The Art of Translation: Transforming Words into Music

Language dissects, but music connects. Doesn’t that make sense?

What if I told you, that music came before language? A little tough to believe but wait, did you know that notes were thought to be in existence long before language?

The very first evidence of notations was found in Slovenia and France in the form of 53,000-year-old flutes crafted by Neanderthals out of animal bones.

 In the field of human development, it has been found that babies can’t speak without first learning speech through communication, yet they seem to have inborn musical preferences, and they respond to music while they are still in their mother’s womb.

The appearance of a musical sense before speech in humans by the use of melody is not new to us.

According to Prof. Kay Shelemay, from Harvard “All humans have come into this world with an inherited capability for music’’.  The inborn ability to understand music explains why no culture on earth is absent of music. 

Translation in Music

In the limitless topography of music, language serves as a striking means for expression, storytelling and connection.

As artists and spectators exceed linguistic boundaries, the role of translation in music can’t be ignored.

Advantages of translation in the musical field:

1)      Promotes exchange of culture

Through translations in notations, audiences get to experience the richness and diversity of different cultures and acceptance towards diverse cultures. That's the significance of translation in promoting cultural exchange.

2)      Cultivates accessibility

Translating such pieces helps it become accessible globally. By enabling the translations of lyrics artists can reach a wider audience globally and people can enjoy music irrespective of the physical boundaries.

For example, the English song ‘Yesterday’ by the Beatles has been converted into many speeches including Spanish, French, and German.

3)      Fosters Collaboration

Be it collaborating on songwriting, recording, or performing together, translations in tunes and chords allow cultural exchange and offer variety to audiences.

For example, the Rangabatti song, which is one of the folk songs of Orissa was re-recorded by Sona Mohapatra and the twist is that it has a rap section in Tamil. Such collaborations are very popular these days as they are new and tend to get along.

4)      Audio Translation Services

Audio translation services specialize in translating dialogues, lyrics, and voiceovers in acoustic audios as well as other audio-visual content. They ensure translation accuracy and provide localization of the audio content for global listeners with the help of Professional Translation Services and linguists experts in music terminologies.

5)      Dubbing Services

Dubbing refers to replacing the original vocals or dialogues in any audio-visual content like a song with a translated version of it in the desired language. Dubbing services use singers and voice actors to enact the translated lyrics, by synchronizing their performances with the exact timing of the original song or video.

For example, the Jeevanathi song from Baahubali was originally sung in Telugu, but its Tamil dubbing received better responses and was loved more by the audiences.

Along the same lines, the Baahubali movie series is considered one of the most expensive film series in India. It was produced in Tamil and Telugu simultaneously in 2015 but today it's available in roughly 10 languages including subtitles in Chinese, Japanese, Taiwanese, German, and many more.

6)      Trans-creation in music

Trans-creation is made of two words translation and creation, it is also called creative translation as it refers to copy writing content in a text that needs to be made relevant.

Trans-creation in Music involves adapting songs from the source language to the target language while preserving the original meaning and intention of the song.

For example, the Spanish song named, ‘Despacito’ became very popular and maintained this popularity by being translated into multiple languages including, English, Arabic, and Mandarin.

Disadvantages of Translation in the Musical Field:

1)      Loss of refinement
Translating lyrics and dialogue from source to target language can some time result in the loss of the cultural references and aphorisms present in the original song.
 
2) Obstacles to Transformation

One of the biggest challenges in the conversion of songs into other languages is preserving the original meaning and emotion while adapting lyrics to fit different linguistic and cultural contexts. For example, the song Gangnam Style refers to the Gangnam district in South Korea. It criticizes the materialistic culture humorously associated with Gangnam. Translations of this song have been hit because of the timing and rhythm of the song but the cultural references of Korea have slipped.

Conclusion 

Even though musical translations pose critical challenges, it celebrate the diversity and heritage of musical traditions globally which are brought together by melody, rhythm, and emotions. After all, one heart beats in every human, and the same moves to the music irrespective of its origin.

Let’s Know the Unknown through Translation

Gone are the days when people had less access to interact with different people from different places, the translation industry was still at infancy, not popular to people, rather they had no knowledge about it.

