Melody-Sensitive Translations: A Lyricist’s View
Hello, dear music friends, it’s Evelin here, writing from my desk in sunny Perth.
One of the questions I’m asked most often is: “How do you translate a song without losing its magic?” My answer is always the same: I don’t translate the words alone, I translate the melody’s breath, its heartbeat, its soul.
A literal translation can be perfect on paper, but if it doesn’t sing with the original melody, the song dies a little. The stresses fall in the wrong places, the long notes land on closed vowels that are hard to hold, or a beautiful phrase becomes clunky and unnatural in the new language. Suddenly the listener feels the effort instead of the emotion.
That’s why I call my work “melody-sensitive translation.” I start by living with the melody for days, humming it, feeling where it rises and falls, where it pauses for a sigh, where it demands an open vowel to soar. Only then do I begin reshaping the lyrics, keeping every shade of meaning and cultural nuance while making sure the new words dance exactly with the notes.
Sometimes that means finding a completely different image that carries the same feeling. Other times it’s choosing a warmer vowel for a held note, or shifting a phrase by a bar so the natural emphasis lands perfectly. The goal is always the same: when the artist sings the translated version, it should feel as effortless and true as the original, and the audience should feel exactly what the first listeners felt, even if they don’t speak the original language.
One of my favourite examples is from the Viva Strauss project. An English line that was lovely in theory became stiff when translated literally into German. Instead of forcing it, I found a new phrase that kept the playful charm, honoured Rudy Giovannini’s South Tyrolean warmth, and sat beautifully on the melody. When he sang it, it felt like the line had always belonged there.
Melody-sensitive translation isn’t about being “faithful” to every syllable, it’s about being faithful to the song’s heart. The melody and the emotion are the constants; the words serve them.
If you have a song you love in one language and dream of sharing it with audiences in another, I’d be honoured to help carry its soul across the border, one singing line at a time. ♡
Mit Liebe und Lyrics,
Evelin Vordermeier ♡