Why singers should do their own translations

I love the fact that many song anthologies now come with translations and IPA for the songs. There are also several Internet programs and iPhone apps that will do the translating for you if you can't find it in a book. These kinds of translations are especially helpful for young students who are still in the early stages of learning the language. And for more advanced singers, it definitely cuts the time it takes to work up a new song.

However, I still think that it is absolutely essential that singers learn how to do their own translations. First, by sitting down with the dictionary and 501 Verbs, you learn more about the subtleties of the language. You can see how the spellings change for the different verb forms or for making something plural. Also, most word-by-word translations give one definition per word, but the dictionary often gives multiple options. I find that I have a much clearer understanding of the poet's intent when I see these other possibilities.

The second reason for doing your own translations is that those translation programs, like spell check, don't always look at context. I have a new song that I am looking at as possible addition to a recital I am planning. I recognized many of the words, and could make a fairly good guess at what it was about, but I wanted to make sure it fit my program before spending all the time doing my own translation. So I typed it into a translation app...and boy was I surprised at what I got back. The line I needed to translate was:

"mie pene segrete"

If you speak Italian, you know where this is headed. What I got back was:

"my penis secret"

This definitely changes the whole song! The program chose the most obvious match for "pene" instead of the accurate one. "Pena" means suffering or pain, and when paired with the plural "segrete" the final letter becomes an "e". The line refers to my secret pains, not my penis secret! (Just to be fair, babelfish did get this correct). I think it's safe to sing this song in front of my mother.

Yes, use the tools that are available, but also take the time to really understand the language you are singing in.


-- Posted from my iPhone