Tarzan the Musical
An analysis and quality assessment
of the Dutch translation.
Index
Preface ...3
0 - Introduction...4
0.1 Tarzan The Musical – The Story ...4
0.2 The purpose of this paper ...7
Chapter 1 – Translation theory ...9
1.1 Poetry – What is poetry/Difficulties with translating poetry ...9
1.2 Lyrics – How to put words to music/Difficulties with translating
lyrics...11
Chapter 2 – Theory and Analysis ...16
2.1 Stella Linn’s Method ...16
2.1.1 Checklist for the analysis of the Source Text and the Target Text as
independent texts ...16
2.1.2 Checklist for the comparison between ST and TT ...18
2.1.3. Singability...19
2.2 Analysis ...20
2.2.1 Two Worlds/Twee Werelden ...20
2.2.2 You’ll be in my heart/Jij woont in mijn hart ...24
2.2.3 Who better than me/ Bij mij moet je zijn...29
2.2.4 Strangers like me/Het zijn geen vreemden...32
3.1 Problems Encountered and Solutions Found ...36
3.2 Final verdict...38
Bibliography ...40
Appendix A – Lyrics ...42
Appendix B – Sheet Music ...65
Appendix C - Interviews ...90
Preface
The idea for the subject of this paper came from the cartoon Tarzan. I have seen this movie and I was wondering whether the same songs would be used in the musical. I was actually hoping this was not the case since in my opinion these songs were not translated that well. Just take a look at the translation of the titles:
You’ll be in my heart – Jij bent in mijn hart Trashin’ the Camp – Swingende Puinhoop Strangers Like Me – Vreemden als ik
If you ask me these titles are very literal and consequently they sound very artificial. Everyone who hears this knows that they are listening to a translation. Luckily Martine Bijl did re-translate these songs and she did a lot better. Next to this she had to translate the extra songs Phil Collins had to write for the musical, since a musical requires more songs than a cartoon.
After I had established the cartoon songs were indeed different from the musical songs I thought it might be a good idea to make an analysis of the translation Martine Bijl wrote. In the translation classes I had last year I learnt about the problems a translator can encounter while writing a poetry translation and I therefore was curious to see whether Martine Bijl also encountered these and what solutions she found.
The main purpose of this paper therefore is to give a quality analysis; to see whether these songs match the musical as well as the original songs do and whether they are able to match the audience’s expectations. In order to make sure my judgment was based on more than just the CDs and the sheet music I went to see the musical in the Circus Theatre in Scheveningen. The show (which provides me with a context for the songs) and the analysis of the songs (with the help of sheet music) make sure the judgment in the end will be objective and based on facts.
0 - Introduction
0.1 Tarzan The Musical – The Story
In order to understand the context of the songs, a short summary of the musical is needed. This will make it easier to understand why the translator made certain choices and how this translated song still fits the story. The translator usually aims for the same subject in the song, but she may have chosen to focus on a different detail than the original, as will become clear later.
First Act
Just before the coast of Africa a young family barely survives a shipwreck. Once they are washed ashore they build a tree house to protect their newborn baby. Not far from the tree house a male gorilla called Kerchak and a female gorilla called Kala fight for the life of their newborn baby gorilla. A panther robs them of their baby and thereupon kills the two shipwrecked people.
( You’ll be in my heart)
Kala mourns heartrendingly for the death of her young until she hears the lonely cry of the human baby. The child is defenceless, but Kala saves him from the murderous panther. Kala locks him in her heart and gives him the name Tarzan. Back in the gorilla colony Kala encounters resistance from Korchak to her new role of being a mother, but Kala is determined to give Tarzan a home.
( Who better than me)
Kerchak keeps seeing Tarzan as a threat. When the boy makes a spear in all his innocence, Kerchak feels that that is the limit. For fear for the safety of the other gorillas, he bans Tarzan from the family.
( I need to know)
Kala stays with her son, but Tarzan feels unhappy and misunderstood. Kala convinces Tarzan of the fact that it does not matter what you look like, but that it is all about what you feel.
Years go by and Tarzan has turned into an athletic, creative young man.
( Son of man)
Still the unrelenting Korckak cannot and will not accept Tarzan. ( Sure as sun turns to moon)
This changes when Tarzan kills the dreaded panther Sabor.
… then gunshots sound through the jungle. The monkeys flee, but Tarzan goes and investigates.
( Waiting for this moment)
Nature researcher Jane Porter is on an expedition in the jungle. Overcome by the diversity of life in the jungle, she does not see the dangers lurking round the corner. She is being attacked by an enormous spider. Tarzan comes swinging to her rescue and saves this strange but also familiar human creature.
( Different)
Second Act
Terk and the monkeys ‘re-model’ the expedition camp of the intrusive humans.
( Trashin’ the camp)
When Jane returns to the camp with Tarzan she is stunned to see the gorillas. Her whole life she has dreamt of this. When the gorillas have left again Jane has a lot of trouble convincing her father and Mr. Clayton, the expedition leader, of her experiences.
Korchak forbids further contact with humans, but Tarzan feels an irresistible attraction to Jane. Porter notices his daughter has changed from a naïve student into a woman in love.
( Like no man I’ve ever seen)
As Jane teaches Tarzan more and more about human beings ( Strangers like me),
Clayton begins to feel jealous.
The more Jane gets to know about the life and family of Tarzan, the more she begins to feel for this friendly ‘primitive’.
( For the first time)
Jane begs Porter to call off his original plans and therefore not to catch any gorillas, but Clayton misleads everyone and sets a trap which leads him to the nesting place of the gorillas deep in the jungle.
Terk tries to help Tarzan by keeping Kerchak at a distance ( Who better than me, reprise). But Korchak reappears, drives the people away and demands that Tarzan decides who
( Everything that I am)
Tarzan is determined to return to England as a human being. He comforts Kala and promises her that he will never forget her ( You’ll be in my heart, reprise). But then fate
strikes hard and Clayton kills Kerchak. The tribe has lost its leader. There is only one solution ( As sure as sun turns to moon) and that means that Tarzan has to stay. Jane struggles with
the everlasting question: what is family? But to her and Tarzan the answer is now clear.
( Two worlds, reprise)
(Press Information File, personal communication)
0.2 The purpose of this paper
Phil Collins wrote the songs for the original music. He had already written some of them for the Disney film Tarzan, but he had to write a few more for the musical. He wanted to be involved in the proceedings concerning the musical because he felt he had to be close to the musical itself in order to make his songs sound exactly the way he wanted to (Press Information File, personal communication).
Martine Bijl, who has translated this musical, has a lot of experience in translating musicals. Before Tarzan, she translated 42nd Street, Aida, The Lion King, The Wiz and Beauty and
the Beast. In an article she wrote about the translation of The Lion King, she states that the translator of a musical always has to keep a few rules in mind: rhythm, stress and singability. The last one she deems most important since the performers have to sing the same songs every night. Next to this she claims that you never simply translate from one language to another. You translate from one country to another country; your own country and your own audience that thinks differently and that formulates differently (1).
