In the past few years, it has become more and more popular to have famous local artists perform all-time international favorites in their mother tongue.
Marcela Morelo -an Argentine singer and songwriter- surprised her fans with a Spanish version of Moonlight Shadow by Mike Oldfield. Now, was it as simple as translating the lyrics? Of course not.
At her album release, she stated that “When I started with this album I asked myself “How do I go about this song, this songwriter?” And I took my chances to dive into the spirit of the song. So first I learned the melody and the lyrics in English. Then I made a literal translation of the song and was surprised to see how it deals with death in a very natural way. It was then when I started to work on the Spanish version. This was a big deal, took a lot of effort, because it’s not simply translating but getting the idea, the concept: you need to get inside the DNA of each song.”*
Her words clearly identify what linguists call a transcreation process. It’s going beyond translation. It’s adapting your message to your audience leaving word-for-word translation aside.
Below you will find a brief comparison between the original lyrics of this great song by Mike Oldfield and how the back-translation of this Spanish version reads.
Marcela Morelo -an Argentine singer and songwriter- surprised her fans with a Spanish version of Moonlight Shadow by Mike Oldfield. Now, was it as simple as translating the lyrics? Of course not.
At her album release, she stated that “When I started with this album I asked myself “How do I go about this song, this songwriter?” And I took my chances to dive into the spirit of the song. So first I learned the melody and the lyrics in English. Then I made a literal translation of the song and was surprised to see how it deals with death in a very natural way. It was then when I started to work on the Spanish version. This was a big deal, took a lot of effort, because it’s not simply translating but getting the idea, the concept: you need to get inside the DNA of each song.”*
Her words clearly identify what linguists call a transcreation process. It’s going beyond translation. It’s adapting your message to your audience leaving word-for-word translation aside.
Below you will find a brief comparison between the original lyrics of this great song by Mike Oldfield and how the back-translation of this Spanish version reads.
ORIGINAL LYRICS
The last that ever she saw him
Carried away by a moonlight shadow
He passed on worried and warning
Carried away by a moonlight shadow.
Lost in a river last Saturday night
Far away on the other side.
He was caught in the middle of a desperate fight
And she couldn't find how to push through
TRANSLATION OF SPANISH VERSION
He looked at her to say his goodbyes,
and walked away, with the light of the sky.
He flew away, doesn’t have limits,
he took hold of the light of the sky.
He will pass by to see her on an April night,
just to get to see her smile.
An ivory light will shine for ever for her.
The last that ever she saw him
Carried away by a moonlight shadow
He passed on worried and warning
Carried away by a moonlight shadow.
Lost in a river last Saturday night
Far away on the other side.
He was caught in the middle of a desperate fight
And she couldn't find how to push through
TRANSLATION OF SPANISH VERSION
He looked at her to say his goodbyes,
and walked away, with the light of the sky.
He flew away, doesn’t have limits,
he took hold of the light of the sky.
He will pass by to see her on an April night,
just to get to see her smile.
An ivory light will shine for ever for her.
At Palindromic, we deal daily with this type of challenges in the most varied scenarios: from translating a car advertisement to localizing a new software or online game.
Our next blog post will talk about transcreation and movies (why, for instance, the Spanish version of the famous movie Jaws was Tiburón, “Shark” in English), but for now, let’s focus on music. Relax, indulge yourself and take an hour to listen to one of your favorite albums.
EAVB_EAHZHVFABL
*This quote is a free translation from the interview published by Argentine newspaper Clarín. Click here to read it.