However, with globalization and liberalization the scenario has totally changed, importance of translation was perceived as heralded by booming world markets and economic development of the countries. A major landmark that brought the translation services into existence is the development and improvement of transport and communication systems that provided easy access to people to travel from one corner of the world to another more quickly and fast.

Today everyone is under business umbrella, needs more interaction and exposure with larger audiences to survive in this competitive market oriented world. For that, translation service is the best solution for people having less time and cultural limitations; it also proves crucial in removing communication and cultural barriers which is a big hurdle on the path of entering into business world.

Besides it, the tourism industry has given a big upward push to the industry which requires more languages translation. As of now people became comparatively more touristy and fond of indulging into various leisure activities which take them to different places or abroad where they encounter language and cultural barriers and cannot enjoy the holidays in the manner they desire and that can only be solved by good translation.

In addition to it, there are areas where these services are sought; it is required in court for showing legal documents in the form of case files, reports which are to be translated into various languages depending upon which country the particular case is being fought at, accordingly, it has to be in the language used by people as an official language. This service is used for filling up the visa and passport forms in many foreign countries. Looking upward trend of the industry several institutions have started providing the interpretation services through well versed and experienced interpreters and translators who help in eradicating the above barriers. These days this industry has opened a lot of career scopes for people looking for jobs and for growth sky is the limit.

For more information visit us at: http://www.somyatrans.com

Translation, never easy nor diffficult

Translation is the process of converting one language into another with respect to cultural, social values. It is said that “It takes less time to train an airman to become a fighter pilot than it takes to become a good translator". For Translation it is must that a translator should very well aware with both source and target language. This is why more translators are the native speakers of the required language in which translation is needed. But having knowledge of native language is not only a requirement for being a translator.

Translation is neither very difficult work to do but on the other hand it is not also very easier to do.

What is Translation?

Translation is the transmittal of written text from one language into another. Translation Refers to the written language, and is the action of interpretation of the meaning of a text, and subsequent production of an equivalent text that communicates the same message in another language. The text to be translated is called the source text, and the language it is to be translated into is called the target language.

Translation must take into account constraints that include context, the rules of grammar of the two languages, their writing conventions, and their idioms. A common misconception is that there exists a simple word-for-word correspondence between any two languages, and that translation is a straightforward mechanical process. A word-for-word translation does not take into account context, grammar, conventions, and idioms.

Some of the definitions of Translation are:

• a written communication in a second language having the same meaning as the written communication in a first language
• a uniform movement without rotation
• transformation: the act of changing in form or shape or appearance; "a photograph is a translation of a scene onto a two-dimensional surface"
• (mathematics) a transformation in which the origin of the coordinate system is moved to another position but the direction of each axis remains the same
• (genetics) the process whereby genetic information coded in messenger RNA directs the formation of a specific protein at a ribosome in the cytoplasm
• rewording something in less technical terminology

How to translate?

As we already discussed that translation needs that a translator should have fluent and accurate knowledge of both the source and target languages. Although before doing translation one should remember few technical aspects also like consistency, accuracy, grammar, vocabulary, glossary etc.

Before starting translation important aspects to remember are:-
• Go through the whole translatable document, i.e. Source
• Check the content given, whether the content is complete or incomplete.
• Understand the theme of the content
• Check whether any terminology has been provided or not.
• Check for glossary
• Read the instructions provided.
• If anything is unclear, or have any query, contact the job provider for accurate details.

Only after going through all the above mentioned points, start translating the document. While translating the document also consider these points:
• Translate the document as per the meaning.
• Please avoid word-for-word translation.
• Maintain consistency.
• Follow the glossary provided.
• Do the translation as per instructions.
• Use easy to understand language.
• Follow grammar strictly.
• Use proper words and
• Avoid using bookish language.

Translation, when practiced by relatively bilingual individuals but especially when by persons with limited proficiency in one or both languages, involves a risk of spilling-over of idioms and usages from the source language into the target language.

The art of translation is as old as written literature. Since the Industrial Revolution, developments in technology, communications and business have changed translation greatly. In particular, the advent of the Internet has greatly expanded the market for translation and introduced a vast array of new tools and types of work.

Once the activity of a relatively small group of clerics, scholars, it is now a profession with accredited schools, professional associations, and accepted standards and pay scales. Translators, professional as well as amateur, have thus played an important role in the evolution of languages and cultures.