In the Netherlands the reviews were mostly positive and the show turned out to be a great success and is now going in to its second year. The main reason for this difference is probably the fact that the show (and the way it is performed) has been slightly altered after the unexpected failure on Broadway. The producers are very happy with the results in the Netherlands (parts of reviews taken from Erbzine.com).
In order to make this show a success in Holland the producers had to change it a bit, though they did not change the texts but mainly the show around it. Still, even though these events are very important the text has to be good as well and therefore the translation of a musical is equally, or probably even more important for a musical in order to make it a success.
Chapter 1 – Translation theory
1.1 Poetry – What is poetry/Difficulties with translating poetry
"Translation is inevitably a process of metamorphosis, an audacious leap from one poem to another, across the boundaries of different languages and countries, in a sense an impossibility" (Judith Wilkinson, on translating a Dutch poet)
Poetry, according to the Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms is ´language sung, chanted, spoken, or written according to some pattern of recurrence that emphasizes the relationship between words on the basis of sound as well as sense: this pattern is almost always a rhythm or metre, which may be supplemented by rhyme or alliteration or both’ 1. The main characteristic of poetry therefore is
metre (and the rhythm within the metre), but rhyme and alliteration are very important
characteristics as well since they can form a possible problem for the translator. For this reason I will discuss these three characteristics in further detail.
Firstly, metre is ‘the recurrence, in regular units, of a prominent feature in the sequence of speech-sounds of a language’ (Abrams, 167). The type of metre that is used in modern English poetry is called accentual-syllabic, which is a combination of syllabic (depending on the number of syllables within a line of verse, without regard to the fall of the stresses) and accentual metre (depending on the number of stressed syllables within a line, without regard to the number of intervening unstressed syllables) (Abrams 167). In accentual-syllabic metre ‘metric units consist of a recurrent pattern of stresses on a recurrent number of syllables’ (Abrams 168)
A line in a poem consists of different feet, of which there are four standard types in English: Iambic (unstressed – stressed), Anapaestic (unstressed - unstressed – stressed), Trochaic (stressed – unstressed) and Dactylic (stressed – unstressed – unstressed) (Abrams 169). Depending on the number of these feet in a line, the metre is called monometer, diameter, trimeter,
tetrameter, pentameter, hexameter, heptameter or octameter (1-8 feet) (Abrams 170).
Secondly, rhythm is ‘a recognizable although varying pattern in the beat of the stresses, or accents (the more forcefully uttered, hence louder syllables) in the stream of speech sounds´
1“Poetry.” Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms. Ed. Chris Baldick. New York: Oxford University
(Abrams 168). In metre this rhythm therefore is formed according to the number of stressed syllables or the order of feet in a line.
Next to metre and rhythm, rhyme can occur in a line of verse. Rhyme itself can occur in several forms, of which the most common ones are: end rhyme (at the end of a verse line), internal rhyme (within a verse line), masculine rhyme (single stressed syllable), feminine rhyme (stressed syllable followed by an unstressed one), perfect rhyme (the correspondence of the rhymed sounds is exact), eye rhyme (endings are spelled alike, but have a different pronunciation) and partial rhyme (the vowels are only approximate, or else quite different). When translating a poem, rhyme may be a very important factor in the process, since it may be one of the most prominent features.
The last abovementioned characteristic is alliteration, which according to the Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms is ‘the repetition of same sounds – usually initial consonants of words or of stressed syllables – in any sequence of neighbouring words’ 2. Consequently,
alliteration is a sort of sound pattern which gives a special twist to a poem, something the translator has to take notice of.
These aforementioned characteristics are an important obstacle for a translator. In case they appear, it is not without a reason; they give the poem an identity. Edwald Osers, a translator of poetry himself, points out some other important stumbling blocs translators come across, in his essay “Some Aspects of Translating Poetry”:
1. the recognition of ‘otherness’, or the recognition of words that mean more, and have more underlying thoughts than meets the eye. In this, the translator does not only have to recognize the non-ordinariness, he/she also has to be able to reproduce it in translation, or at least has to be able to find an equivalent when a direct translation is not possible (161).
2. Certain syntactic possibilities of the Source Language may be absent in the Target Language. The translator may use compensatory strategies here, but this is not always possible (164).
3. The presence of macrostructure, such as the presence of metre and rhyme (165). 4. Polysemy, ‘the fact that very few words are true synonyms in a language pair and
instead are synonymous only over an overlap area of their meanings’ can also form a problem since the translator has to keep these other meanings in mind. ‘[W]ords are often deliberately chosen in such a way that, on top of their primary meaning in the text, they carry the overtones, the associations, of a secondary meaning’(165/166).
5. Metaphors (in short, the extension of the meaning of a word or phrase to another word or phrase) also have to be noticed by the translator and next to this, the translator has to find an equivalent in the Target Language. This especially causes problems when a writer has invented a new metaphor, in this case the translator often has to either translate the metaphor literally, or invent a new one himself. The difficulty of translating metaphors often lies in the area of cultural differences (166-168).
These five points are problems experienced translators are often confronted with, although Osers admits he is not a theoretician. He agrees with the point of view that many translators (and readers) have, namely that a translation can never live up to the original, since some things just cannot be translated. Peter Verstegen, who is an experienced translator as well, also agrees with this point of view; he feels that it is the translator’s task to make it a good likeness (Verstegen 1985, 364).This also means that two different translators can make very different translations while both are true to the original in their own way (364).
Next to this, Peter Verstegen discusses the beginnings of a poetry translation quality assessment in his article. He looks at the difference between a semantic and astylistic poem, form elements such as for example metre and rhyme, paraphrasing (and therefore meaning) and
interpretation (365-370). Stella Linn’s method, which I will discuss in Chapter 2, also incorporates these points though her method is more detailed which makes it possible to write a very detailed poetry quality analysis. The obstacles mentioned before and the problems Osers mentioned are points to keep in mind while looking at the methods of Jeremy Munday and Stella Linn in the upcoming chapters.
1.2 Lyrics – How to put words to music/Difficulties with translating lyrics
“
When words are set to music, the unit of meaning contracts from morpheme to note, and a modulation, a change of note, or even the prolongation of a note can express a new message.” (Peter Newmark, paragraph on Units of Meaning, 194)Liedteksten Schrijven. This book is a sort of guide meant for starting songwriters, who do not know exactly how to turn a poem into a song, or even how to write a text and how to compose the music for this text; in short, it gives tips, methods and rules to make it easier for a beginning songwriter. I will discuss the subjects in this book (though not in too much detail) which are important for the subject of translating songs, namely that of rhythm, metre and the six factors (which will be mentioned below) which make a song a song.
First of all, rhythm and metre again are very important. This is what songs have in
common with poems; songs often start out as poems and are then put to music. Though it may not always be the case that a song has a set rhythm and metre (jazz for example does not necessarily have this), musical songs do since they have to be catchy (songs are a very important part of the musical, the audience will remember a musical by its songs).
