Songs are often translated for musical films and stage musicals. In order to gain more insight into this type of translation, research is needed. While there has been some research, there is still...Show moreSongs are often translated for musical films and stage musicals. In order to gain more insight into this type of translation, research is needed. While there has been some research, there is still a lot to be done in the field of song translation. There are, for example, hardly any comparative studies on different translations of the same song into the same language for different singable purposes. This thesis therefore compares the Dutch translations of songs from Disney’s The Lion King in both the film and the musical version, in order to see if the differences between these translations can be caused by a different focus. This was done by determining the overall translation approach in all songs using Franzon’s (2008) five choices in translation. Additionally, both versions were analysed for the aspects of Low’s (2005) Pentathlon Principle. It was then determined on which aspect the translations focussed. For the film translation, the factors of dubbing, i.e. the visuals and lip synchrony, were taken into account as well. The results show that both the film and the musical translation generally adapt the lyrics to the music. However, the results also show that the film translation generally stayed closer to the ST with regard to sense, compared to the musical translation. This could sometimes be explained by the visuals or the need for lip synchrony. We also see that the musical translation makes more use of singable vowels in long notes than the film translation. Still, the results show that both versions mainly seemed to focus on the rhyme.Show less
Words have some power to change our reality, but it is limited. We cannot use speech to directly physically affect the world around us. One could order a rock to move, and it would not move. Even...Show moreWords have some power to change our reality, but it is limited. We cannot use speech to directly physically affect the world around us. One could order a rock to move, and it would not move. Even those things we can do through speech are limited. One could tell that same rock “I take you, rock, to be my lawfully wedded rock”, and fail to be part of the first ever rock-human marriage. There are conditions that must be met for the act to be successful. Austen states: “The uttering of the words is, indeed, usually a, or even the, leading incident in the performance of the act ... but it is far from being usually, even if it is ever, the sole thing necessary if the act is to be deemed to have been performed” (8). Neither of these limitations are the case in Arda (the name of the world that contains Middle-earth). In Arda, speech acts can effect entirely physical outcomes. To name one well-known example: Gandalf utters the word “friend” in Elvish, and the Doors of Durin open to him. These days this may seem less magical than it did a decade ago, given the advent of voice-recognition and voice assistants, but there are still not many people who would go up to a stone door that does not contain any electronics and expect it to open at the sound of the correct password. That Gandalf does expect this suggests that the world in which he lives operates differently from ours on a fundamental level.Show less
