Music Translation

I'm sure the opinion will be universal on this one, but let's discuss anyway. What do you think when a song is translated from one language to another, such as with a lot of Spanish music, most of Rammstein's stuff, and a lot of Japanese as well?

 

Well, I can't speak for Spanish music, as I've never heard it (New Mexico, and yet still no Spanish), but the other two I somewhat have an opinion on.

Japanese music sounds good in Japanese. To translate the words into English, but keeping the original language is great. However, changing the song to English doesn't go over well. As for Rammstein, the same thing applies. The translations they use for their English versions send a different message than the German, as it is translated wrong to make it work.

Now, I'm going to mention another foreign group. T.A.T.U., the Russian group that's real popular (for a Russian group), also has English versions of their songs. These are decent, as they actually try to keep with the true translation, but they don't have the passion of the Russian.

In conclusion, I say that the listener should know what the words mean, but should listen to the art of the song in its original language.

 

I guess it depends on the tranlator. For example, Shakira's songs in both English and Spanish mean mostly the same thing. She sounds better in Spanish, of course, but the songs work out the same way in both languages. This is likely because she writes and translates her own songs. On the other hand, Utada Hikaru translates her own stuff as well, and we get pure garbage.
It's a matter of preserving the meaning while still making the lyrics, well, lyrical.

 

No way, the song shouldn't be translated. If you really love the song then just find out what it means in your language...

 

Yeah, but then you have to deal with all these problems like the thoughts of the translators and transliterators fouling up the artist's vision.