Though many people believe rhythm and metre are the same, Yke Schotanus stresses that this is not the case. Both have something to do with accents and stress, but they are related to these in different ways. Metre is the regular alternation of more and less stressed syllables, while rhythm is set by heavy accents regularly recurring (27). Rhythm, therefore, is what makes the song catchy; the words that are heavily stressed are the ones the audience will remember. In the song ‘Who better than me’, for example, the words ‘who better than me’ and the varying ending of the line (‘to teach you’ or ‘to set you on your way’ etc.) that follows are heavily stressed since these are the most important lines of the song. It illustrates that Terk is the one who will teach young Tarzan everything he needs to know about the jungle.
Next to this Schotanus mentions line length. One piece of a melody can handle a varying amount of syllables. The only thing it needs is enough words for the notes that carry the melody (the necessary notes that make the melody recognizable and familiar), the rest of the words can be called ornaments (29). On the other hand, the fact remains that the line has to be sung, so too many words would make it too complicated.
The last basic element of a song that Schotanus mentions is rhyme. Here he deals with the misunderstanding that songs need rhyme. Though rhyme is a characteristic of songs, it does not necessarily have to be used. On the other hand, he does recommend starting songwriters to use the element of rhyme (29). The songs in the musical Tarzan also have rhyme, which probably again has to do with the fact that it has to be catchy.
Besides these three basic elements of song, Schotanus also mentions six factors that limit the songwriter in one way, but increase the number of possibilities in another way.
These factors are:
- the audience - the singer(s)
- the circumstances under which the text is performed - the fact that you do not read the text, but listen to it
(p.31)
I will briefly sum up the most important things Schotanus mentions when it comes to these points. Melody is a very important aspect when it comes to the musical structure. The melody has to use a few general chords in order to make it harmonious, but there is room for some variation within these chords, and therefore it is possible for the composer to repeat in order to give it structure, while still having surprising elements (31/32).
Next to this there are many different composers, since one can like a set metre and regularity while others like some irregularity in a text, as it will then be more of a challenge. Another problem is that words have to be singable, or else they will turn into tongue twisters. Therefore the composer have to keep the singable vowels in mind (the long vowels) while writing a song, since a long note needs a long vowel in most cases, or a syllable that allows lengthening. Besides this the composer has to keep in mind the fact that the text needs to be comprehensible, because the listener does not have that much time to think about it since the song goes on and there is no time to ‘re-read’ as one might do in a poem (33-35).
The setting is important because it determines the kind of song. In a concert hall for example, the audience might only need to recognize pieces of text in order to be able to sing along with popular songs, while in a theatre people are there to listen to music in a concentrated way; they want to hear the entire text (43).
Musicals are also watched in theatres and usually people do not sing along, therefore people will hear the entire song. But there is an extra factor when it comes to musical songs, since they are also related to the context. Many times a song will tell part of the story, (the songs often represent a conversation or the thoughts of a character) which means that the musical needs these songs to make it comprehensible. The music enhances the effect of such a conversation or the thoughts of certain character. In Tarzan, the song ‘No other way’ for example shows a
conversation between Kala and Kerchak about Tarzan. Kerchak wants him to leave since he can be dangerous, while Kala does not see this danger and wants him to stay. The music makes this conversation more dramatic than it would have been as a normal conversation.
does use rhyme and regularity, has written for the setting of a theatre. Phil Collins, the composer, has also made sure that the songs are catchy and that they fit the context.
Now, to turn to the translation of songs, Martine Bijl probably had to keep these factors in mind as well, in addition to many other things. Though writing about the translation of Papago songs, Donald Bahr provides his reader with a basic translation method that can be applied to most songs. Basically, what he says is that when translating a song you should start by making a literal translation of the text, then this literal translation should be turned into a text that fits the music of the original song (Bahr 170).
Klaus Kaindl, in his essay on the translation of pop songs, uses the more detailed method of Philip Tagg, which he says does not only apply to the performance of pop music, but can also be used as a starting point for a translation analysis. This method takes into account the aspects of time (metre, rhythm), aspects of melody, orchestration (instrumentation, voice type), aspects of tonality and texture (harmony, relationships between voices and instruments), dynamic aspects (audibility, accentuation), acoustical aspects (distance between sound source and listener, simultaneous ‘extraneous’ sounds) and electromusical and mechanical aspects (filtering, compressing, phasing, distortion, mixing). Most of these can also be applied to musical songs, although I think the aspects of time, melody and the dynamic aspects are most important (245).
Johan Franzon, in his essay “Musical Comedy Translation: Fidelity and Format in the Scandinavian My Fair Lady” discusses the translation problems specific to musical songs. He stresses that ‘in song translation, the sense and facts of the source texts are often changed. This is as evident in popular song translation as in musical theatre translation, where greater fidelity in the source text generally would be expected (263).’ As a reason he names the fact that the text has to fit the music, and therefore he would rather use the term adaptation than translation when it comes to musical songs (264-265). Further on in his essay he says that ‘theatrical song could be […] defined as the production of a target text that resembles its source text in respects relevant to its presentation as a staged narrative to music (267)’, which I think is a very accurate description.
For the analysis, and the identification of problems in the translation Franzon uses two terms, namely fidelity and format:
These two elements therefore also cover many of the problems a translator can come across, since he or she has to make sure that these come back in the translation, although in this case the translator does not necessarily have to make a literal translation; ‘the adequacy of the target text for the new purpose (intratextual coherence) is given priority over its optimal likeness to the source text (intertextual coherence) (267).’
Another factor that may cause problems is that of culture. Sometimes a text has to be taken to the culture of the target text in order to make it possible for people to understand and identify. But since this is not the case in Tarzan (the jungle is a place everyone has some sort of an idea about, especially the jungle as it is depicted in cartoons (Jungle Book, Tarzan, George of the Jungle) I will not discuss this factor in detail.
So, to summarize, in order to be able to translate songs well, the translator not only has to know both languages well. There are many other factors to keep in mind. The six points Yke Schotanus mentions are very important in the process, as are those of Klaus Kaindl. Since all of these are points a songwriter has to keep in mind while writing it is also very important that the translator takes them into account.
Franzon mainly sees translational problems in the area of fidelity; the translator has to take into account factors such as rhyme, singable vowels and narrative content. He believes that the translated text is more important than the source text in this case, since the audience has to be able to identify with the story and the characters. Later on in his essay he even says that ‘the lyricist-translator may choose how explicit the links to narrative, stage-related, or presentational contexts will be (274).’ I do not agree with this last point. The translator probably has to do with the composer of the original musical songs and will therefore not have that much freedom. The main ‘feel’ of the musical and the relation of the songs to the narrative probably will have to be as much like the original as possible, for otherwise they would have to change too much in the format.
Chapter 2 – Theory and Analysis
In this chapter I will give an analysis of the four songs I have chosen to use for this paper. I will start with a general analysis in which I will point out the differences in the translation without looking at the reasons for these differences yet. I will categorize the differences, which will make it easier to point out recurring differences or main problems.
After this general analysis, I will analyse the songs in more depth by using the checklist for analysing translated poetry designed by Stella Linn in her book Dichterlijkheid of Letterlijkheid? Prioriteiten in de Spaanse Vertalingen van Nederlandstalige Poëzie.
