Some songs don't have any meaning in a foreign language As a big music lover, I find it very difficult sometimes to translate a song from my native language to any foreign language since the meaning g

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Stasa Djordjevic

Some songs don't have any meaning in a foreign language As a big music lover, I find it very difficult sometimes to translate a song from my native language to any foreign language since the meaning gets lost during the process. I believe that every country has a strong connection with their traditional music and that many of us have tried to proudly explain a song lyrics to a friend and just then realized that some things are simply untranslatable... Maybe some word doesn't exist in other languages or maybe is an old saying that doesn't exist anywhere else... What are your experiences?

8 mrt. 2019 16:27

Opmerkingen · 6

It's very true. Sometimes the words themselves can be translated, but the emotional meaning and significance BEHIND the words are not felt by the foreign listener. For example, the word "country" in American English can evoke lots of associations and feelings in Americans, either positive or negative, depending on the background of the listener. There is a country song entitled "Country As Can Be" which is full of understood connections and humor for the American listener, but would be totally nonsense to a foreigner, even if all the words were understood :)

8 maart 2019

Absolutely right!! My first language is Chinese,and it often happens to be more like a poem, more beautiful (well I think:) while translating in our language. Due to the fact that we have modern Chinese and traditional Chinese (in writing,that is a lot of difference),sometimes a little simple word can contains a lots of meaning! And that's why I sometimes think that Chinese is one of the most beautiful languages in the world !!

8 maart 2019

And even if I ultimately finish the translation, the beauty and meaning of the original are lost.
After all, I'm not very good at translating:（

8 maart 2019

Some words in songs can be easy to translate but the meaning of them can be different to people. Songs evoke memories or historical episodes which only native people can understand so not all people can understand these meaning even if they understand several words. For this reason, translation of songs or poems seems to be a very difficult task for interpreters. Of course, it shouldn't be considered as a disadvantage because each country has own history and culture.

8 maart 2019

Hi Stasa and everybody there! Yes, you're completely right. I think one of the things we most love of the languages is that each one is unique. Of course we can always find a translation that can express more or less the same but the magic of the language disappears with the transalation.

However, I am also learning translating English songs into Spanish and I have much fun. I think that translatinig is an interesting activity that helps us not only to learn but also to develop our creativity.

8 maart 2019

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Stasa Djordjevic

Taalvaardigheden

Bosnisch, Chinees (Mandarijn), Kroatisch, Engels, Italiaans, Servisch, Spaans

Taal die wordt geleerd

Chinees (Mandarijn), Spaans

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