A Brief Analysis on Translation of English Song.doc

浅析英文歌曲的翻译 a brief analysis on translation of english songiiiabstractwith the trend of globalization，english song is playing an important role in multinational communicating. meanwhile, english song has become an indispensable part of culture and a new way of communication in the world. the systematical study on songs translation and its impact on language learning started in 2002. therefore, it is a nearly new field and the achievements of theory and practice still few. the chinese translation of english songs is a difficult and complicated process. in rendering english songs into chinese, translators have to work out the chinese lyrics and make them integrated into the accompanying music, that is, they have to make them singable. to achieve singability, they have to go through the difficulties resulted not only from the linguistic and cultural barriers but also from the constraints of music.this paper is combined with recent study achievements and from different viewpoint to confirm the definition of english song. the basic principles of english song translation are analyzed, then the practical problems appearing in the translation is opened to the researchers. this paper discusses the ways and skills in english song translation, and it points out the significance of english songs translation, it aims at improving culture exchange and language learning.key words: song translation; language learning; lyrics; culture摘 要随着全球化趋势的加剧，英文歌曲作为一种文化的表现方式也在国际间的文化传播中占据着不可忽视的地位。同时，英文歌曲在现代社会已经成为不可忽视的一种文化代表和交流方式。国内比较系统的关于歌曲翻译和其在语言习得方面的研究是从2002年开始的，由此可见关于这个领域的研究还处于比较初始的阶段, 研究的理论和实践的成果不是很多。英语歌曲的翻译要译词，还要配歌。翻译过程中既要跨越歌词中语言、文化上的障碍，也要协调译词和音乐的关系，使其相配。翻译难度很大。本文试图从全新的角度结合以往的研究成果，通过对英文歌曲的界定，从理论上分析英文歌曲翻译中的基本原则，进一步揭示了英文歌曲翻译中出现的问题，接着分别从英文歌曲的翻译这一方面来论述翻译中的技巧和方法，最后深入剖析英语歌曲翻译的重要性，旨在更好的促进文化交流和语言习得。关键词：歌曲翻译；语言习得；歌词；文化 contentsabstract.i摘 要.ii1. introduction 12. theories of translation 22.1 the definition of song 22.2 brief introduction of hans j.vermeer 22.3 skopos theories on translation 22.4 eugene a.nidas translation theoriesfunctional equivalence 33. problems hindering song-translating from developing5 4. the chinese translation of english songs 64.1 translation of songs titles 64.2 translation of lyrics 64.2.1 sentence translation 64.2.2 text translation 75. the significance of english-song translation 106. conclusion 11bibliography121. acknowledgements之前不要页码；2. 论文正文之前的页码用罗马数字、等表示;3. 论文正文的页码用阿拉伯数字：1、2、3、表示 a brief analysis on translation of english songs a brief analysis on translation of english song1. introductionsince the globalization is coming with the pace of 21st century, economic and culture communications among countries develop quickly. as a part of the cultures of english countries, english music is playing an important role in globalization. every english song stands for a certain part of culture, which will have a big impact on the people of its target country, especially on those youths who are fond of modern english songs. as a vocal form of music, songs are one of the most popular forms of art. among the songs chinese people enjoy, there are many translated versions of english songs that are all the time their attractions. people love them deeply, so much so that to appeal to peoples tastes some chinese song writers today sometimes insert purposefully into their works some english words or expressions to label their songs with some exotic flavor.although music belongs to all humans, regional differences always bring about linguistic and cultural hindrances. to translate foreign songs into chinese both semantically and emotionally is a crucial issue. however, now, in translation world, songs translation has long been ignored. the foreign songs translation has experienced over 100 years of development since the sunset of the qing dynasty, but it fails to catch too much attention by the scholars in china. the exploration and practice in translation of songs by xue fan in 2002 is the first work to introduce translation of songs systematically and theoretically, in which the author makes a comprehensive and systematic analysis and summarization in songs translation. in this thesis, the author researches and analyses limited resources and materials on hand to make brief approaches to the english songs translation.this article will give readers the definition of song. it gives a brief introduction about some theories of translation and the application of these theories in title and lyric song translation. meanwhile, here some practical technologies and problems in translation have been stated. at last, the significance of song translation has been pointed out. all the important questions in this article will be explained with some examples.2. theories of translation2.1 the definition of songa song is relatively short composition for human voice, possibly accompanied by other musical instruments, which features words. it is typically for a solo singer, though may also be a duet, trio, or for more voices, works with more than one voice to apart, however, are considered choral. there are various classifications of songs: rock and roll, country songs, bass voice, top voice, classical songs and pop songs, etc.briefly speaking, a song is usually a short piece of music with words for singing. in this study, songs that are used are id love you to love me, tears in the heaven and san francisco.2.2 brief introduction of hans j.vermeerhans j.vermeer, a famous german translator, has gone much further in trying to bridge the gap between theory and practice. having been trained as an interpreter he took up general linguistics then translation studies. vermeer considers translation, including interpreting, to be a type of