2.1 Stella Linn’s Method
The method for the translation of poetry designed by Stella Linn consists of two parts. The first checklist deals with an analysis of both ST and TT independently, the second one is meant for a comparison between the ST and TT. I have left out the questions that can only be applied to poetry, and I have made the remaining questions suitable for the analysis of lyrics. These two checklists and my own point ‘singability’ will be the main focus of the upcoming part. I will add both lists below.
2.1.1 Checklist for the analysis of the Source Text and the Target Text as independent texts
Formal Level
Is the text presented as a song? Does the form point to a particular kind of song, as for example a pop song?
Phonological Level
does that have for the content? Does it have a steady metre? Does it have a particular kind of rhyme, as for example assonance, alliteration? What effect does that have? Are there any sound effects, as for example echoes or onomatopoeias? What is their function? Are there any unexpected stresses on words? What are the consequences?
Pragmatic-Semantic Level
Is the use of language extraordinary, pregnant, does it evoke tension? In what way? Do groups of words belong to certain semantic fields? Does it have terms with special connotations? In what area? Are there any culture-bound terms? What do these evoke? Are there any words that function as symbols? What do they symbolize and what is the importance? Are there any words that stand out because of their prominent position or frequency? Do these function as key terms? Do they add to the theme? Does the repetition suggest connections within the text? Are there any ambiguous terms (on micro or macro level)? What do they evoke? Are there any idiomatic clichés? What do they evoke (irony, recognition). Are there any interrogative words, or negations? What is their function? Is there any irony? What does this suggest? Which type of speech act is dominant? From which viewpoint is it told or represented? Does this vary, and with what effect?
Syntactic Level
Are the lines long or short or do they vary. If they vary, how do they vary and what is the effect? What connection can be made with the story? Are there parallel or analogous structures, or repetitions? Is there any extra cohesion within the text because of these? Is the order of the words within a line or a stanza significant; are important terms, for example, placed at the beginning or the end? Are there any syntactic deviations from ‘normal’ speech? Are there any deviations in the spelling or the punctuation? If so, what does it suggest? Are there any impersonal constructions? If so, in what frequency, and what effect do these have?
Stylistic Level
What kind of imagery (comparison, metaphors, personification, synaesthesia etc.), and with what function?
(translated from Linn 74-76)
2.1.2 Checklist for the comparison between ST and TT
Formal Level
Is the song presented in the same way?
Phonological Level
Does the song sound just as musical and natural in the TT as it does in the ST? Have the
meaningful sounds of the original been preserved and do they make the same impression? Is there any compensation for certain aspects, since they had to be realized differently in the TT? If so, is the overall effect the same? Do the metre and the rhyme come across? If these add to the theme, do they have the same function in the TT? Have the rhyme effects been preserved, and does the rhyme function in the same way? If there are any remarkable or deviating stresses, are they in the TT as well? If not, how is this a loss for the TT?
Pragmatic-Semantic Level
irony have the same function? Does the focalisation work in the same way? If not, what shift does the perspective make? Is Pragmatic-Semantic loss compensated in a certain way?
Syntactic Level
Does the TT make a translated or an original impression? Are the stanza’s longer or shorter than in the ST? Has any tension been lost because of that? Does the translation have the same degree of complexity? If not, does it have a different effect? Have the repetitions been maintained or is there some ‘elegant variation’? If so, is the text still evenly coherent? Are the key terms still placed in a prominent position in the text? Have any deviations in for example syntax, morphology, spelling or punctuation been reproduced? Or is it impossible to reproduce it in the same way in the TT? And what happened to the impersonal constructions? If there were any changes, what
consequences do they have? Is there any compensation for syntactical shifts?
Stylistic Level
Are the tone and mood the same as in the original? Have the forms of language variation (e.g. time, region, register) been maintained? If not, what has changed because of this? Is the translated poem more modern, or more old fashioned, has it been placed in a different geographical context, have characters gotten a different social status? Has the imagery been preserved? Does the imagery have the same connotations and associations in the TT as it has in the ST? If not, what consequences does this have? What happened to the figures of speech? And to the stylistic deviations? Is there any compensation for deviations in this area?
(translated from Linn76-78)
2.1.3. Singability
Though Stella Linn’s checklists provide material for a very detailed poetry translation analysis, they miss one element for the analysis of translated songs. This is singability, or whether the text is suitable for singing and if it fits the melody. Therefore extra questions that can be added to the checklist are: Is the text easy to sing? Does the number of syllables fit the music? Does the translated text fit the music as well as the original does?
2.2 Analysis
2.2.1
Two Worlds/Twee WereldenIn this song there is not much that stayed the same and it is safe to say that Martine Bijl did not translate literally. At first glance you can see that the Target Text is very different from the Source Text, and that only a few elements of the ST can be found in the TT.
Firstly, the chorus has been altered completely. ‘Put your faith in what you most believe in’ has become ‘Alles leeft onder dezelfde sterren’ , ‘Two worlds, one family/ trust your heart’ has become ‘één huis, één hemelboog/één gezin’ and ‘to guide these lives we see’ is turned into ‘staan zwijgend oog in oog’. The only thing that occurs in both ST and TT is ‘one family/één gezin’ though not in the same place, but even this has some qualitative loss in it since the strong sense of family is not reflected in the word ‘gezin’. ‘Gezin’ more or less points to mum, dad and kids, while in this story there’s actually a strong emphasis on the entire gorilla family/human family issue (which means all the gorilla’s and all humans). Next to this the translator puts more emphasis on the fact that we all live in the same world and therefore are all family while this cannot be traced back to the ST, which actually puts the emphasis on the fact that the human and the gorilla world are very different. Another example of the loss of the underlying sense of the close-knit (gorilla) family can be found in the sixth stanza. ‘Take strength from those that need you’ is translated to ‘Vind in wat zwak is/ je kracht’ which causes the underlying sense of family to be lost.
The third stanza is translated more literally, or at least, the stanza has the same purport, though it does contain another ‘problem’: ennoblement, which, according to Antoine Berman’s ‘list of deforming tendencies’ (while writing a translation), is the tendency to improve on the original by rewriting it in a more elegant style (Munday, 150). ‘A paradise untouched by man’ becomes ‘Ongeschonden paradijs’ and ‘A simple life, they live in peace’ becomes ‘In waardigheid – zo leven zij’. The use of language in the TT seems to be more stylish, or maybe a bit too stylish since we are talking about the jungle here. This ennoblement seems to be a recurring thing in the songs. Another example of this is in the line ‘Beneath the shelter of the trees’ which is translated to ‘En in die duizend kleuren groen’ which is more poetic than the original.
Two Worlds – Stella Linn’s method
stanzas make clear that the song is meant as a song that people can easily sing along with, or at least one that people will remember.
