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Sig det med en sang

Author

  • Anncharlotte Linsten

Summary, in English

The aim with this thesis is to examine whether there are any differences between the linguistic and cultural strategies used by translators when translating song lyrics from English to Danish and Swedish. A description of translations of song lyrics has been presented as well as three popular songs from different time periods. The songs were analysed using five criteria for translation: singability, sense, naturalness (adaptation to target language), rhythm (adaptation to the music), and translation (or not) of rhyme. These criteria can be used to observe what linguistic strategies the translators have used. Besides that the translators should consider the original lyrics and music; it is also necessary to consider in what sociocultural context the target song is meant to be performed. For this reason the songs were analysed from the point of views of the translators, the client and the sociocultural context, to see whether it was possible to distinguish between Danish and Swedish translations. The results indicate several different linguistic strategies between the Danish and the Swedish translations. There are also a few cultural differences but these are more subtle or just indications. The Danish translations had a more proactive language while the character of Swedish ones was more passive.

Publishing year

2016

Language

Danish

Document type

Student publication for Bachelor's degree

Topic

  • Languages and Literatures

Keywords

  • rythm
  • singability
  • Swedish
  • Danish
  • song
  • singing
  • translation
  • music
  • sociocultural
  • culture
  • rhyme
  • difference
  • target text
  • source text

Supervisor

  • Robert Zola Christensen (vikarierande lektor)