transfer where communicative verbal and non-verbal signs are transferred from one language into another, other types would include the transfer from pictures to music, or from a blueprint to a building. translation is thus also a type of human action. in accordance with action theory, vermeer defines human action as intentional, purposeful behavior that takes place in a given situation; it is part of the situation at the same time as it modifies the situation. further, since situations are embedded in cultures, any evaluation of a particular situation of its verbalized and non-verbalized elements, depends on the status it has in a particular culture system. therefore, attention should be paid to the purpose of translation and culture elements must be considered. in vermeers approach, translation is a form of translational action based on a source text, which may consist of verbal and/or non-verbal elements.2.3 skopos theories on translation according to skopos theory the theory that applies the notion of skopos to translation, the prime principle determining any translation process is the purpose of the overall translation action. skopos is a greek word for “purpose”.1a brief analysis on translation of english songswe can distinguish between three possible kinds of purpose in the field of translation: the general purpose aimed at by the translator in the translation process, perhaps to earn a living, the communicative purpose aimed at by the target text in the target situation, perhaps to instruct the reader and the purpose aimed at by a particular translation strategy or procedure, for example, to translate literally in order to show the structural particularities of the source language. nevertheless, the term skopos usually refers to the purpose of the target language.in accordance with the model of text-bound interaction, the receivers use the text with a certain function, depending on their own expectations, needs, previous knowledge and situational conditions. in an ideal situation the senders intention will find its aim, in which case intention and function would be analogous or even identical.this distinction is particularly useful in translation, where the sender and receiver by definition belong to different cultural and situational settings. because of this separation of sender and receiver, intention and function may have to be analyzed from two different angles.the top-ranking rule for any translation is thus the skopos rule, which says that a translational action is determined by its skopos rule; that is the end justifies the means . vermeer explains the skopos rule in the following way: each text is produced for a given purpose and should serve this purpose. the skopos rule thus reads as following: translate/interpret/speak/write/ in a way that enables your text/translation to function in the situation in which it is used and with the people who want to use and precisely in the way they want it to function.receivers or rather the addressee, however, is the main factor determining the target-text skopos rule. it does not mean, however, that the translator should completely exclude philological or literal or even word-for-word translation.as vermeer puts it, what the skopos states is that one must translate consciously and consistently in accordance with some principle respecting the target text. the theory does not state what the principle is: this must be decided separately in each specific case.2.4 eugene a. nidas translation theoriesfunctional equivalencereviewing nidas ideas in translation, we can tell there are mainly three stages in the developing course: descriptive linguistics, communicative theory and sociosemiotics.he helps to create a new inspect in different languages and different cultures to enable the communication and understanding globally. he insists that any language can be transformed and 3expressed in another language; people can communicate with each other reconstructing the original form and semantic structure in proper methods through search equivalence between languages and cultures. nida explains that firstly equivalence can not be understood in its mathematical meaning of identity, but only in terms of proximity, i.e. on the basis of degrees of closeness to functional identity. so no translation is completely equivalent, it only represents a certain degree of equivalence. one of nidas most important contributions to translation theory is the concept of “functional equivalence”, which was first put forward as “dynamic equivalence ” as opposed to formal equivalence in his book toward a science of translating in 1964 and elaborated in the theory and practice of translation in 1969 in great detail. by the mid-1980s, “dynamic equivalence ” was replaced with “functional equivalence”. in the early 1990s, “functional equivalence” was further divided into two levels: the maximal level and the minimal level.nida gives two definitions of functional equivalence: a minimal, realistic definition of functional equivalence could be stated as the readers of a translated text should be able to comprehend it to the point that they can conceive of how the original readers of the text must have understood and appreciated it. a maximal, ideal definition could be stated as the readers of a translated text should be able to understood and appreciate it in essentially the same manner as the original reader did. functional equivalence is receptor-oriented, which allows adaption in grammar, lexicn and cultural information to achieve naturalness in target text. “functional equivalence” thus is categorized into different levels of adequacy, with the minimal effectiveness and the maximal effectiveness at the two extremes. it is hard to achieve the maximal level of adequacy in translating while a translation under standard of minimal level adequacy of equivalence can hardly be effective in communication. in a word, “functional equivalence” is a flexible concept with different degrees of adequacy. of course, the closer to the maximal level a translation is, the better it is. 4 a brief analysis on translation of english songs 3. problems hindering song-translating from developingalthough numerous large and capable publishing houses has boom up, none of them are enterprising enough to formulate such a subject, gather present songs translators and to publish collections of songs translation.