Sense and Singability : Comparative analysis of translation choices in songs in the Finnish dub and redub of The Little Mermaid

Abstract

Song translation is a challenging form of translation, and in dubbing, there are additional elements to consider in the translation process. In this thesis, I analyze the choices made in three songs of the two Finnish dubs from 1990 and 1998 of the animated film The Little Mermaid (1989) and discuss the possible reasons for why these two translations differ from each other. In my analysis, I utilize the pentathlon principle proposed by Peter Low, which offers five criteria with which to assess the functionality of a song translation: sense, singability, naturalness, rhythm, and rhyme (Low 2005, 2017). Additionally, I utilize Frederick Chaume’s three types of synchronization: phonetic synchrony, kinetic synchrony, and isochrony, and apply them to my analysis (Chaume 2004). The results of the analysis show that most of the lyrics from the original dub were used as is in the redub, but where the translations differed from each other, several patterns emerged in the data. The 1990 translation consistently prioritized singability over sense and often naturalness, where many choices changed the meaning of the original lyrics in some ways, and many word choices, such as filler words and near-synonyms, in some cases, resulted in a somewhat unnatural translation. Conversely, the changes made in the 1998 retranslation mainly concerned sense, and often this affected the singability of the translation. The other criteria utilized in this study were affected inconsistently across the three song lyrics. These results suggest that the changes made to the 1998 translation may have been motivated by an intent to bring the translation more in line with the original lyrics in terms of semantic accuracy. Reasons for this change in priorities may be attributed to e.g., changing attitudes of the audiences, but determining this would require further research.