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Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 3/16/2009
Posts: 1,391
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I find many Hebrew songs to be incredibly powerful and moving in their native language but become trite or bland when translated into English. It makes it difficult to explain to friends who don't speak Hebrew why I relate so powerfully to certain songs. For example: לכל אחד יש-שלומי שבת וליאור נרקיס
אמא-שלומי שבת ויוסי אזולאי
הילדה הכי יפה בכפר-דויד ברוזהDo you have examples of songs like these that just move you in Hebrew but lose something in translation?
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Rank: Newbie
Joined: 5/24/2009
Posts: 1
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Location: Israel
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In the early 60's the Israeli singer Geula Gil moved to the USA and recorded some LP albums of Israeli songs, then quite popular, still, somewhat "folk"ish in character. She included the song "Kol Doddi"
"קול דודי"- The voice of my lover (Song of songs- shir Hashirim)
Guess what? The genius translated it into "The voice of my uncle" and it's still on the sleeve!
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Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 3/16/2009
Posts: 1,391
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That's a riot! People need to do more fact-checking when dealing with foreign languages. I was once in Grand Central Station in New York in January and in honor of the holiday season, they were projecting phrases like "happy holidays" and "season's greetings" on the ceiling in various languages. When I found the Hebrew one, I was floored. It read: "חג סמח" instead of "חג שמח"! They couldn't find one Jew or Israeli in New York or open a Hebrew-English dictionary to find the correct spelling?! Amazing.
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Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 4/27/2009
Posts: 45
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Location: Greece
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MichalG wrote:When I found the Hebrew one, I was floored. It read: "חג סמח" instead of "חג שמח"! Translations was always a pain...
Care to give a translation here? Sorry I don't know Hebrew...
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Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 3/16/2009
Posts: 1,391
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s3callyx wrote:MichalG wrote:When I found the Hebrew one, I was floored. It read: "חג סמח" instead of "חג שמח"! Translations was always a pain...
Care to give a translation here? Sorry I don't know Hebrew... Correct Spelling: חג=Holiday שמח=Happy Grand Central Station Spelling: חג=Holiday סמח=Military Acronym for סמל מחלקה= Platoon Sergeant So, instead of wishing Hebrew speakers "happy holidays," they were merely letting us know that platoon sergeants are having a holiday. 
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Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 4/27/2009
Posts: 45
Neurons: 138
Location: Greece
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 Oh God! Now I understand. Thank you for the translation.
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