(1) as long as the imported publications are not reactionary, or pirate, or harmful and obscene ones, no restrictions are imposed on them. however, books import and export companies or libraries scarcely purchase music scores, which hinder the way of translating.(2) leaders in lyric translation become old. though more and more language learners are devoting themselves to translating, few of them are willing to engage in songs translation. because most of them lack music trails, and talents in poetry and literature, meanwhile what they are deficient in can not be acquired within a day, most of the translators are not competent for it.(3) low payments and deficient support from publishing field hold young translators back from lyrics translation.(4) translation diffculties caused by linguistic difference. though both chinese and english are most important language in the word, they belong to two completely different language families. the dissimilarities between the two languages have brought about great diffculties for translators in all fields. to song translators translating from english into chinese, the diffculty is greater than those resulted only from the language and culture proper. linguistic and culture barriers and music constraints combined make song translation a headache to translators.4. the chinese translation of english songs4.1 the translation of songs titles the acceptors of english songs in china are mainly young people, but most of them prefer original lyrics in english for they take it as a chance to practice and a fashionable entertainment with no need to understand them semantically and communicatively, not mention the culture backgrounds in some songs. the name of a song is very important to attract attention and is the eye of a song. a good name translation plays a vital role in the communication and comprehension. for example: id love you to want me , some translate it into我想你要我；some into我要你爱我 and some into 但愿你要我，personally speaking, the last one is the best, for it can express the love. tears in heaven, some said it is 天堂的眼泪, others hold 泪洒天堂.by comparing the two, we can see a good translation not only sounds beautiful but also makes the song vivid. what should be put into when translating the title is comprehend the whole meaning of the song and make it suitable to the target language. so the culture background of the target language must be considered.4.2 translation of lyrics4.2.1 sentence translationwhat is most important for a song is its lyrics. how a song will be popular will be determined by its lyrics. so we can see lyrics are crucial although not many people know what it really means. this makes the lyrics translation more urgent.an english song is similar to the poem which looks easy to translate but actually it is very hard. combining the translation theories and the songs will make it easy, practical and direct.for example, when we translate seasons in the sun, here has a phrase: goodbye papa, please pray for me, i was the black sheep of the family. (再见爸爸，请为我祈祷，我曾是家里的捣蛋鬼。）sometimes, people translate the black sheep as 害群之马 or 黑羊. so it is very important to know some slang or idioms in song-translation.for another, when doing song translation, it must be in the mind that sometimes we need to 5reorder the sentences and find the best one, like we were the lovers who strolled through green fields. where are the green fields, that we used to roam? in the song of once there were greenfield (我们曾是徜徉在那绿草地上的情侣。我们曾经徜徉的绿草地啊，都到哪去了?）here we can see that some words are put in a different place when we put the sentence into another language. this is the second point of song translation.thirdly, songs are singers ideas so we need to know the style and the purpose or background of this song, which will have a good impact on translation.4.2.2 text translationto translate a whole text, one needs to have a good master of language and translation skill. however, only this is not enough, the knowledge of music and the singer is important. take careless whisper for example. i feel so unsure我并无丝毫的把握as i take your hand and lead you to the dance floor牵着你的手领着你走向那舞池as the music dies, something in your eyes舞曲终了,你异样的眼神calls to mind the silver screen令我想起银幕上and all its sad good-byes悲伤话离别in this phrase it can be easily seen that , “unsure” is translated into并无丝毫把握rather than不确定, and the last sentence “and all its sad good-bye” is translated into such a poetry sentence. some one may say that this is not faith to the origin while the translation of songs is more concerned on delivering the true meaning of the singer. so some transformation of the meaning in chinese is ok and necessary.im never gonna dance again我没有办法去继续guilty feet have got no rhythm内疚的舞步毫无节奏7though its easy to pretend尽管这一切很容易掩饰i know youre not a fool然而你并非一无所知shouldve known better than to cheat a friend早知不该欺骗朋友and waste the chance that ive been given错过了我本该放弃的机会so ill never gonna dance again所以我无法再继续the way i danced with you如从前与你共舞never without your love绝不能失去你的爱 in these lines the translation is made vividly as the origin text c