{"id":19066,"date":"2023-12-12T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-12T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.act-translations.com\/christmas-carols-singing-for-the-silent-night\/"},"modified":"2024-07-18T09:56:40","modified_gmt":"2024-07-18T07:56:40","slug":"christmas-carols-singing-for-the-silent-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.act-translations.com\/en-us\/christmas-carols-singing-for-the-silent-night\/","title":{"rendered":"Christmas carols: Singing for the silent night"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Christmas carols are part of our cultural heritage and informal singing gatherings inspired by the miracle of the birth of Jesus are still very popular. It is no wonder, however, that Christmas songs are also translated to suit cultural norms. Join us on a musical journey that explores Christmas fathers, the \u201cSilent Night\u201d that isn\u2019t one in Spain and Native Americans who composed Canada\u2019s best-known Christmas carol.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the controversial musical legacies of the great George Michael and his group Wham! is undoubtedly his song \u201cLast Christmas.\u201d During the weeks around Christmas, the song is played thousands of times on radio stations all over the world, from early to late and, above all, until listeners are literally worn out. \u201cLast Christmas\u201d is the tinsel of the Christmas season expressed in musical form. However, it could all have turned out differently. That\u2019s because George Michael allegedly didn’t write the song for Christmas. The original version of the song is called \u201cLast Easter\u201d and was simply a yearning love song. But Michael\u2019s record company urgently needed a catchy tune for Christmas, so the lyrics were quickly rewritten. The fact that the song may address deep emotions but remains limited in terms of content becomes clear when you look at the lyrics: \u201cOnce bitten and twice shy \/ I keep my distance \/ but you still catch my eye \/ Tell me baby, do you recognize me?\u201d Attentive listeners will also recognize that the plot of the song, a story of heartbreaking separation, takes place rather coincidentally at Christmas given the absence of expected references to snow, Christmas trees, or even Santa Claus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lyrics of most of the 8,355 traditional Christmas carols documented by the Styrian Folk Song Archive<\/a> in Graz, Austria, frequently contain words such as \u201cJesus,\u201d \u201cChrist Child,\u201d \u201cChristmas tree,\u201d \u201clittle bells\u201d or \u201csnow.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Translation for other cultures<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Depending on the cultural context, however, Christmas carols are also heavily modified when translated, to encourage a greater sense of identification. Take the song \u201cThe Twelve Days of Christmas\u201d as an example. In the Japanese translation, some of the gifts mentioned in the lyrics are changed to be more compatible with Japanese culture. The \u201cfive golden rings\u201d in the original version become \u201cfive golden bells\u201d instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Santa Claus is not Italian<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Although Italian children may be much less familiar with the figure of Santa Claus than their peers in Anglo-Saxon countries, the Italian translators came up with a more or less elegant solution for the song \u201cSanta Claus is Coming to Town.\u201d Santa Claus becomes \u201cFather Christmas\u201d and the song title in Italian is \u201cBabbo Natale sta arrivando in citt\u00e0.\u201d One of the most famous Christmas carols of all, \u201cSilent Night, Holy Night,\u201d is also translated very freely in Italy, where it takes on a more astronomical dimension. Whereas the original English title remains virtually untouched as \u201cSilent Night, Holy Night,\u201d the song in Italian becomes \u201cAstro del ciel,\u201d which translates as \u201cStar of the Sky.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Silent Night, Holy Night freely translated<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

However, some lines of \u201cStille Nacht, Heilige Nacht\u201d in the English translation stray considerably from the German original. Listen closely to the second line: no one is sleeping and no one is awake as they are in the German version. Instead, the line goes: \u201cAll is calm, all is bright.\u201d In Spain, too, the song has less to do with sleep, and the translation becomes almost passionate. The title of the song there is \u201cNoche de paz, noche de amor,\u201d which means \u201cNight of peace, night of love.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Canada\u2019s oldest Christmas carol<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Of course, the impact of \u201cSilent Night, Holy Night\u201d also derives from its Alpine origins, where it is beautifully set in the scenery of the Austrian Alps. The comparative popularity of the German language, which is spoken by millions of people and in which the song was originally written, probably also gave it a certain head start. On the other hand, \u201cJesous Ahatonhia\u201d (\u201cJesus is born\u201d) faced a more difficult challenge. The song was originally written in Wendat, the language of the Canadian Wendat or Huron tribe. It is only spoken by a few tens of thousands of people. Composed in the 17th century, it is the oldest Canadian Christmas carol and today one of the most popular in Canada and further afield. Christmas carols sometimes also become protest songs. Listen to the opening bars of \u201cOh, Du Fr\u00f6hliche.\u201d And then listen to the protest song \u201cWe Shall Overcome.\u201d  Does anything sound familiar? Yes, exactly! The melody is the same. And, somehow, so too is the message.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Find out more about international Christmas traditions<\/a> and how people around the world celebrate Christmas<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Christmas carols are part of our cultural heritage and informal singing gatherings inspired by the miracle of the birth of Jesus are still very popular. It is no wonder, however, that Christmas songs are also translated to suit cultural norms. Join us on a musical journey that explores Christmas fathers, the \u201cSilent Night\u201d that isn\u2019t\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16716,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[827,823],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-facts","category-translation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.act-translations.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.act-translations.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.act-translations.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.act-translations.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.act-translations.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19066"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.act-translations.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19066\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21827,"href":"https:\/\/www.act-translations.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19066\/revisions\/21827"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.act-translations.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.act-translations.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.act-translations.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.act-translations.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}