On the Phonological level the song starts slowly, the text is sung very slowly to make it a
bit mystical, the music also contributes to this effect. After this the drums start to sound and the text is sung faster. After this, there is an interval with only drums and music, which leads the song back into a slower tempo again. Then there is the sound of a baby crying and a background melody, which foreshadow an upcoming song. Following this the song ends with the faster rhythm with stress on the chorus. So the rhythm does vary in this song, the slow parts seem to get more stress. The sentence ´Two worlds, one family´ stands out in the song, probably because this is an important statement in this song. Tarzan and his gorilla mother come from two completely different worlds, but they belong to one family. There is no striking use of special kinds of rhyme, though there is one line in which there is internal rhyme: ‘danger’s no stranger here’. This line is not stressed very heavily in the song though, so it probably does not have an extra function. On the Pragmatic Semantic level it can be said that the use of language is not very
extraordinary, though it cannot be called ordinary language either. The song uses rather poetic language to describe the jungle and the ways of the gorilla family in the jungle, next to this it illustrates what has happened to Tarzan and the gorillas before the time of the start of the musical. Kala has lost her baby and finds Tarzan, he is her new baby and she decides to take care of him.
There are no symbols in the text, though you could say that the sentence ‘Two worlds, one family’ symbolizes the entire musical. The whole story revolves around the gorilla family and the human Tarzan; when Jane and her father come to the jungle he has to choose between the two worlds. He feels he belongs to the gorilla family since that is where he grew up, but on the other hand he now knows there are people just like him who are his biological family. At the end of the play it becomes clear that even though humans and gorillas are from two very different worlds, they can still live together as one family. This is probably also the reason why this particular sentence is repeated over and over and why it has a prominent position in the song (slowly sung at the beginning and often repeated in the end). Of course the rest of the chorus is also repeated, but not as often as this line.
This song is told from an omniscient point of view, someone who wants to tell the story of Tarzan. It is meant as an introduction to what is going to happen in the musical. Next to this the ‘storyteller’ introduces the jungle, and gives some advice to the characters of the story.
On the stylistic level it can be said that the tone of the song is rather serious but also very cheerful. It is meant as a rather spectacular beginning of the musical which already creates an atmosphere for the rest of the story. There is some imagery in the song, especially when it comes to the description of the jungle as for example in the metaphors ‘paradise untouched by man’ and ‘this world blessed with love’. Next to this there is one line in which personification occurs: ‘danger’s no stranger here’.
Twee Werelden – Stella Linn’s method
Here also the song is presented as a song, it has a clear chorus and stanzas. The Dutch version is from a CD booklet as well.
On the Phonological Level the song starts slowly to build up some tension, then the drums
begin to pound and the more up-tempo part of the song starts, which is again followed by a slower part in which the music and singing sounds a bit ‘sweeter’. Then there is the crying of a baby and the melody of the following song ‘Jij woont in mijn hart’, a sort of foreshadowing. After this the song returns to the up-tempo rhythm. In other words, the rhythm varies which makes it possible to stress certain parts that are important (foreshadowing). The sentence ‘Één huis één hemelboog’ is stressed most since it occurs in the slow parts and is stressed extra in the fast parts. This means that the fact that we all belong to the same world, no matter where we are from is an important theme in this song.
On the Pragmatic-Semantic level the use of language is mostly ordinary though it will
probably not be used like this on a daily basis. The way things are described (the jungle and the story of baby-Tarzan) is still a bit poetic. The sentence ‘Één huis, één hemelboog’ can be seen as a symbol; it symbolizes the fact that everyone lives in the same world. So even though Tarzan and the gorillas are completely different, they still come from the same world. The sentence therefore has a prominent position in the song, at the beginning and at the end and it is also repeated very often in between. Even though this sentence is taken out of the chorus and repeated more often, the chorus itself is also very important and must consequently be called a key part in the musical. It symbolizes the idea of the story: two different worlds (human and animal) have to work
together in order to survive which causes some problems in the beginning, but leads to a mutual feeling of trust in the end.
The song is sung by an omniscient character who knows what happened before the
On the Syntactic level the lines are of varying length which has the effect that the shorter
lines are stressed more. They sound like commands, or maybe strong advice. The word order is not very important in this song, though you might say that the contrast between ‘Één huis’ ‘Één gezin’ ‘Één hemelboog’ and ‘Twee werelden’ is stressed because the numerals are placed at the beginning of the sentence. = line
On the Stylistic level it can be said that the style and tone of the song is alternately serious
and cheerful. The serious parts are mostly there to stress the main theme (two worlds, one family) and to give the sad though hopeful part (the gorilla mother loses her baby and finds Tarzan) more power. Next to this the fast parts function as a spectacular beginning that leaves an impression on the audience: it sets the tone for the rest of the musical.
There is also some personification in this song: ‘Twee werelden/ staan zwijgend oog in oog’. Next to this, there is also a metaphor for the jungle: ‘Ongeschonden paradijs’ and a metonymic expression concerning the jungle ‘En in die duizend kleuren groen’ (which means that the many shades of green there form the jungle together).
Comparison/Singability
Apart from the fact that the text in the translated song is quite different (when looking at the actual text) there are not that many differences in the presentation of the song. The form is still the same and so is the accompanying music and rhythm. In the ST the line ‘Two worlds, one family’ are stressed, and in the TT the parallel line ‘Één huis, één hemelboog’ therefore gets stress as well. These two lines do have a different effect though; the one in the ST shows more contrast than the one in the TT. This means that the contrast is clearer in the ST, whereas the stress in the TT is now more on the fact that we all live in the same world. The translator has tried to
compensate this effect by placing the numerals ‘Éen’ en ‘Twee’ at the beginning of the line which also shows the contrast between the two different worlds and the fact that they were meant to be one family. Still this compensation does not have the same strong effect that the original has.
Another effect that cannot be found in the translated song is the fact that the ST has many imperatives. The TT has only four of them in one stanza, whereas the ST has imperatives in the chorus and many in the stanzas. Because of this, the effect of the storyteller giving advice is not as strong in the translated song.
another option would then be to make it sound like ‘famihilie’ but that also would not be the best option. This explains why the translator chose ‘één hemelboog’; this is probably a lot easier to sing.
Another problem that often occurs is that the Dutch translated word has too many syllables, which is why the translator has to look for another solution. In this song for example ‘trust your heart’ can never be translated so that it fits the music, which is probably why Martine Bijl here chose to use this sentence to make up for an element she lost earlier, namely that of ‘one family’. The next two lines she also uses for this purpose though this does mean other information is lost. In this case she has to make sure the most important information is transferred to the translation even if this means she has to ‘sacrifice’ some other information.
When looking at the two songs there still are a few lines where the number of syllables does not match: ‘A paradise untouched by man’ / ‘Ongeschonden paradijs’. The original has 8 syllables while the Dutch translation has 7. This could mean a problem for one of the performers, and this proves to be the English performer. There are too many syllables in the line and therefore he chooses to omit the first ‘A’ which means he sings ‘Paradise untouched by man’. This is an
acceptable solution, since it does not take away the message. Another example of this can be found in the line ‘Within this world blessed with love’ / ‘Door geen mens aangeraakt’ where the original has 7 syllables whereas the translation has 6. Again, the English performer encounters a problem in the singability and has to pronounce ‘Within’ as ‘W-Thin’ to make it singable. This does not sound very good, the word is now pronounced very quickly and people might miss its meaning (they will probably only hear ‘Thin’).
