maxed out the points on your bilingual poetic license?

January 23, 2010 11:38 PM

seeking 'idiomatic' translations of 'wicked game' into french and spanish. (ie: what would manu do?)

by idiomatic, i mean words which capture the ache.


definitely not looking for a word for word translation.


i've gotten a start on the french, but will hold off on posting for now so as not to contaminate the hivemind.


oh, and please stop me if this has been done before.


this will be the backing instrumental.


here's the english:

"Wicked Game"

The world was on fire and no one could save me but you.
It's strange what desire will make foolish people do.
I never dreamed that I'd meet somebody like you.
And I never dreamed that I'd lose somebody like you.

No, I don't want to fall in love (This world is only gonna break your heart)
With you (This world is only gonna break your heart)

What a wicked game to play, to make me feel this way.
What a wicked thing to do, to let me dream of you.
What a wicked thing to say, you never felt this way.
What a wicked thing to do, to make me dream of you and,

I want to fall in love (This world is only gonna break your heart)
No, I want to fall in love (This world is only gonna break your heart)
With you.

The world was on fire and no one could save me but you.
It's strange what desire will make foolish people do.
I never dreamed that I'd love somebody like you.
And I never dreamed that I'd lose somebody like you,

No, I want to fall in love (This world is only gonna break your heart)
No, I want to fall in love (This world is only gonna break your heart)
With you (This world is only gonna break your heart)

Nobody loves no one.


thanks!

posted by kimyo to writing & language (4 answers total)

I translated this and had my mother & father look over it (father's a native speaker, Mother's basically one).

El mundo estaba en llamas y nadie podía salvarme, sino tú.
Es extraño lo que el deseo hará que la gente tonta hacer.
Nunca me imaginé que enamorarme de alguien como tú.
Y nunca soñé perder alguien como tú.

No, yo no quiero enamorarme (Este mundo va a romper tu corazón)
Contigo (Este mundo va a romper tu corazón)

Que juego perverso para jugar, para hacerme sentir de esta manera.
¡Qué mala cosa que hacer!, que me sueño de ti.
¡Qué mala cosa que decir!, nunca te sintiste esta manera.
¡Qué mala cosa que hacer!, para hacerme soñar de ti y,

No quiero enamorarme (Este mundo va a romper tu corazón)
No, yo no quiero enamorarme (Este mundo va a romper tu corazón)
Contigo.

El mundo estaba en llamas y nadie podía salvarme, sino tú.
Es extraño lo que el deseo hará que la gente tonta hacer.
Nunca soñé que enamorarme de alguien como tú.
Y nunca soñé perder alguien como tú,

No, yo no quiero enamorarme (Este mundo va a romper tu corazón)
No, yo no quiero enamorarme (Este mundo va a romper tu corazón)
Contigo (Este mundo va a romper tu corazón)

Nadie quiere a nadie.

Changes made from your lyrics:
IMPORTANT: All the "I wanna fall in love" past the first stanza should be "I don't wanna fall in love"; I listened to the song to confirm and he's definitely saying "I don't wanna fall in love." So I translated it as such.
I also changed "Este mundo va a romper tu corazón" which means "this world is gonna break your heart" instead of "this world is _only_ gonna break your heart" because I think the English feeling of "only" and the Spanish feeling of "solo" are different.

If someone's going to be singing this, I highly recommend getting someone who can read Spanish with a good accent, failing that, get someone who can to read it to you before you try to sing it. (For example, all the ñ should be pronounced ny, etc.)
posted by saveyoursanity at 3:48 PM on January 24, 2010

Spanish is my native language. Saveyoursanity's translation is essentially correct but it sounds... well, like a translation from English, mostly because of the prepositions and word order.

My version would be:

El mundo estaba en llamas y nadie podía salvarme, sino tú.
Es extraño lo que el deseo hará hacer a los tontos.
Nunca pensé enamorarme de alguien como tú.
Y nunca soñé perder a alguien como tú.

No, yo no quiero enamorarme (Este mundo va a romper tu corazón)
De ti (Este mundo va a romper tu corazón)

Qué perverso juego jugaste, para hacerme sentir de esta manera.
¡Qué cosa tan maldita hiciste!, dejarme soñar contigo
¡Qué palabras tan malditas dijiste!, que nunca te sentiste esta manera.
¡Qué maldita cosa hiciste!, hacerme soñar contigo, y,

No quiero enamorarme (Este mundo va a romper tu corazón)
No, yo no quiero enamorarme (Este mundo va a romper tu corazón)
De ti.

Nadie quiere a nadie.

It's very difficult to translate the "What a wicked thing to..." phrases. Saveyoursanity's version is correct, but it sounds strange. I translated it to the past (What a wicked thing you did) and used a stronger word for "wicked". I think it's still pretty awkward and could be improved.
posted by clearlydemon at 10:19 PM on January 24, 2010

I've found this on a canadian website :

http://www.universound.ca/fr/chanson/2353/


but I feel that a few minor changes are needed here :


Le monde était en feu
Personne ne pouvait me sauver sauf toi
C'est étrange ce que le désir fait faire aux gens
Je n'avais jamais rêvé que je rencontrerais quelqu'un comme toi
Et je n'avais jamais rêvé que je perdrais quelqu'un comme toi

Non, je ne veux pas tomber amoureux
[Cet amour va seulement te briser le coeur]
Non, je ne veux pas tomber amoureux
[Cet amour va seulement te briser le coeur]
de toi
de toi

Quel jeu cruel tu joues
À me faire me sentir ainsi
Quelle cruelle chose à faire
De me laisser rêver de toi
Quelle cruelle chose à dire
que tu n'as jamais ressenti cela
Quel cruelle chose à faire
De me faire rêver de toi
Et je ne veux pas tomber amoureux
[Cet amour va seulement te briser le coeur]
Et je ne veux pas tomber amoureux
[Cet amour va seulement te briser le coeur]

{Le monde} était en feu
Personne ne pouvait me sauver sauf toi
C'est étrange ce que le désir fait faire aux gens
Je n'avais jamais rêvé que je rencontrerais quelqu'un comme toi
Et je n'avais jamais rêvé que je perdrais quelqu'un comme toi

Non, je ne veux pas tomber amoureux
[Cet amour va seulement te briser le coeur]
Non, je ne veux pas tomber amoureux
[Cet amour va seulement te briser le coeur]
de toi
de toi

Personne n'aime personne



This translation is more litteral than "poetic"
posted by nicolin at 4:55 AM on January 25, 2010

saveyoursanity's version, while well intentioned, has some mistakes. Use clearlydemon's.

What a wicked thing to do: "Que cosa más malvada".
posted by signal at 2:01 PM on January 26, 2010