Work - RIHANNA

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Fr, 01/04/2016 - 02:49

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babyplantains

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Beigetreten: 12.05.2015

Pending moderation

The song Work by Rihanna is catchy and all, but phrases like "he said me haffi work" don't really translate.

Would it be wrong/violate the rules to translate the song from **broken** English to a more literate form? Some people can't necessarily read that and know what it means at first glance. Especially for me, a native English speaker, I even had to think about it for a while before coming up with the conclusion that she was saying "he said I have to work".

Thanks in advance.

Fr, 01/04/2016 - 03:43

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fulicasenia

Moderator/in außer Dienst and guesslator

Beigetreten: 25.02.2012

If you're a native speaker of English, chances are you won't know the target language well enough to be familiar with, for example, the kind of creole/slang/accented German spoken in a Turkish neighborhood of Berlin that would be a reasonable equivalent for the Caribbean English Rhianna is using here. In that case really your only option is to go for the least formal way of saying it that you know in the target language, and that's fine. You can add a footnote explaining the English that you found puzzling, since readers whose native language isn't English will find it even more puzzling and appreciate the help in understanding the song. If you are fluent enough in both languages to come up with a slang/creole translation, go for it :)

Fr, 01/04/2016 - 04:00

(Reply to #2)

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babyplantains

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Beigetreten: 12.05.2015

I'm under the impression that you don't quite understand what I'm asking. ??? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Fr, 01/04/2016 - 06:29

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fulicasenia

Moderator/in außer Dienst and guesslator

Beigetreten: 25.02.2012

Did you mean, translate it into standard English? That's also fine. I took a look at the original text to make sure, and I've changed the language to English (Jamaican), so you can now translate it into standard English. (The site's software will not allow a user to post a translation in the same language as the original text.)

Fr, 01/04/2016 - 07:15

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Alexander Laskavtsev

Moderator/in außer Dienst Alex the Translator

Beigetreten: 06.06.2015

Yet I don't understand why do you want to "translate" the whole song for the sake of translation of one *broken* phrase. IMHO this problem could be solved with the help of the footnote...(even if there're few of them) But, it's up to you! ;)

Fr, 01/04/2016 - 08:04

(Reply to #2)

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Dimi-The-Greek

Senior-Mitglied

Beigetreten: 22.04.2010

fulicasenia, I like your idea! I should try to do that as I am a native German speaker with Turkish neighbors hahaha.
I think that would be closer to the original, although in America they already use this "broken" English in many songs (e.g. Adele - Hello: "It 'don't' matter it clearly doesn't tear you apart"), while in Germany we try to avoid wrong structures (except of rap songs).

Fr, 01/04/2016 - 08:24

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fulicasenia

Moderator/in außer Dienst and guesslator

Beigetreten: 25.02.2012

People who are into non-oppressive speech might suggest that Jamaican or Caribbean or Island English would be a better term than "broken" English. "Broken" English is an idiolect spoken by someone who has learned English imperfectly, usually as a second language. The various Caribbean dialects of English are each the first language shared by thousands or millions of people, who have learned it and speak it more or less perfectly. Rihanna has no reason to avoid this version of English, since that's where she was born. There's a whole section of the song that's in this version of English, so I agree that a translation would be a good idea, rather than a footnote for every line. BTW I lived in Leipzig and Dresden for several years, and I can assure you that many of my friends and co-workers took great delight in using the "wrong structures" of Sächsisch :)

Fr, 01/04/2016 - 08:36

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Dimi-The-Greek

Senior-Mitglied

Beigetreten: 22.04.2010

You are right. It is just a sort of dialect.

Question: Does she mean "He said: 'I (Drake) have to work'..." or "He said that I (Rihanna) have to work..."?

Because in the Greek translation it says something like "He said that I have to work (on his dick)". Is that correct? :s

Fr, 01/04/2016 - 08:48

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fulicasenia

Moderator/in außer Dienst and guesslator

Beigetreten: 25.02.2012

For now I'm going to leave it up to sinojosperove to translate it.

