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Qi Xijia 2018-05-26



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A group of college students in Shanghai have translated over 60 Chinese song lyrics into English in order to help foreigners better understand and appreciate local music.


The team, named MelodyC2E (which stands for "Chinese to English") is made up of dozens of students from Shanghai International Studies University (SISU) who share a love for Chinese culture, the English language and music.


Pan Jianghao and his schoolmate Lin Hongying, both senior students, are the two founding members of MelodyC2E, which started as a WeChat account in 2016.


Pan told the Global Times that the idea to translate Chinese songs into English was inspired by a 2016 visit from former United Nations Secretary-General's Envoy on Youth Ahmad Alhendawi to SISU. Pan, a student representative, received the Youth Envoy. 

"The Envoy said 'we want to hear more from Chinese young people' and that struck me," Pan recalled. 


To get young people's voices heard, Pan paired up with Lin, a lover of Chinese traditional music and an erhu player with the university's folk music orchestra, to translate Chinese songs into English.

While Pan is mainly in charge of translating and singing these songs, Lin operates their WeChat account. 

"We feel that most Chinese are quite familiar with the latest English songs while foreigners are not that familiar with Chinese songs, especially songs with a deep cultural background or complicated lyrics," said Lin.

Poetic allusions

Compared with English songs, which are more honest and straightforward, Pan believes Chinese songs carry subtle artistic conceptions and poetic allusions.


"Without music, Chinese songs are poems. English songs are just dialogue," Pan explained.

To bring out the beauty of Chinese songs and introduce their lyrics to foreigners, in September of 2016, the duo translated their first song (performed and recorded by Lin's roommate) and posted it on WeChat. 


Through sharing and re-posting, the song received warm feedback. More students got to know the group and recognized their efforts. Together they founded a student association which has now 70 members. 

They now release a new song every Saturday via WeChat, along with its vocabulary and translations, as learning material for other students. 

The group has also invited the winners of campus singing competitions to appear as guest performers. "If we delay a release even a little bit, a lot of fans will be after us," said Lin.

Playing with words

It takes hours or even days for the group members to translate a song into English. And not just translating but also recreating the song and its lyrics, looking for the right words that carry the original artistic beauty, prose and rhythm, to fill in the gaps between the two languages.

They have received helpful feedback and suggestions from foreigners. One foreigner told them that while their recreations sounded as good as any professional songwriter and translator, he suggested they simplify the grammar and put more effort into syllables. 

Problems have arisen, however, as their hard work has been copied and appropriated by others without credit.

"When one of our translations becomes a hit, there are a dozen of copycats. People think it a fresh idea to have English lyrics for these Chinese songs. Some are even selling out stuff for money," Pan complained.

To protect their work, Pan said they have applied for official copyrights for their translated lyrics.

After their forthcoming graduation, both Pan and Lin will begin new careers in the consulting industry. MelodyC2E, however will live on, according to Pan.

"I hope MelodyC2E will stick true to our original aspiration, which is to bring touching Chinese stories and songs to all over the world," said Pan.


Source: Global Times

http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1097656.shtml

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