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Article published In: APTIF 9 - Reality vs. Illusion: From Morse code to machine translation
Edited by Frans De Laet, In-kyoung Ahn and Joong-chol Kwak
[Babel 66:4/5] 2020
► pp. 780–795

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When the classic speaks for children

Retranslation of Bob Dylan’s songs in bilingual picture books

 | Macau University of Science and Technology
Published online: 5 October 2020
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/babel.00175.che
Abstract
Bob Dylan has significantly influenced American song tradition and popular music for more than five decades. As his songs are famous for the creative poetic expressions, they are not merely song lyrics, but also can be regarded as lyric poems. This paper aims to investigate the retranslation of Bob Dylan’s songs in bilingual picture books to explore how his classic musical works are repackaged both verbally and visually for contemporary children. The data for analysis are selected from two bilingual picture books on Dylan’s songs published in China in Dylan, Bob. 2018. Forever young (Illustr. by Paul Rogers). Shenyang: Liaoning Children’s Publishing House.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar. Firstly, it conducts a detailed textual analysis of the English and Chinese song lyrics to analyze the appropriate translation strategies and methods for song translation. Secondly, based on visual narratives (Painter, Clare; J. R. Martin; and Len Unsworth. 2013. Reading visual narratives: image analysis of children’s picture books. London: Equinox.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar), it analyzes the intersemiotic relations between texts and images in picture books to discuss how the emotions and narratives in Dylan’s songs are visually represented.
Résumé
Pendant plus de cinq décennies, Bob Dylan a considérablement influencé la tradition de la chanson et la musique populaire américaines. Ses chansons sont célèbres en raison de la créativité de l’expression poétique. Il ne s’agit pas simplement de paroles de chansons, on peut aussi les considérer comme des poèmes lyriques. Cet article vise à étudier la retraduction des chansons de Bob Dylan dans des livres d’images bilingues, afin d’explorer comment ses œuvres musicales classiques ont été actualisées pour les enfants d’aujourd’hui, tant verbalement que visuellement. Les données à analyser ont été sélectionnées dans deux livres d’images bilingues, consacrés aux chansons de Dylan et publiés en Chine en Dylan, Bob. 2018. Forever young (Illustr. by Paul Rogers). Shenyang: Liaoning Children’s Publishing House.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar. Premièrement, une analyse textuelle détaillée des paroles des chansons en anglais et en chinois est effectuée pour examiner les stratégies appropriées et les méthodes de traduction des chansons. Deuxièmement, l’article analyse, sur la base de textes visuels (Painter, Clare; J. R. Martin; and Len Unsworth. 2013. Reading visual narratives: image analysis of children’s picture books. London: Equinox.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar), les relations intersémiotiques entre les textes et les images dans les livres illustrés, afin d’analyser la manière dont les émotions et les textes sont représentés visuellement dans les chansons de Dylan.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Song translation as poetry translation
  • 3.Methodology
    • 3.1Data
    • 3.2Analytical framework
  • 4.Case analysis
    • 4.1Translation of Bob Dylan’s poetic song lyrics
    • 4.2Visual representation of Bob Dylan’s songs in picture books
  • 5.Concluding remarks
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
References (19)
References
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