer Aaliya titled “Penghujung Dunia,” I knew this must be a translated version of Skeeter Davis’s “The End of the World.” Still fascinated by the song, I imagined myself as the translator, having tasked to do the translation.
Before I start translating, I have to analyse the type of the text. The lyrics of a song can be considered an expressive text, as they generally conveyed meaning through an ‘artistically organized’ text (Reiss, 1981). That means when I start the translation, I have to be careful to preserve the lyrical content of the text as well as the semantic meaning. This is comparable to translating a poem. Moreover, this has additional layer of complexity to it: the translated text must fit melodically to the music. Furthermore, I have to consider the melody that accompanies it, which may impact the intended meaning of the lyrics as well. Is it a sad song? A happy song? Citing Pierce, Eco (1984) says that something may be considered a sign of something else, and thus melodies may also represent various moods. I also have to come into decision whether to make it an adequate or acceptable translation (Toury, 2000).
Though this particular song’s lyrics is relatively easy to translate closer to source language, I would still have to make an adjustment in the translation to make it fit melodically. Lyrics to a song is inseparable to its melody, after all. As such, I need to make a smaller decision to translate the individual lines of the lyrics to fit the melody and still making sure the semantic meaning intact. One particular technique when dealing with an expressive text which placed a particular importance to sound has been introduced by Cavagnoli (2003): I have to actively say the particular lines out loud until I feel they sound right, or in this case, sing them until they are fit into the melody.
References:
Cavagnoli, F. (2003). Vola Gigino? Translating David Malouf’s Novels into Italian. Southerly, 63(1), pp. 73-78.
Eco, U. (1984). Semiotics and the Philosophy of Language. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Reiss, K. (1981). Type, Kind and Iindividuality of Text, Decision Making in Translation. Poetics Today, Vol. 2:4, 121-131.
Toury, G. (2000). The Translation Studies Reader. In L. Venuti, The Nature and Role of Norms in Translation (pp. 168-181). London: Routledge.
...and so, Monsieur Sunday, what's next? 