Sanat – the song at the end credits
From Translations
Sanat – the song heard when the end credits start rolling – was originally left untranslated in the official Swedish and English subtitles. Subsequently, it was also omitted in most of the earliest fansubs. This omission is a bit of a shame, since the song was specifically composed for SW:ItP, and the lyrics are intended to wrap up the story, bringing it to its conclusion.
If at all possible, including a translation of the lyrics to the currently existing (and forthcoming) subtitles would be a nice touch. This article tries to help with that goal by providing information about the original Finnish lyrics — including links to some sample translations in English.
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Some general thoughts about possible translation methods
There are basically two approaches when translating the lyrics of a song to another language: either you're going to translate just the meaning of the original sentences (perhaps still with a hint of poetic style, but not in a form that could be sung to the original melody), or synchronize your translation with the melody so that the translated lyrics could actually be sung to it.
Synchronized translation approach is much more demanding than the non-synchronized one, and may require heavily altering the original phrases – even to the point of totally changing their meaning, or replacing the original metaphors and parts of the story with much of your own creation. Translations made in this style will, out of practical reasons, often end up being more of interpretations or even derived works inspired by the original than actual translations.
Which approach is more suitable is a matter of taste, but if choosing the latter, you should be a fluent and skilled wordsmith in the target language – and careful with carrying over all the little connotations and the general overall “feel” of the original. If you're doubtful about your lyricist skills in the target language, it's probably better not to try to synchronize.
The original Finnish lyrics for Sanat
These are the original (but unconfirmed) Finnish lyrics:
SANAT
on aika / (ja?\nyt?) päätökse(e)n
saatava enää / näytös viimeinen
hurmaavat pilvet / harso(i)llaan
viilenneen maan
niin kylmä(n?) maa(n?)yksinäisyys / on seuranani nyt ja aina
esirippu / laskeutuu / aina liian aikaisinmitä kirjoitan
viimeiset sananinyt lähden
katsojien / kasvoilla jäljet / pimeyden
kun olen mennyt, / hiljaisuus / vain tänne jää
se enää jää:,: enää jää :,:
The slashes are supposed to indicate the natural pauses when the singer takes a breath. Parenthesized bits and question marks indicate there's some ambiguousness as to just what is being sung.
Notes on the style and feel of the song
The original lyrics contain some nifty overlapping phrases – making it hard to pinpoint exactly where they are supposed to begin or end. Capital letters and periods were left out in the above transcript for this reason. Some of the phrases are also written in quite an ambiguous style, leaving lots of room for interpretation. There has been some discussion about these aspects on the Star Wreck forum.
It is worth noting that while the movie is a parody, the song is not a joke. On the contrary, it is an elegiac and sincere song that underlines the tragical and darker aspects of the story. If making a translation, please do not try to add anything “funny” in there.
Existing translations
Several Finns have made unofficial attempts at translating the lyrics of Sanat into English. Some of the authors are claiming more credit for their work than the others, but there is no clear consensus of the “best” translation – it's a matter of taste, after all. You are advised to compare them to each other yourself (listed in order of appearance on the forum):
- English Translation 1 by Jukka Aho
- English Translation 2 by Vendigo
- English Translation 2 by Raezel
- English Translation 4 by Joona Vainio (only the first block of lyrics, the second one is for an unrelated song)
- English Translation 5 by Max Fun (a synchronized approach)
There also exists an excellent translation into Swedish by Kalle Brisland. If you know Swedish, you can base your translation on it. And even if you don´t, he´s made a perfect "back-translation" into English, which will give a great insight into the meanings of the words.
- Swedish Translation by Kalle Brisland
Also an excellent synchronized but still almost from-word-to-word German translation exists here:
- German Translation by Bodo Thiesen
A synchronized translation is now also available in Latin:
- Latin Translation by zipola
Using the translations to your benefit when translating to other languages
If you do not know any Finnish but would like to translate the lyrics to your language, the recommended approach is reading all the above-linked English and Swedish translations through and amalgamating the recurring ideas found in them to lyrics in your own language. That should – at least statistically speaking – lead to a better understanding of the original song than relying on one translator alone.
Notes by translators
- Max Fun: In such an ambiguous poem as 'Sanat' is, a literal translation may catch just one perspective of the meaning, which is a pretty poor case, of course. A second, more demanding approach, is to try catching the multitude of meanings by possibly giving up some literallness, yet not paying attention to synchronisation. Adding sychronisation may thereafter further demand giving up either literalness or some connotations, as holding both simultaneously is often impossible. My own choice for the English translation was to try catching the different meanings while making the song synchronise. I was lucky I didn't have to alter words in that many cases, although there are some clear changes I had to make, but I wouldn't be that sure about catching all the possible meanings correctly and not having twisted anything despite having done my best. To ensure the best result for another translation do check the other translations and the detailed discussions about all the other possible meanings of the lyrics. Naturally, if possible, the translation should be based directly on the original Finnish lyrics. And when synchronising the words, the rhythm should always be verified directly with that of the original music itself.
Related links
- Music in the Credits - Sanat? – a discussion thread about the song on the official Star Wreck forum.
- Sanat.mp3 – the original song itself, for listening and verification.
