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  • 25 - Translating the Texts of Songs and Other Vocal Music

  • from Part V - Translation in Practice: Arts
  • Edited by Kirsten Malmkjær, University of Leicester
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Handbook of Translation
    Published online:
    10 March 2022
    Print publication:
    17 March 2022, pp 499-518

  • Summary

    Chapter 25 focuses on the translation of songs and other vocal music. Translations of songs may be required for various purposes – for singers to sing, for announcers to speak, for CD listeners to read, for singing students to study, and for display as surtitles at a performance. Since no translation is ideal for every purpose, translators need to choose strategies and options that best suit the end-users. Particularly complex is the ‘singable translation’ (singable in the target language) which is intended to fit a pre-existing melody – here translators are subject to unusual constraints, such as the need to achieve the right number of syllables and a workable rhythm. Often, a singable translation may include so many changes that the term ‘adaptation’ is more accurate than the term ‘translation’.