Translyrics is the process of translating the song into lyrics in a different language, that would work in the original soundtrack.

From 2013-2023, I wrote 56 original translations of songs and published them online. 39 are sing-able translyric projects. I created cover songs of 16 of them and published on youtube and bilibili.

It all started when a friend asked me to translate some lyrics back in 2013. I don’t think I translate often enough, but when I do I tend to get a little obsessive, researching the meaning behind things, thinking about what the creator meant to say, thinking about what it meant for me, and sometimes, whether I could make it ready-to-sing.

About translation, there’s not always going to be an elegant solution to the turning of the phrase, especially when you’re trying to make them sing-able; but when you get the perfect word combination, it’s pretty cool.

About translating

Early works focus on bringing out the original meaning of the songs and conveying the translator’s understanding of the song. There was a lot of imagery in Wang Feng’s songs, and that gave me quite a bit of creative freedom.

The line-by-line translation style continued on into later works. Later works have focused on making the works sing-able while also preserving most of the meaning within the original text. If early works challenged my imagination, later works were a game of words trying to rhyme, communicate the original meaning, and also keep within the syllable count. Perhaps due to the restriction of the song form and my self-imposed restriction of line-by-line translation, later works have, regrettably, seen a drop in quality in terms of eloquence. I recognised this and changed my approach in 2022 when I started on the song gloria.

The transition between Early works and Later works did, however, create some really fantastic translations that could be sung in English. Like Wang Feng’s “Born to Wander”, and Pu Shu’s “A Path in the Ordinary”.

Any challenges?

There were definitely some challenges along the way:

The process of translation

1. It takes 3-4 days of full concentration just thinking about the song, listening to it and jotting down ideas on paper. It also helps to listen to the soundtrack and not focusing too much on the words. This establishes a general flow and captures the feeling.
2. Brainstorm with the lyrics I had jotted down, imagining different similes and expressions. Usually if there is something I can relate to it makes the writing process much easier.
3. Go back to the original lyrics, translate it myself first so I’m not distracted by other ideas. Then I put it through google for rough translations to generate extra ideas.
4. Use thesaurus x 100. Check rhyming website if stuck on a rhyme.
5. When I have some satisfying verses I like to write them out nicely on a piece of paper, then work out the rest of the unfinished ones.
6. For especially tricky verses, ask for a second opinion. Usually, people translate/interpret differently and also express differently! I have a friend who is incredibly direct, and they help to stop the fancy-vocab tunnel-vision.
7. Check the logic of the song. Work out any kinks in the song that sound awkward, fix any grammar issues or bad phrasing. Use thesaurus x 50.
8. Come back a week later and review with fresh eyes.
9. If there is a kink that doesn’t work out (and I was stuck on a particular one for two years), leave it. Publish first and come back later.

Translation challenges in the context of a song

• Since the song is supposed to be sung, it is important to have a matching/similar cadence.
• Rhyming is important – in fact, some translyrics artist might argue this is the most important aspect, but I disagree. Rhyming is important, but a verse that only rhymes for rhyming’s sake is poor writing. For example, if the end of the phrase is soft, you can potentially get away with something that does not rhyme but conveys the meaning much better. If rhyming is impossible at the end, you can try adding more rhyming in the middle of the verse to create that illusion.
• Switching words for better pronunciation. Some words are just a mouthful to sing – opt for a simpler expression. Also, for a very loud and expressive verse, ending with a word that requires the mouth to close at the end would be less desirable than one which requires the mouth to be open.
• This is a restriction I set for myself – line-by-line translation that preserves the meaning of the original lyrics as much as possible. The benefits of this is it does not stray much and can preserve the logic of the song.
• I always opt to preserve the tone and feel of the original lyrics as much as possible. I have written some songs that only retain the tone and feeling (as opposed to a more literal translation). This is a much more freeing approach in terms of writing, and suits me since I did not want to completely abandon the original song and write a new one. My original goal is to bring the beauty of the original song to a wider audience.
• At the end of the translation, it is always important to consider the perspective of a native language listener – do the lyrics flow as naturally as possible, is the meaning clear, is it easy to hear/understand when listening to the music? There is a balance when it comes to this, and some of my songs did it better than others.
• Last checkpoint: attempt to write good and meaningful lyrics, and make it sound cool to sing!
• Earlier works prioritises cohesiveness and original feeling over the lyrics themselves, which resulted in more imaginative and less restricted translations. Later works prioritised literal meaning, which created more rigid translations. The secondary approach was not ideal, especially when the original lyrics did not have enough logic, or that the language/cultural differences made it hard to cling to the original meaning.
• The best combination for writing translyrics seems to be: Cohesiveness > Cadence > Original Feel > Rhyming. The song sounds better when it is relaxed and with only some restrictions.

Copyright challenges for a derivative work

• Translyric projects are considered derivative works of the original. Unfortunately, there isn’t a very good way of getting proper copyright permission for translyric projects. It not only requires the usual copyright consent (license for the cover, own backing tracks, mechanical license to sync the music to a video), but also requires the publishers and the writers of the song to give written consent.
• Youtube changed its terms of service: users with less than 1000 followers cannot opt out of ads on their videos. Ad revenue is shared between youtube and copyright claimant.
• False copyright claim on youtube.
• Bilibili and Netease removed songs from their platform by request of Tencent.

The role of artificial intelligence

• After chatgpt appeared, it was clear that it could not do exactly what I was doing. The pros were it was fast, it could generate different ideas and ways to write about a thought in the verse, it rhymed, it had some idea of cadence; the cons were it couldn’t figure out the syllables, the tone of writing tends towards archaic, the words used were hard to pronounce when singing, the cadence did not fit the song and it could not be performed in the original track without some serious work.
• Conclusion: It’s good for idea generation, like a thesaurus. There are other translyrics artists still doing what they love despite this!
• AI and my work: Only one song took inspiration from chatgpt, and it was the last one of 2023: Darling, that’s not love. Chatgpt generated “star without a wish”, which was used in the final version of the song. All other lines were unusable.
• However, ai did dampen my enthusiasm for this hobby, as it excels in translating. For example, it may take 3-4 days of full concentration to work out a few nice ways to construct certain verses, GPT can give you 5 iterations in seconds, despite the usability of those verses in a songs’ context.

It seems crazy that when I look back it’s already been 10 years! But it was a good run! 🙂