Somebody recently bought my arrangement of the Welsh national anthem, but wanted the lyrics in English.
I put a call out to see if anybody had an English translation which would fit the music and got quite a lot of flak!
The majority of people felt that the anthem should always be sung in Welsh as a mark of respect.
I pointed out that when Russia invaded Ukraine, many English-language choirs sung the Ukrainian national anthem as a sign of solidarity, but with the lyrics in English.
In general, many choirs only sing songs in foreign languages when the lyrics are translated into English.
Is that always OK?
My own view is that we should respect the language that the song is written in (see How to sing a song in a foreign language).
Often the deeper meaning and rhythm of the song are encoded in the sounds of the language it’s written in. It’s not just about the meaning (or translation) of individual words. By singing those sounds, we get closer to the feel of the song.
It’s always important to find out about the context and cultural background of every song we sing (see How to honour the source of a song (and why it’s important). If that song comes from another culture, I believe we should honour the song by singing it in the original language. That small effort will create a deeper connection with the song and allow us to acknowledge and pay tribute to the culture it comes from.
What do you think?
I covered this subject in a little more detail in Why sing English versions of foreign language songs?
Chris Rowbury
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