2.2.2 You’ll be in my heart/Jij woont in mijn hart
The translation of this song is more like the original; the purport of the content is almost the same. The main thing discussed here is the fact that Kala is determined to raise Tarzan as her own son; she is convinced he will make a good gorilla.
Therefore, the main idea of this particular song is the same in both the ST and the TT. The sense of the eternal love of a mother comes forward in both, though they both use different lines to show this underlying idea (the original has ‘Now and forever more’ and the repetition of ‘Always’ in the end, while the translation has ‘Heel diep in mijn hart’ and also the repetition of ‘Altijd’ in the end.
You’ll Be In My Heart – Stella Linn’s method
On the Formal level the song looks like a regular pop song since it has a chorus and various verses. On the Phonological level this entire song is sung slowly and sometimes legato though
there is a small change in rhythm after the fifth stanza, halfway through the song. This is where Kala’s thoughts shift from the baby to what Kerchak will think of the baby. She knows he will not like it, but she is determined to keep the baby and convince Kerchak that she is right. Therefore, the sixth and seventh stanza sound a bit stronger, after this, the song returns to its original rhythm and sound.
There is some alliteration in the song, as for example in the line ‘For one so small, you seem so strong’, and later on in the same stanza the word ‘safe’ is added to the list (which also receives extra stress), in which the S-sound is very important. It stresses the contradiction of small and strong, and the fact that someone needs to keep him safe in order to be able to become strong. In the 7th stanza there is also some alliteration in the line ‘to have, to hold’ which is also an
English expression.
Next to this there is an unexpected stress on the lines ‘Don’t listen to him/ cause what does he know’ which are sung very strongly. This is probably for two reasons, the first is that it is the beginning of a different part in the song (the new and slightly faster rhythm starts), the second (more important) reason is that this strong way of singing symbolizes the anger Kala feels when thinking of Kerchak’s reaction. He only sees danger in this human baby and wants it to go away as soon as possible. By singing these lines in this way her determination to keep the baby and ignore Kerchak is illustrated.
On the Pragmatic-Semantic level it can be said that the song is written in ordinary
(always, always, always) that end the song make this effect stronger which is probably why these words are put at the end of the song. This song is sung from Kala’s viewpoint, which makes it a personal song.She may have been singing it to Tarzan.
On the Syntactic level the line lengths vary, but this does not have an important effect
though you could say it adds to the fact that it is meant as a conversation/thoughts since in a normal conversation line lengths also vary. Because of this many of the sentences start with ‘I’ or ‘You’. Kala is speaking to Tarzan and promises him many things.
On the Stylistic level the tone is rather serious and full of love. This goes for almost the
entire song except for the part where she talks about Kerchak where the tone is more determined. Next to this there are many metaphors concerning love. Being in someone’s heart is a metaphor for the fact that this someone will never forget you and will always love you. “This bond between us can’t be broken’ means that Kala will always take care of Tarzan and that they will always be family.
Jij woont in mijn hart – Stella Linn’s method
On the Formal level this text looks like a pop song. A pop song, according to the definition on The Free Online Dictionary, ‘typically has a dance-along rhythm or beat, simple melodies and a repeating structure’. Next to this ‘pop songs usually have a verse and chorus’ and ‘the lyrics often concern romance and relationships’3. This definition also applies to this song since it clearly has
verses and a chorus, and concerns the relationship between a mother and her child.
On the Phonological level, it can be said that the song is sung slowly and that some parts
are legato. After the fifth stanza there is a small change in rhythm (for about two lines, which are about Kerchak) and after that the song continues in the previous slow rhythm.
Though there is no alliteration in this song there is some assonance (of the õ sound) in the third stanza: ‘Je bent zo klein bloot en wit/ maar ik voel nou al/ dat er pit in zit …’ ‘Wees maar
stil’. This makes sure that these words stand out in the stanza and that they stress the fact that
though Tarzan is vulnerable now, he will grow out to be a strong man some day.
Secondly there also is some rhyme in the translated version, which mostly is masculine rhyme as for example in the first stanza: ‘Wees maar stil… Wat je wil’. Another example of this can be found in the fifth stanza: ‘En nooit wil ik jou kwijt/ Jij woont hier in mijn hart, altijd’.
In the translation the two lines after the fifth stanza are also stressed, which illustrates the anger Kala feels towards Kerchak’s rejection of Tarzan. The words are sung more powerfully and
more staccato than the other lines in the song. After these lines Kala softens again (probably because she is looking at baby-Tarzan) and her tone returns to the ways it was before.
On the Pragmatic-Semantic level it can be said that most of this song is written in ordinary
language, since Kala is singing/saying/thinking this. It is ordinary speech, although you might say ‘Jij woont in mijn hart’ is a sentence one normally would not utter that soon, it seems a bit poetic. In this translated song there is also a lot of emphasis on the fact that Kala loves Tarzan from the moment she sees him and that she is willing to protect him with her life. The entire song consists of lines pointing to this fact. Next to this there is already an indication that Kala is willing to leave Kerchak and the rest of the gorilla family if that is what it takes to protect Tarzan. In the
translation Kala also tells Tarzan how the other gorillas think about him; they think he’s different and do not really trust him. She knows that in the end they will all see what she sees, even though that means she will have to go away with him first. The fact that this song is sung from Kala’s viewpoint makes it very personal and the audience now knows that Kala is the one who really believes in Tarzan. She is foreshadowing a bit of what is to come.
Another thing that is connected with this is the fact that the words ‘jij’, ‘wij’ and ‘zij’ are very frequent in this song. This means that for Kala there is a clear ‘wij’ and ‘zij’, she has decided to take care of Tarzan (‘jij’) as if he were her son and therefore they are now ‘we’ and the other gorillas (and Kerchak) who do not understand are now ‘they’.
On the Syntactical level the line lengths in this song vary, as in normal speech. This makes
the effect of Kala singing/speaking/thinking stronger. Later on in the musical there will be more of these songs; they are conversations (between Tarzan and Jane, Jane and her father or Kala and Kerchak), that normally would be spoken conversations but they are now sung.
On the Stylistic level it can be said that the language is serious, sincere and loving. Apart
from this the language is pretty straightforward and there is not much imagery. The only thing that can be mentioned is the line ‘Jij woont in mijn hart’, this is a metaphor for the fact that Kala loves Tarzan and that she will never forget him and will try to help him in any way she can. Comparison/Singability
The pragmatic-semantic level shows some more differences since, even though they both incorporate these two themes of love and protection, the translation seems to focus more on the fact that Kala wants to protect Tarzan while the original places the emphasis on the fact that Kala loves Tarzan which causes the overall tone to be slightly different. Next to this the translated version lays more emphasis on the ‘you’, ‘we’ and ‘they’, these words are used more frequently to underline the feeling that Kala has decided that she and Tarzan are ‘we’ now and that the others are ‘they’ (if they do not cooperate). In the original there are some of these words as well, but they are not as frequent and therefore do not have the same effect. This may be meant as compensation for the fact that there are no other references to the future in the translation, while in the original there are some: ‘when destiny calls you/ you must be strong/ I may not be with you’ etc.
