That Eric Alper

By Merissa Moore

Music is a wonderful form of art and entertainment and is quite a unique one, too. Unlike visual art, which is appreciated spatially (not spending a significant amount of time to perceive and understand), music is perceived temporarily (meaning that you need to take some time to appreciate it). Moreover, music creates a vast area for experimentation and creative expression. This is especially evident with songs, the lyrics of which can be translated into many languages, while the music can be appreciated and understood by anybody.

Singing Internationally

The music in the 20^th century has exploded with a variety of genres, forms, and names, from jazz and first recorded music to modern famous names like Billie Eilish, and the experimental stage. One prominent stream of music that emerged and garnered a huge audience around the world within the past 100 years or so is popular music or pop for short. Rather than being a genre, pop music represents the whole culture with a multitude of subcultures, which brought a huge impact socially and economically.

One of the most prominent characteristics of pop music is that its listeners tend to create a cult of personality around a certain artist and their works. This is one of the main reasons some pop songs become rerecorded and reinterpreted with time. In fact, many young artists start particularly by playing famous songs or, more simply, covering them. Yet, translating songs into another language requires quite a lot of talent, so you might need to address professional translation services online as you start. Some song covers are even more famous than the originals while cover versions translated to other languages might hit the charts in that country. Here are just a few examples of when translated songs got pretty high in their respective countries.

5 Popular Song Covers that Were Translated in Other Languages

• “Tutto Nero” by Caterina Caselli.

The 1966 Italian version of the Rolling Stones’ “Paint it Black” (also recorded in 1966) sung by the actress and singer Caterina Caselli has become quite popular in Italy largely because it was also used in the film “Perdono” (“forgiveness” in Italian). This version does not differ much from the original, aside from Caselli’s delivery style, which is more aggressive rather than Jagger’s melancholic, and the song sounds as if Caselli is fighting with a depressive state rather than accepting it.

• “This Love” by Bigbang.

Covering Maroon 5’s iconic hit from 2004 in 2008, a seemingly regular group of young Korean boys managed to blow up the charts in his native South Korea and give a relatively old song a new life. Although the song carries the same name, its lyrics were completely rewritten in Korean by one of the band’s members G-Dragon. This version became so famous, many people wonder who wrote the song in the first place, although both artists have contributed to its fame a lot.

• “Helden” by David Bowie.

It was quite a popular trend in the past to cover one’s own songs in different languages to ensure greater reach. While Bowie’s German version of his own hit “Heroes” did not chart in Germany upon its release, the song became very popular in the neighboring Netherlands. This version is also regarded well retrospectively with “Helden” appearing as a part of an official soundtrack to the 2019 drama “Jojo Rabbit” directed by the New Zealand director Taika Waititi.

• “Sie Liebt Dich” by the Beatles.

Another old-school song in German covered by the authors themselves. Reinterpreting their early hit “She Loves You” in 1964 specifically for their German audience, the Fab Four managed to top the German charts with “Sie Liebt Dich” entering at 7^th position and its A-side “Komm, gib mir Deine Hand” (“I Wanna Hold Your Hand”) at 1^st.

• “Afrika” by Tukuleur.

A decent modern rendition of the 1980s hit “Africa” by Toto, this 2006 version manages to showcase the modern pop interpretation and demonstrate that the song sounds just as uplifting in French. While not becoming famous worldwide, this version of the legendary song became popular in Tukuleur’s native Senegal representing their African spirit at its best.

Music of the Soul

It’s true that truly talented people sing with their soul, regardless of language. Music unites people, and those who manage to write songs covering matters that are important can make the whole world sing with them. On the other hand, other talented people manage to rewrite or recompose those songs in their native language and make the song breakthrough in their country as well. All of this only confirms the extraordinary nature of music and its strong and undoubtedly positive influence on our lives.

BIO:

Learning by experience, Merissa Moore managed to not only make herself a career as a professional writer but also become well-known and respected for her works. Every time, she gets to her task, she makes sure to experience what she writes about. That’s why as you read Merissa’s articles, it feels like you gain that experience yourself.

By Merissa

When an average person takes a quick look at the typical song lyrics, it may seem simple to translate them, yet it takes way more than that to explain the original meaning and explain the creativity and the poetic devices of the foreign language. While it may seem natural to translate it all precisely just like a machine translation would, the most popular approach is to create a poetic masterpiece in one’s native language that would transpose the emotional content and have a certain poetic value. Since a great share of slang words and specific expressions will be completely different from language to language, one must consider being creative and knowledgeable at heart to handle the translations of song lyrics correctly!

4 Steps to Translate Song Lyrics

1. Set Your Priorities. In most scenarios, you do not need a direct translation of the song lyrics unless you are dealing with analysis and the exploration of the foreign language literary devices. Likewise, if your task is to keep the singability and fit in within the original (or a slightly changed) musical background, you must consider the original content unless you already have a new set of lyrics that are completely different from the original. For example, we can take the famous “Love to Hate You” by Erasure, which has been translated more than once in Spanish, German, or Russian. As one can see, the lyrics have been changed a lot, yet the musical part and singability of the original have been kept.
2. Consider Country-Specific Content to Convey The Original Meaning. Another crucial part is the use of certain proverbs and slang expressions that can be encountered in any genre of music. It can be a reference to a country’s history or the slang used by jazz musicians or someone coming from the American South. Since your translation may be dealing with English to Japanese as an example, one has to find relevant proverbs or expressions in a target language to convey the meaning and express the same set of emotions if possible. You can approach the best translation companies in USA and discuss this aspect of lyrics translation before you start. As a rule, you will encounter creative personalities who may offer various options that will keep you satisfied!
3. Adapt The Context of The Song To Your Target Language. The final translation must remain true to the original context of the song while sounding natural in your language. For example, if you are dealing with a song that speaks of a Spanish festival and the local meals, it has to be adapted in terms of your local culture by using certain terms and additional explanations that will make sense to your target audience. In other words, some things that will sound clear and natural to Spaniards or your English-speaking audience may sound odd and out of place to Chinese.
4. Know Your Target Audience And Objectives. Most importantly, always consider your target audience and the list of professional goals that you want to achieve as a translator. Ask yourself about what matters more to you: the direct content and the meaning or the creative approach to song lyrics translation. Remember to read it aloud and compare it to the original meaning to ensure that nothing has been missed in terms of time, ideas, cultural context, numbers, or anything that is often lost in translation.

