Achieving Sound Beauty in Chinese Translations of English Songs

陶薪平

【Abstract】Song is a kind of combination of language and music. Song achieves its aesthetic information and arouses feeling with its own sentiments and aesthetic effect. However， various kinds of present problems lead to much loss of beauty. Besides， the theoretical works concerning this area is much meager. Translation of English songs into Chinese has been studied from functional equivalence theory or the functionalism. The present thesis offers a new perspective―beauty in sound from Xu Yuanchongs “three beauties principle”， aiming to seek possible ways to represent beauty in translation practice， and some typical examples are compared and analyzed.

【Key words】English song translation； beauty in sound； aesthetic transformation

1. Introduction

“Song is a form of musical expression in which the human voice has the principle role and is the carrier of a text， as generic term， any music that is sung more specifically； a short， simple vocal composition consisting of melody and verse text.” With its unique literariness and musicality， song is widely acknowledged to be a form of art， which possesses great aesthetic value and provides audience with the sense of enjoyment.

The “three beauties” principles consist of beauty in sense， sound and style， offered by famous translator Xu Yuanchong. This principle is regarded as the highest standard of literature translation and has gotten agreement with more and more experts. Among the three beauties principle， beauty in sound is an important part.

2. The Realization of Beauty in Sound in the Chinese Translations of English Songs

Beauty in sound principle indicates that translators should bring the advantage of the target language into full play and insure the effective transference of form and content of the original in the translation. This part will mainly discuss about the realization of beauty in sound effect in the Chinese translation of English songs from the perspectives of sound in beauty.

2.1 Addition

Addition refers to the supplement of necessary information in translation. It is employed when literal translation does not accord with the grammar of the target language or fails to convey the original meaning completely. For song translation in particular， addition also has the function to make the translated lyrics rhymed and accordant with the music. A couple of examples are listed below：

Someday I will wish upon a star and wake up where clouds are.

Where troubles melt like lemon drops.

This is an instance in which addition adopted in translation to achieve the natural beauty in expression. If translated literally， the lyric would be which is rather awkward in terms of both grammar and meaning. By employing these verbs， the Chinese lyric feels more natural and fluent， which contribute to the lexical beauty of lyrics； besides， these added words enable the translated lyrics to be rhymed and concordant with the music， thus the beauty in sound is achieved.

2.2 Omission

In contrast with addition， omission is the approach to reduce the unimportant information in translation. In song translation， lyrics should be closely matched to musical notes， thus it is inevitable for translators to cut certain words when necessary， on condition that the basic information is not lost.

Near， far， wherever you are，

I believe that the heart does go on.

It is clear that in the above translation， the counterparts of the original words “near”， and “far” are omitted. In fact， the phrase “wherever you are” already denotes the meaning of “near” and “far”， therefore the translator has every reason to omit them in his translation.

2.3 Adaptation

Adaptation is a translation approach to replace certain expressions of the source text with a different way of expression in the target text so that the translation meets the requirements of the target language. Adaptation is always employed by translators in song translation， so as to make the translated lyrics sound natural and beautiful. Take the famous song “Rhythm of the Rain” as an example：

Listen to the rhythm of the falling rain，

Telling me just what a fool Ive been.

This is an appealing song which describes a man missing his ex-girlfriend in the rain. To transfer the same aesthetic effect， translator adopts adaptation to naturalize the English expressions into proper Chinese. As a result， the lyric sounds more pleasant， and the vivid rainy scene as well as the low mood of the man are well presented to the target audience.

3. Conclusion

This thesis is written under the framework of beauty in sound principle. It explores the interrelationship between beauty in sound principle and song translation and conducts some ways to represent beauty in song translation. It is found that beauty in sound principle is not only appropriate for the pure literary translation， but also suit for the song translation.

References：

[1]Bassnette，Susan.Translation Studies[M].London：Methuen， 1980.