On the syntactical and stylistic levels the original and the translation are again more or less the same. Both songs represent the thoughts of Kala, or what Kala is saying to Tarzan. The only difference is that the language in the translation is more straightforward and therefore does not contain that much imagery.
This song does not present as many problems for the singability as ‘Two Worlds’ did, since the most important sentence ‘You’ll be in my heart’ can be translated quite literally into ‘Jij woont in mijn hart’ (though the future tense has disappeared in the translation) which has the same number of syllables and also still has the singable vowel ‘a:’that ‘heart’ also has.
There are a few things that sound a bit strange though; already in the first line, the word ‘kindje’ sounds a bit like a filler. In the original this word belongs to the second line but in the translated version it is used as an extension of the first line. When listening to the song this makes it sound like a quick bridge between the two lines. In the first line of the second stanza, another filler is used: ‘twee warme armen en melk en honing’. Normally in Dutch you would not use ‘en’ twice.
Another line that may seem to cause problems for the singability when looking only at the text is ‘I may not be with you’ / ‘Maar jij laat ze zien’. The Dutch translation has only five
syllables whereas the original has 6. When listening to the song, though, it proves to be no problem at all; the last word ‘zien’ has simply been prolonged and therefore replaces the last two words ‘with you’, in other words to shorter notes have been replaced by one longer note.
2.2.3 Who better than me/ Bij mij moet je zijn
In this song there is quite some qualitative impoverishment, which, in Berman’s list of
translational problems is defined as “ the replacement of words and expressions by TT equivalents that lack their sonorous richness or, correspondingly, their signifying or ‘iconic’ features” (Munday 150). In the first part, in which Terk sings there is a lot of emphasis on the ‘otherness’ of Tarzan: ‘You’re one of a kind, I can’t explain it/ yet kind of cool in a wonderful way/ though you’re weird, you could make it’. So Terk here knows that Tarzan is not like him and therefore it will be hard for him to act like a gorilla and learn their ways. In the translation this is less clear: ‘Hee – het komt wel goed: je kan het leren,/jij bent een bikkel van de bovenste plank,/ maar je moet best nog integreren’. Here it is more like Terk sees Tarzan as a younger monkey who still has a lot to learn, which is also backed up by another line in the chorus ‘Bij mij moet je zijn… jij bent nog iets te blank!’ which in the source text is ‘Who better than me to set you on your way?’
Next to this sense of ‘otherness’ that is lost in this part of the song there are a few word-puns that are not there in the translation. Lines like ‘hanging in there’ and ‘groove up beside the others’ and give a sense of ‘monkey’. It is what monkeys do; they hang in trees and in movies they are usually the funny characters who dance in trees or on the ground. In the translation this is entirely lost, although there is one line that could be meant as compensation, namely ‘Jij moet omhoog en niet zo’n beetje’, but ‘going up’ does not necessarily have anything to do with monkeys.
Besides this, Tarzan seems more dependent on Terk in the translation. Lines like ‘ik ben je rolmodel’, ‘omdat ik jou vertrouw’ and ‘ik hou me vast aan jou’ make it look as if Tarzan does not believe in his own strength that much. In the ST on the other hand the stress is more on the fact that Tarzan knows he has the strength to get there, but that he needs Terk as his teacher which is illustrated by the lines ‘I can learn, I can listen/ I know there’s something deep inside, but/ I need assistance to go the distance’ in which he sounds a lot less dependent, more like an eager student.
Who better than me – Stella Linn’s method
Following Stella Linn’s method the song is presented like a conversation on the Formal
Level. If it was not printed in a CD booklet you could think it was a conversation between Terk
On the Phonological level the song is sung fast, the rhythm is constant during the song though there is a clear change after Terk’s solo. Here a short pause can be heard after which Terk and Tarzan start singing together, the rhythm is still the same but seems to be stressed more in this part. This ends again when Young Tarzan starts singing alone (‘I can learn…’), here the melody returns to how it was at the beginning of the song. This small change probably has a purpose in that it stresses the fact that Tarzan and Terk have found each other as friends and will help each other from now on. The song does not really have a steady metre but this probably is caused by the fact that it is a sung conversation.
Next to this there is also some rhyme in this song although this rhyme is conveyed by using the same word twice most of the times as for example in ‘You’re one of a kind, I can’t explain
it/…/Though you’re weird, you’re could make it’ and in the word ‘way’ that comes back a few
times. The same happens in the repetition of the word ‘me’, Young Tarzan repeats this word in his answers to Terk’s question ‘Who better than me?’. There is also internal rhyme in ‘I need
assistance to go the distance’ and some alliteration in ‘I can learn, I can listen’. All these factors contribute to the fact that it’s an easy to remember song. Awkward English
Next to this there is unusual stress on the word ‘take’ in the line ‘This could take some hangin’ in there’ and on ‘up’ in ‘Make you groove up beside the others’, these words are pronounced more clearly than the rest, though I do not think it really has a function.
On the Pragmatic-Semantic level the use of language is ordinary which is probably because
it is a conversation between Tarzan and Terk. There are some words that point to the fact that Terk is a member of the gorilla family since he uses some words that can be connected to monkeys as for example ‘hanging in there’ and groove up beside the others’. There are two words that are repeated very often in the song: ‘you’ and ‘me’. This may symbolize the fact that for Tarzan and Terk it is now al about ‘you and me’, they will be friends from now on and Terk will do everything he can to help Tarzan. He himself also thinks he is the best ‘person’ for this job which is probably the reason for the repetition of the sentence ‘Who better than me?’. This question is finished and answered by Tarzan in different ways which means that he understands that Terk is the one he has to rely on. Since this is a conversation this song is sung from two viewpoints, though in the end they share the same viewpoint: ‘to show them all we know’.
On the Syntactic Level, it can be said that the sentence lengths are longer in the first four
On the Stylistic Level it can be said that the tone of the song is very informal and friendly.
They seem to be very happy they found each other. Bij mij moet je zijn – Stella Linn’s method
On the Formal Level the song is presented as a conversation. Except for the first part, Tarzan and Terk take turns singing a line, which makes it sound like a sung dialogue.
On the Phonological Level, the song is sung fast, and has a steady rhythm. After Terk´s
solo at the beginning there is a change, in the three stanzas following the solo the rhythm is emphasized more. This may be to stress the relation between Tarzan and Terk, since they are best friends from this point on.
There is also a rhyme scheme in this song (ABA CB DED CE in the first solo) with masculine and feminine rhyme. Examples of the masculine rhyme are ‘plank/blank’ ‘wel/rolmodel’ and
‘nat/gehad’, examples of the feminine rhyme are ‘leren/integreren’ en ‘beetje/weetje’. Further on in the song there is more rhyme though there is no clear scheme anymore. As for example in
‘bomen/komen/dromen’ and ‘vertrouw/jou’. There is also some internal rhyme: ‘kan d’r niet komen
– ja, in m’n dromen…’
On the Pragmatic-Semantic Level the use of language is of the ‘everyday’ type since the
song is meant as a sort of conversation. The line ‘Het dak van groen en blauw’ is a metaphor for the tops of the trees in the jungle where you can see the sky shine through. Tarzan wants to be able to climb the trees in order to get that high up in the trees. This would seem impossible for a human, but the sentence ‘Bij mij moet je zijn’, which is repeated very often, suggests that Tarzan will be able to do it, as long as he listens to Terk. This line therefore is the key line of the song, Tarzan has to stick to Terk and then he will learn how to live like a gorilla.