Direct Translation VS Creating Something New

In either case, you will always create something new, which is why one must consider the source and the intention of your translation. For example, if you want to translate certain song lyrics for a singer and meet the timing, it is one case while you may provide a translation that does not have a rhyme but sounds direct for subtitles or overdubbing in movies like what many of us have seen in Bollywood films or anime series. As long as you stay creative and true to the source, you are on the right track!

BIO

Merissa likes exploring various cultures and language specifics through various art forms. Her posts always see the world through the lens of being innovative and creative.

Is modern music crying out for the sort of icons that used to dominate the artistic landscape towards the end of the last millennium? Or are music fans simply being taken for a ride by record companies who own the rights to classic backlists and want to cash in?

It is a debate that will rage on for years to come. However, there can be no doubt that there is at least some genuine hunger for artists of the past.

This can manifest itself in the cultural zeitgeist in many ways, but one that is increasing in popularity is that of online games, some of which are being created almost as an homage to guitar and microphone heroes of yesteryear.

Here are some of the best online games that go out of their way to put music front and center of the entertainment experience they provide.

Music is so often vital in order to create an immersive in-game experience

Reels Spin in Time with the Classics

One genre of online game that has always paid particular attention to bands and recording artists is that of online slots.

Some of the titles that have been released in recent years include Guns N’ Roses, Jimi Hendrix, and Motorhead, all of whose titles leave little to the imagination when it comes to the sort of music and aesthetics they will exude. Many of these can be played using free spins which are collated at comparison websites like oddschecker.

The great thing about playing slots online is that players can either choose to enjoy a game’s music inspired sound effects, or they can mute them, and plug in an album or their favorite track.

There has always been a strong link between music and the world of online games

Entire Gaming Soundtracks Entrusted to Bands

When it comes to bands putting their mark on a gaming title, the gold standard is undoubtedly Quake, whose soundtrack was entirely put together by Nine Inch Nails.

Other musicians to have taken complete artistic control of online gaming scores include 50 Cent and jazz composer Peter McConnell.

Rappers Lend Their Voices and Lyrics to Online Games

Another trend that has been prevalent in many online battle royale games has been imbuing in-game avatars with the dulcet tones of a famous rap artist.

Perhaps the most well documented gaming voiceover was done by Snoop Dogg for COD: Ghosts, where, for a small additional price, the California native provided gamers with advice, encouragement, and commiserations, all in his inimitable tone and style of delivery.

Scatter symbol does not have a specific picture or graphics, oftentimes it is unique to a slots theme. Scattered symbols as the name implies can be scattered all about the reel. It does not have a particular arrangement pattern. The scatter symbol when it appears can bring about mini-game, free spins, and other types of bonuses.

In a slot game, the scatter symbol is a very important element in unlocking several fun bonus features in a slot game – visit Barbados Bingo. The scatter symbol is not new, but in today’s gaming, it can be used in diverse ways. Originally red cherries were the symbol of the scattered symbol.

How to know if a game has a scatter symbol

 The paytable is one important place that every gamer must visit before deciding to play a slot. Access to the paytable can be gained through the gaming screen. When the paytable icon on the gaming screen is clicked, a box icon is opened up. This box icon will give information that is peculiar to that slot. It includes information on bonuses, scatters as well as wild. Once the paytable of a game is read beforehand it prepares the player and also gives adequate information on how those symbols work. They working individually or they work when they are combined with other elements.

Functions of the scatter symbol

For a win to occur the scatter symbol can appear anywhere on the reel. It doesn’t need to appear on the win line.

•         The scatter symbol cannot be replaced by the wild symbol.
•         The rules of scatter symbols in games are different. It is essential that a player examines the Payline of a game before playing.
•         Three or more scattered symbols can appear on the reel. As a result of this wins can be multiplied in several folds.
•         There exists a scatter icon that can be used to trigger the bonus game. You trigger a feature of the slot if you get three scatters on the Payline.
•         Scatters symbols are one of the biggest paying symbols in a slot game.

Types of scatter slot games

•         Unique scatter
•         Wild scatter
•         Scatter pays

Reasons for including Scatter symbols in slot games

Below we will be highlighting some reasons why developers of the game include scatter symbols in slot games.

•         Special feature- developers of gave include Scattered symbols in games so their gamers can have access to special features. Such special features include free spins, bonuses, and interactive mini-games.
•         Players satisfaction- developers of games include scattered symbols so that their players can have maximum satisfaction while gaming. It is natural that a gamer will be a regular visitor to a slot that presents him with a higher probability of winning.

·         Extra free spins bonuses- as gaming keeps advancing so do the innovations of the developers. The scattered symbols are another avenue where the developers can bring out their innovation in terms of bonuses and free spins.