Earticle

Singable translation of songs is a complex task mainly because the target text must be compatible with the music. Moreover, translating English songs into Korean is even more challenging because of the stark differences in their linguistic sources: different syntactic structures and different uses of meters and stresses. This study briefly describes the problems related to singability identified in the English (and French)-into-Korean translations of the lyrics of major licensed musicals performed in Korea. The numbers of Rent, The Phantom of the Opera, Cats, Jekyll and Hyde, Miss Saigon, and Notre Dame de Paris were studied, and the following problems were identified in the translated texts: incompatible phrasing of lyrics, inappropriate locations of keywords, additions of syllables (or note splitting), leaving source text words untranslated, and others. These problems hinder the effective delivery of the original music and make singers uncomfortable with singing the target text.

This paper aims to provide practical guidelines for translating lyrics of licensed musicals into Korean. Literature on how to translate English musical lyrics into Korean is virtually non-existent, and the Korean language is very different from English, particularly with regard to syntactic structures and the use of meters and stresses. There is clearly a great need to develop specific guidelines for Korean translation. This study proposes principles in five basic areas: vocal singability, phrasing and stress matching, rhyming, syllable addition (or note splitting), and domestication/foreignization. Based on the expertise and feedback collected from musical theater composers and singers, this paper suggests Korean vowels and consonants appropriate for high-pitch notes and Korean consonants proper for end-of-phrase notes. It also introduces specific strategies for adjusting the lengths of phrases and the locations of keywords by using specific Korean words, and it offers tips for avoiding note splitting and for keeping domestication/foreignization levels appropriate

Licensed musical Rent has been a very successful musical in Korea. However, negative criticism about the delivery of translated lyrics has been dominant according to the bulletin board of the musical’s ticketing website. Therefore, this study aims to investigate translation strategies of the lyrics of the musical from the perspective of singability - the number of syllables, vocal singability, rhythm and stresses, and rhymes - in order to identify what contributed to the audience’s experience. The analysis results show an increase in the number of syllables in the TT, meaning syllables were added or notes were splitted, inappropriate placements of Korean vowels for high-pitch or ascending notes, and stress mismatches between ST and TT, thus making it difficult for the audience to distinguish the lyrics. However, proper Korean consonants were used for end-of-phrase notes, and the translator’s efforts to deliver the rhyme effect by using compensation strategies including creating new rhymes were witnessed. This study is expected to contribute to the expansion of research of musical translation into Korean especially in the singability area and hopefully to improving future translations of licensed musicals. However, since the data is limited to Rent performed in 2004, more recent developments in musical translation have yet to be studied.

This study examines the limitations and applicability of machine translation (MT) in musical theatre lyric translation through comparison with a human translation. Drawing on domestic and international lyric translation principles, an analytical framework was developed and applied to 37 numbers from 19 English-to-Korean licensed musicals ranked among the KOPIS top 10 from 2015 to 2024, using Google Translate and Papago. Results show that human translation largely adheres to formal principles such as rhythm, accent, and rhyme, and accurately reflects sociocultural and intra textual context. MT, by contrast, fails to meet formal requirements and often cannot convey contextual meaning. However, MT's tendency to preserve the literal meaning and form of the source text yields results comparable to human translation in lyrics without implicit contextual meaning, suggesting potential applicability. Given the collaborative, multi-stage nature of musical translation, post-editing MT outputs through formal adjustments and content-level revisions reflecting sociocultural and intra textual context could enhance both translation efficiency and output quality.

With the growing popularity of broadway musicals and international shows, spawning a multitude of productions all over the world, the importance of lyric translation continues to increase. Lyric translation is a complex task that involves a deliberate balancing of multiple criteria such as singability, sense, naturalness, rhyme, and rhythm (Low, 2003). Despite such growing demand for song translations and the difficulties inherent in producing them, there has been little attention given to the translation of songs among translation researchers and musical producers alike. This negligence has ultimately led to a market that lacks a systematic framework for pricing translation services based on content difficulty and selecting qualified translators accordingly. In this study, a new tool is proposed to determine the level of difficulty involved in the translation of songs. The “SCRIP Index” is defined as the minimum number of syllables required for literal translation in the target language divided by the number of syllables in the source language. This study assessed the level of difficulty of translating the lines of four musical numbers using the Index. After assessing the level of difficulty of translating each line, this study also investigates the strategic choices made by translators to overcome difficulties by analyzing the translations produced by five professional translators and the actual translations used on stage.