The first part of the song is told from the viewpoint of Terk, further on in the song it is more like a conversation and therefore told from the viewpoint of both Terk and Tarzan.
On the Syntactic Level the line lengths are varying because the song partly represents a
conversation.
On the Stylistic Level the tone of the song is informal and trusting. Terk believes in Tarzan
and knows he will be able to become a good gorilla, as long as he listens to him. He knows Tarzan has it in him, and he is willing to help him.
On the Formal Level both songs are the same; both look like a conversation and could also be read like one. On the other hand the songs do differ on the Phonological Level. The translated text has more rhyme than the source text and this rhyme is also more varied since it’s not only the same word that is repeated over and over as in the ST. Next to this the translator was able to keep the internal rhyme in ‘I need assistance to go the distance’ – ‘kan d’r niet komen – ja, in m’n dromen’ which is important since it is a catchy line in the song.
On the Pragmatic-Semantic Level the songs are quite the same, the only thing is that the
source text repeats the ‘me and you’ words, while the translation does not. Still, the most important repetition, ‘Who better than me’/’Bij mij moet je zijn’, can of course be found in both songs and therefore reach the same conclusion (though maybe in different ways). Tarzan and Terk become best friends and decide to stick together.
On the Syntactic and the Stylistic Level the songs are also more or less the same. The only
thing here is that the tone in the translated song is a bit different: though Tarzan and Terk are happy to have found each other in both songs, it seems as if Tarzan is more dependent and less tough in the translation.
On the level of Singability there are no big differences either. Neither do there seem to be any problems for the singers in either song. Sometimes the translation does have one syllable more than the original does, but this is only when there is a long note in the ST, which is then split up in the TT. Example?
2.2.4 Strangers like me/Het zijn geen vreemden
This song shows some signs of clarification, which, according to Berman, ‘aims to render clear what does not wish to be clear in the original’ (Munday, 150). In the translation the love between Tarzan and Jane is already very clear, many lines in the song refer to it: ‘In haar armen ga ik op reis’, ‘Neem mijn hand… mijn wereld is voor jou…’. This is not the case in the original. Here the emphasis is more on the curiosity of Tarzan. He wants to know how it can be that these people look so much like him: the romanticized stanza of the translation ‘En voor mijn ogen verglijdt de tijd/en in haar armen ga ik op reis/voorbij de zon, voorbij de maan/en toch zien we samen dezelfde sterren’ is much more general in the original ‘Oh, these emotions I never knew/of some other world far beyond this place/beyond the trees, above the clouds/Oh, I see before me a new horizon’. The fact that both Tarzan and Jane feel that the two worlds together make one complete world, though, is captured in both the ST and the TT.
wanna know about these strangers like me/tell me more, please show me’. Therefore the ST text focuses on Tarzan asking Jane to help him with this. The TT on the other hand has a much less personal structure: ‘Ik wil het zien, ik wil het leren/ik ken ze niet en toch: het zijn geen
vreemden/wil ze zien, bestuderen’. As a consequence the TT is much less like a conversation than the ST is. Another example of this is in the first stanza where ‘Whatever you do, I’ll do it too/show me everything and tell me how’ is turned into ‘Wat zij me laat zien – dat doe ik ook!/ik geloof mijn eigen ogen niet:’
Strangers like me – Stella Linn’s method
According to Stella Linn’s method, the song is presented as a pop song. There is a clear chorus and there are two stanzas preceding this chorus. The text concerns Tarzan’s emotions and his relation to the humans.
On the Phonological Level, the song is sung rather fast. The first part of the song (Tarzan’s solo minus the last stanza) is sung like an exclamation, with a lot of volume and emphasis on certain words. The two stanzas following this part are sung slower, and softer; these are more like thoughts and next to this they also contain the first signs of love between Tarzan and Jane (the slow and more romantic music symbolizes this). This change in rhythm signifies the changes Tarzan and Jane feel; they both thought they were safe in their own world and now realize that this other world has a lot to offer as well. Tarzan recognizes some things in these humans and he is certainly interested, that is why in the last part of the song, the chorus is repeated in the old rhythm; he now certainly wants to know these strangers. There is no rhyme in the song, only the repetition of ‘me’ in the chorus.
On the Pragmatic Semantic Level the use of language in the first part of the song seems to point towards an exclamation by Tarzan. He seems desperate to learn more about these strangers that look so much like him; he seems to know he is one of them, and he wants to learn their ways. After that the use of language is different, more romantic, because both Tarzan and Jane realise that they want to combine the two different worlds.
The word ‘me’ stands out here because it is repeated very often in the chorus, just as the word ‘strangers’, this makes clear the connection between the strangers and Tarzan. The story of this song is told by Tarzan, he is talking to Jane in thought. He wants her to help him learn how to behave like a human being.
On the Syntactic Level the thing that stands out most is the repetition of ‘I’ and ‘me’, these
words are also placed at respectively the beginning and the end of the sentence (ex. ‘I see myself as others see me’ and ‘I wanna know, can you show me?’). The words ‘wanna’ deviates from normal spelling, though I do not think that anything is meant by that, this word is used more often in pop songs.
On the Stylistic Level the tone changes at the same point as where the rhythm and the use
of language change. In the two stanzas following the first part the tone is certainly more romantic, the first part was more inquiring.
Het zijn geen vreemden – Stella Linn’s method
On the Formal Level the song is certainly presented as a song. It has different stanzas and a chorus and the text concerns the emotions of Tarzan, who is trying to find out in what way he is
connected to the humans.
On the Phonological Level the song start fast and ends fast. The first two stanzas build up
towards the fast(er) and louder chorus, the same goes for the fourth and fifth stanza. There is a clear change in the sixth stanza, here the song is suddenly a lot slower, and the type of music changes. The seventh stanza is even a bit slower, and the music is almost fairytale-like. In these two stanzas Tarzan and Jane are both thinking about the other; the first signs of love can be noticed. Due to these changes in the rhythm and music the song does not have a steady metre. On the other hand there is some rhyme (leren/zweren, leren/bestuderen, blauw/jou, ken/ben,
mensen/wensen), though there is no clear rhyme scheme. Next to this regular feminine and masculine rhyme there is also the repetition of the word ‘vreemden’.
On the Pragmatic Semantic Level the first part of the song (Tarzan’s solo part) is sung like
an exclamation by Tarzan: he wants to learn everything there is to know about humans and he feels a connection to them. In Jane’s part and the stanza before that (Tarzan’s last stanza) the use of language is more pensive, both are thinking about the current situation. In the last stanza Tarzan has now won some conviction; he is sure he wants to know more about these people; somewhere he knows that he is one of them.
