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FEATURES A notable example showing how this criterion is relevant to subtitling is provided by the Spanish for 'All that Jazz' from Chicago. The captions show perfect synchronization with the lyrics sung on screen. Franzon uses the concept of singability for subtitling, referring to the issues of rhythm and stress. His description sums up the impact of such subtitles on audiences: "The effect is pleasing: while hearing the song, viewers can easily read and enjoy the translated lyrics simultaneously with the original melody as sung." 13 Rhyme According to Low, rhyme has been given too high a value in the translation of musical texts. 14 Indeed, Arthur Graham argues that this criterion need not always constrain the process, since "the auditory effect of rhyme is much weaker in song than in poetry". 15 This is because the time which elapses between two rhyming words might be much longer when the words are sung than when they are read, reducing the force of the poetic device. Nevertheless, some rhyming is normally kept, particularly in children's films. An analysis of some of the most popular films that have been fully dubbed in Spanish shows that there is a tendency to resort to the same sounds for the rhyming. The prevailing sounds in the rhymes of Mary Poppins are ir, ar, a, o, oso; of Beauty and the Beast, i, ir, a-o, ar, or, ón; and of The Lion King, or, o-o, a, i, ón, ando, ir, er. It would be interesting to see whether this tendency is confirmed in songs in general, and whether other languages also favour certain vowels in their song rhymes. To conclude, most specialists in the translation of musical texts recommend a functional approach. Low insists on a flexible and pragmatic approach to his Pentathlon Principle, paying special attention to the overall effect of the translated song. Franzon also adopts a flexible stance, stressing that "a singable song translation is inevitably a compromise between fidelity to the music, the lyrics and performance". 16 In musical films the need for flexibility is probably greater, given the technical and timing constraints imposed by the translation modes used to convey the pieces across linguistic and cultural boundaries. This article is based on Marta Marteo's presentation at the 'How is Music Translated Today?' symposium, organised by the University of Roehampton and held at Europe House in July. Notes 1 Di Giovanni, E (2008) 'The American Film Musical in Italy. Translation and non-translation'. In The Translator, 14 (2), 295 2 Munsó Cabús, J (1997) El cine musical de Hollywood. 1927-1944, vol I, Barcelona: Film Ideal, 3 3 Ibid. 4 Op.cit Di Giovanni, 298 5 Low, P (2003) 'Singable Translations of Songs'. In Perspectives. Studies in translatology, 11 (2), pp.92-98 6 Apter, R (1989) 'The Impossible Takes a Little Longer: Translating opera into English'. In Translation Review 30/31, 27 7 Franzon, J (2008) 'Choices in Song Translation: Singability in print, subtitles and sung performances'. In The Translator, 14 (2), 397 8 Op.cit Di Giovanni, 300, 304, 314 9 Low, P (2005) 'The Pentathlon Approach to Translating Songs'. In Gorlee, D L (ed) Song and Significance. Virtues and vices of vocal translation, Amsterdam: Rodopi, 194 10 Op.cit Di Giovanni, 304 11 Op.cit Franzon, 391 12 Op.cit Low 2003, 97 13 Op.cit Franzon, 392-3 14 Op.cit Low 2005, 198 15 Graham, A (1988) 'A New Look at Recital Song Translation'. In Translation Review 29, 31 16 Op.cit Franzon, 377 BELLE IN SPANISH The opening of the Disney musical Beauty and the Beast in Buenos Aires © EDUARDO RIVERO / SHUTTERSTOCK