Translators encounter tough problems in song translation: [1] the translated text should be as singable as the original lyric, and [2] the translated song should arouse the same deep emotion as the original music. The former condition imposes a number of formal constraints on song translation: e.g. matching syllables with musical notes, observing the beat and the rhythm of the original music, etc. The latter condition dictates functional requirements for translating songs. The goal of this paper is to figure out crucial factors that determine the emotion of the original song, and to propose appropriate translation strategies that help preserve the emotion in the target language. For this, we hypothesize that syntactic and prosodic parallel structures should contribute to the emotion of the song. Then, we investigate how these structures are translated by professional translators into singable Korean lyrics when they are asked to translate musical numbers in the English language. After all, we have found out that the translated texts do not coincide among translators when ST includes both syntactic and prosodic parallel structures, and that prosodic parallel structures are more difficult to translate than syntactic parallel structures. Based on this, we discuss practical methods of preserving the emotion of the original song in the translated language.

The present study aims to suggest effective song translation strategies in consideration of singability. In particular, it focuses on songs whose lyrics have unfavorable factors for source text-oriented translation, and argues for different translation strategies according to ST features. To this end this study takes a two-phase approach. In the first phase some factors in the lyrics are identified that act as unfavorable conditions for ST-oriented translation. After such identification, two songs that are deemed to include these factors are selected and then translated by students in class. The student discussions that followed the translation indicated that the factors identified by the authors were also shared by the students.Then the authors selected and translated two songs into different modes-one ST­oriented version and the other music­oriented―and surveyed students in the College of English in order to find their preference. The results showed that music-oriented translation is necessary for the translation of songs which have unfavorable conditions for ST-oriented translations.

Classical Chinese drama, also known as ancient Chinese musicals, is a genre with strong musical features. In Korea, it has traditionally been received in the form of general fiction novels.  However, with the recent development of mass media and the active cultural exchanges between countries, there is a growing need to reflect the musicality of classical Chinese drama literature representing traditional Chinese culture when translating it rather than simply conveying the meaning. This study focuses on the representative classical drama "The Romance of the Western Chamber" (西廂記) and examines strategies for incorporating musicality in its translation. First, the study identifies the creative techniques that reveal musicality in the Gokmun(lyrics) of "The Romance of the Western Chamber," including reduplication and antitheses from a prosodic perspective, and citation and metaphor from a semantic perspective. Next, based on these prosodic and semantic aspects, this paper analyzes the original text and three translations with a focus on singability, the most crucial aspect in translating lyrics. The results show that the semantic aspects, such as citation and metaphor, can be translated by replacing them with equivalent cultural elements or converting metaphors into similes. The prosodic aspects, such as reduplication and antitheses, can be translated by highlighting the conciseness of the language or by making the syllable count similar to that of the source text.

This paper surveys the current status of English-to-Korean translations of Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) lyrics in South Korea and explores ways to assess their translated versions, including ‘official translations’. Official translations refer to those approved by translation committees commissioned by the relevant copyright licensing agencies. Translation of CCM lyrics is severely understudied, particularly in South Korea. While a considerable number of CCM songs have been translated, little research has been conducted on the approval process of the translations such as who judges them and what criteria are used in their assessment. Drawing on findings from other sub-areas of lyrics translation, particularly, singability with musical translation (e.g. Lee 2019b, Franzon 2008, Low 2005), this paper presents eight criteria for evaluating translated lyrics. The main data in this study is the award-winning “Way Maker” by the Nigerian singer-songwriter Sinach and its six Korean translations. The findings reveal that although the official version uses simpler wording seemingly to make it singable, it ironically scores low on the singability criteria.