| Translation of songs in China dates back to the early 1900s.Since then,it has gone through the stages of exploration,prosperity,silence,recovery and decline.By the late 1990s,song translation practices and studies in China almost stopped.Currently,very few people are still working in this field.At the beginning of this thesis,the author analyzed the reasons why the translation of songs receives little attention today,demonstrated the necessity to continue developing the translation of songs,and argued that summarizing the standards in translating songs would be conducive to the future development of the translation of songs.By referring to Exploration and Practice in Translation of Songs by Xue Fan,a most prestigious song translator in China,the author summarized three principles in translating songs,which are about rhymes,rhythm,and pitches.To be specific,the translator should select a proper rhyme,ensure the rhythm of the target lyrics be compatible with that of the original tunes,and ensure the changing trend of the pitches of target lyrics compatible with that of the original melody.By demonstrating with examples,the author proposed the fourth principle on open-mouth vowels.To be specific,the target lyrics should be consistent with the source lyrics in the arrangement of "open-mouth vowels".To test whether the four standards above may truly be useful in guiding song translation practices,the author designed a rating standard based on them and used the standards to rate three existing translations of My Heart Will Go On and a version produced by himself.Three versions that are singable in Mandarin were sung and recorded by a professional singer and then sent to 35 people for listening and assessment.The result suggested that the order of the popularity of the three versions among the listeners is the same as that of the scores of the three versions.This suggests that the principles summarized by Xue Fan and the author have the value to guide song translation practices. |
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