The Linguist

12 The Linguist Vol/63 No/2 ciol.org.uk/thelinguist FEATURES serve for singing purposes and can be regarded as 'song text' or a subcategory of 'song text'. The translation approach will depend on the reason for producing the target text – whether to create song lyrics for the purpose of singing in the target language or to create a written translation without the purpose of singing. In the former, the meaning of the target lyrics will not be the same as that of the source lyrics. The original messages can be reduced, adapted, rewritten or abandoned. Moreover, Desblache states that music has "inspired new forms of translation" in recent decades. This includes localising songs, where the new lyrics vary according to the target culture, audience, language and social milieu. The purposes of translation New lyrics can be localised to reflect social and current affairs. The Cantonese version of 'Do You Hear the People Sing?' was first posted on Facebook by the campaign group 'Occupy Central with Love and Peace' in May 2014, as discontent was growing in Hong Kong. In light of this societal background, which led to the 'Umbrella Revolution' street protests, it has been presumed that the translation was produced for use in the protests. The Cantonese lyrics support this assumption (see boxed text, below). A singable target song can be regarded as a localised song if the majority of the target lyrics bear different meaning and words from the source song lyrics. This is acceptable if the aim is to create new singable lyrics that have no relation to the source lyrics. When the purpose is to preserve the meaning without considering singability, 100% must be faithfully translated. This can help target audiences to understand the ideas and messages of the original song. For instance, in opera, singers rarely perform in the target language and libretto is used instead. Back translation or literal translation of lyrics is common among 'fan translation' for the same reason. In films or TV series, interlingual subtitling is often used to help viewers understand the dialogue. When a character is singing, or a song plays in the background, the lyrics are also translated but unsingable. The assessment of categories of song translation should be carried out using specific criteria. Where Low, Franzon and Desblache refer to a 'majority' of text being of a certain type (e.g. differing in meaning to the original), that majority should be defined with a scale when target and source lyrics are compared. Accordingly, I propose that a song text can be regarded as 'translated' if the singable target lyrics retain 91% or more of the original meaning of the source lyrics. It can be regarded as 'adapted' if the scale decreases to 51-90%, and as 'rewritten' when the percentage reaches 11-50%. Finally, it can be considered 'brand new' when it retains 10% or less of the meaning. Producing singable lyrics To produce singable target lyrics, Low suggests translators should pay attention to vowels in order to produce songs that rhyme. 6 Thus, songwriting can play a pivotal role in song translation, taking song structure, melody, rhythm and rhyme into account. Songwriters can adjust the order of the words in the target lyrics to adapt the syllables to the music, so that the lyrics can be both singable by singers and listenable to by target audiences. This can help develop lyrics that are not only "possible to sing", but also "suitable for singing" and "easy to sing", says Franzon. 7 New singable lyrics can be either faithful or not to the original meaning. Furthermore, when songwriting, music theory and practice are applied to song translation, dubbing or covers, the target lyrics imbue a high aesthetic appreciation of music. For instance, 流れ星 ('Meteor'), 8 a Japanese version of the Mandarin pop song 小幸運 ('Little Happiness'), sung by Marina Araki, uses English original It is the music of the people/ Who will not be slaves again When the beating of your heart/ Echoes the beating of the drums There is a life about to start/ When tomorrow comes Do You Hear the People Sing? Cantonese version 天生有權還有心可作 主/ 誰要認命噤聲 試問誰能未覺醒/ 聽真那自由在奏鳴 激起再難違背的那/ 份良知和應 Back translation Born to be entitled inalienable rights and to make decisions with our mind Could any of us have yet to wake. To hear the music of freedom reign And once provoked, we cannot afford to defy the call of our conscience's chord © PEXELS

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