Linguistic And Non-linguistic Factors On English-Chinese Lyrics Translation

Ever since the ancient times, songs have played a very important role in the life and culture of human beings. As a special art form, a song is a good way to express its culture and it is easily accepted by people. Culture is the foundation of a country, so it has been one of the most important links between China and Western countries. Songs have become one of the best ways for countries to communicate with each other, and more and more foreign songs, especially English songs, are very popular in China. Although English songs are very common in Chinese lives, not all the Chinese know English well, so the translation of the lyrics from English to Chinese has been an important research topic for culture exchange. The excellent and accurate lyrics translation can help Chinese people understand foreign cultures better in an easy way and this is a good method to promote the friendship between Chinese and English speakers. However, a wrong or inaccurate lyrics translation may change the meanings of English songs, which will be bad for culture exchange. Thus, how to better translate English lyrics into Chinese lyrics is an important aim for lyrics translators.As a unique literal form, the aim of lyrics translation is to achieve the singing effect of the translated version as close as the original song, and help the Chinese receptors have the same feeling with English receptors. Unlike other literal forms, lyrics translation has its own features, so it needs different strategies rather than word by word translation. In research, it is believed that lyrics translators should consider two kinds of important factors; one is linguistic factors, and the other is non-linguistic factors. Among linguistic factors, Nida’s functional equivalence theory is most suitable for lyrics translation. Besides, non-linguistic factors have very important effects to lyrics translation, such as melody, note, syllable and so on. These two factors are both important for lyrics translation, and only when they are both taken into consideration can the lyrics translation be accurate and correct.Wordsmith 6 and Goldwave are applied to research the English and Chinese lyrics and it is hoped that the two factors can be tested through the research. Wordsmith 6 can build a small corpus for English and Chinese lyrics and compare the frequency of two lyrics. Goldwave can build the models of sound waves and research their form, time, pitch and so on.Chapter One of the paper introduces the importance of lyrics translation in culture exchanges between China and foreign countries.Chapter Two introduces the definition of songs and shows the present research of lyrics translation in China and points out that the foreign songs, especially English songs, do not have a complete basic lyrics translation theory. Then, it analyzes the history of foreign songs translation in China. And they are classified into four parts, the deploitation period from 1920s to 1940s, the prosperous period in 1950s, the dreary period from1960s to 1970s and the recovery period from 1980s to the present.Chapter Three mainly discusses the features of lyrics translation. Since the lyric is written for the aim of singing, a song has its own characters in translation and lyric translation has some places similar with poem translation. This paper researches the lyrics translation from English songs into Chinese songs and studies the similarities and differences between the two versions.Chapter Four introduces the theory basis of the paper, namely Nida’s functional equivalence theory and non-linguistic factors theory. Nida’s theory which emphasized that the translators should use the closest natural ways to show the information of original texts is suitable for lyrics translation. Besides, a lyric includes many factors, such as emotions, cultures, melodies, notes and so on. Thus, lyrics translation should combine with linguistic factors and non-linguistic factors, and it may be wrong to only use one of two factors in lyrics translation.Chapter Five is the analysis of three cases. This chapter chooses three famous English songs and their Chinese versions, and Wordsmit 6 and Goldwave to study the cases. Wordsmith 6 is software which can build a small corpus which is applied to find the links between English lyrics and Chinese lyrics. Goldwave can analyze the sound waves of two versions and research the non-linguistic factors by comparing and analyzing the sound waves of the versions, such as time, frequency, waveform and so on.Chapter Six is the conclusion of the research. Through the research of Wordsmith 6 and Goldwave, it can be found that both linguistic factors and non-linguistic factors are equally important to lyrics translation, especially non-linguistic factors, which is the key to the lyrics translation. At the same time, there are still many other non-linguistic factors influencing the lyrics translation, such as mouth shapes, and these factors need more tools and new ways to research, and it is also a good item for future research to make the lyrics to be the bridge between Chinese and foreign cultures.