When learning another language, we discover that each language has a different way to express an idea. At times, this is evident, others it is more subtle. But apart from the usual difficulties we may come across when translating from one language to another, there are certain types of text that present additional challenges.
Music, like poetry, is one of them. I have already addressed this topic in the article Traducir poesía, traducir música [Translating Poetry, Translating Music], but I wanted to hear from an expert in this field. That is why I interviewed Kenny Wesley.
Tell us a bit about yourself. What do you do?
I wear a lot of hats: I am a musician (singer and pianist), songwriter, recording artist, lecturer and linguist. I am currently pursuing a PhD in Translation Studies. I’ve been translating songs for about 10 years and this partially inspired me to pursue a doctorate in the same niche of the field. My native languages are English and African-American Vernacular English, my B-languages are Spanish and French, and my C-language is German. I started translating songs because when my musician colleagues found out I spoke foreign languages, they began requesting my assistance in translating they songs into other languages as well as coaching them in the studio with pronunciation.
What are some challenges involved in the translation of songs? Could you give an example?
The numerous additional non-traductological elements of singability, rhythm, iterability, etc. For example, if a translator is tasked to translate a pop hit, they must ensure that their translation not only makes sense, feels natural and sounds great, but they must additionally ensure that the new lyrics are equally as impactful in hopes of scoring a hit. Such external factors could force translators to modulate idioms, themes and concepts to ones more easily relatable to the target audience at the expense of fidelity on the semantic level.
How does being a musician yourself help you be a better translator? How important would you say expertise is in this kind of translation?
I wouldn’t say musicians necessarily have an inherent advantage unless they are songwriters since they understand how good songs should sound, look and feel. This would be doubly true for songwriters who are also singers since they understand the singability aspects involved in singing and can modulate the translate to accommodate this.
What would you tell a translator who wants to specialize in music and songs?
If you do not already write creatively (poetry or song lyrics), I would start there. Begin writing and studying poetry and songs. It will enable you to be able to create more natural-feeling song translations once you develop the ability to create poetry and/or song lyrics (in either your native or target languages).
I thank Kenny for taking the time to share his expertise. If you want to know more about and especially listen to Kenny, you can do it in his website and social media sites:
https://www.instagram.com/kennywesley
https://www.youtube.com/kennywesley
https://twitter.com/kennywesley
https://www.facebook.com/soulfulnerd
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Créditos de las imágenes
Kenny Wesley
Across Traducciones 