#10

Fr, 01/04/2016 - 15:05

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maluca

Moderator/in / hippie-abraça-árvore

Beigetreten: 30.04.2014

If lyrics are in a hard to understand dialect it's perfectly fine to submit a translation into the correct language.
Usually then it shows as transliteration but you could edit it to the respective language afterwards. But I think it's also fine to leave it as transliteration as one can switch between the two versions while reading other translations.
Example:
https://lyricstranslate.com/en/saudosa-maloca-saudosa-maloca.html

Also some of this Jamaican English is really hard to understand and needs a translation, example:
https://lyricstranslate.com/en/linton-kwesi-johnson-lyrics.html

#11

Fr, 01/04/2016 - 22:07

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Don Juan

Moderator/in 👨🏻‍🏫🇧🇷✍🏻👨🏻

Beigetreten: 05.04.2012

There's no official rule for that, you can add an English->English translation of the song. The system will categorize it as a Transliteration, it may be changed later.

#12

Sa, 02/04/2016 - 03:32

(Reply to #11)

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Alexander Laskavtsev

Moderator/in außer Dienst Alex the Translator

Beigetreten: 06.06.2015

BTW (a little off-topic), have I understood correctly that from now we can't add a request for translation to some language, if the translation in that language is already exists?

#13

Sa, 02/04/2016 - 04:24

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babyplantains

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Beigetreten: 12.05.2015

I'm not asking to make a translation because of one line lol

Anyways, that's what I mean. Because the entire song is written in a format like that. More so, I meant more towards written with correct grammar for those who don't know what she means by "Nobody touch me you nuh righteous", or "Dry!... Me a desert him". If that makes sense.

#14

Sa, 02/04/2016 - 13:03

(Reply to #12)

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Don Juan

Moderator/in 👨🏻‍🏫🇧🇷✍🏻👨🏻

Beigetreten: 05.04.2012

Alexander Laskavtsev schrieb:

BTW (a little off-topic), have I understood correctly that from now we can't add a request for translation to some language, if the translation in that language is already exists?

We technically can't as the system blocks it. But we can circumvent it by simply selecting some other language and editing it later.

@sinojosperove, your translation of that Broken English song could have been added as an article, if said section still existed.

#15

Sa, 02/04/2016 - 13:35

(Reply to #14)

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Alexander Laskavtsev

Moderator/in außer Dienst Alex the Translator

Beigetreten: 06.06.2015

Knee427 schrieb:

We technically can't as the system blocks it. But we can circumvent it by simply selecting some other language and editing it later.

Thanks for the idea! ;)

#16

Sa, 02/04/2016 - 18:46

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babyplantains

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Beigetreten: 12.05.2015

Never mind. jaja I'll leave the thought alone.

#17

Di, 05/04/2016 - 17:08

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fulicasenia

Moderator/in außer Dienst and guesslator

Beigetreten: 25.02.2012

Uhm.... yeah... as we've been saying, this is indeed some sort of English dialect spoken in the Caribbean... :)

#18

Mi, 06/04/2016 - 01:26

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babyplantains

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Beigetreten: 12.05.2015

Future Dr. Juanita schrieb:

Nobody touch me you nuh righteous and Dry! Me a desert him? What the hell? Was she high while writing this or is this indeed some sort of dialect from the Barbados?

It's identified as broken English by some people. I used to have an accent that reflected more on my poor upbringings that would be classified as "broken English".

(EX: "He so cute."
"I ain't got nothing to say."
"Teef." (instead of saying "teeth")

Regardless, it's not fully comprehensible is what I'm saying. But the matter is no longer important. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

#19

Mi, 06/04/2016 - 13:14

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Don Juan

Moderator/in 👨🏻‍🏫🇧🇷✍🏻👨🏻

Beigetreten: 05.04.2012

It's in Spanish, but it may help.

http://altavoz.pe/2016/03/21/entretenimiento/linguistica-que-dice-el-cor...

The language in question is Bajan Creole, an English-based Creole language spoken in Barbados, Rihanna's native country.

The chorus, according to that website, is

Zitat:

Work, work, work, work, work
He seh mi haffi work, work, work, work, work
He si mi duh mi dirt, dirt, dirt dirt, dirt
Suh mi bedda work, work, work work, work
When yuh ah guh learn, learn, learn, learn, learn
Mi nuh cyar if him hurt, hurt hurt, hurt, hurting

Hope I helped. :)

#20

Mi, 06/04/2016 - 16:26

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babyplantains

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Beigetreten: 12.05.2015

I like hearing **Bajan Creole and other dialects like it, but it doesn't mean I know what they're saying. lmao