Translating Foreign Language Poetry and Lyrics

Studying foreign languages through translating poetry and lyrics can be a helpful learning method. Firstly, poetry helps us understand the classical culture and literary genres of the language we are studying. Some uncommon and advanced vocabulary found in poetry can expand our vocabulary and lay a foundation for our writing and reading skills. The rhyme and meter of poetic lines allow us to experience the beauty of the language more deeply. Translating song lyrics enhances our understanding of popular culture in the target language, familiarizes us with everyday language and colloquial expressions, and provides topics for conversation with foreign friends. Additionally, poems and lyrics are often short in length, making them suitable for practice during spare time or for focused exercises on specific poets or genres. Personally, I often practice translation exercises using poems or lyrics in Chinese, English, and French, which significantly improves my mastery of all three languages.

During the translation process, I have encountered some common issues. One is the choice of words. The concise nature of poetry and lyrics demands precise and refined vocabulary selection, which challenges us to carefully consider word choices when translating into Chinese. Particularly when dealing with words having multiple meanings, it also involves selecting the appropriate meaning. In a recent exercise I did, I came across an example from the French song "Si l’amour existe," where the term "histoire" has two common meanings in a French dictionary: "history" and "story." Considering the subsequent use of "first" and "last" to describe time, I believe the author intended to convey a word that lies between "history" and "story," or one that combines characteristics of both, such as "a long-standing story." In English, the closest corresponding word I found was "tale." Therefore, the English translation could be:

If love exists

Then you are the tale of it

The very first breath

And the last hope

Another issue I discovered is the omission of information in the original text. Poems and lyrics often express ideas concisely, retaining only the essential elements for readers to understand. However, directly translating these essentials into another language may not fully convey the main idea but rather confuse the reader. For instance, the above lyrics could be somewhat understood when translated from French to English, but when further translated into Chinese, it becomes challenging to comprehend. A direct translation into Chinese may look like this:

如果爱存在

你是它的传说

第一口呼吸

和最后的希望

However, the Chinese translation often needs to supplement these missing elements. Based on my interpretation of the meaning, this set of lyrics requires a sentence to elaborate further, such as: "If love truly exists, then it tells your legend, from the first breath of love to its final fading hope, all about you." How would one translate this into four lines of lyrics?

This leads to the third issue – style. The shorter the text, the more apparent the translator's personal style becomes, which is inevitable. Using the same example above, the text could be translated into classical Chinese style as:

若爱真也，

则其说皆关汝之，

由爱生之一口气，

至其最后之欲逝。

If a more lyrical style is preferred, it could be expressed as:

倘若爱真的存在于世

那么一切传说都是关于你的

从爱诞生的第一口呼吸

到它最后希望的消逝

It is also important to consider the original author's writing style. As this is a melodious love song, a more lyrical translation of the lyrics would be more suitable. These are some of the issues I have summarized regarding the translation of poetry and lyrics. Although there may not be many translation needs in this regard, engaging in translation exercises is a beneficial practice for individuals.

◀️：Translation of long sentences in French into Chinese

▶️：Translation Techniques for Long and Complex English Sentences