Tackling End Users’ Perception of Song Lyrics Translation: An Attitude-Analysis Approach to Subtitling Comments about “See You Again” in Chinese Music App NetEase Cloud

Abstract

The present research probes into end users’ perspectives on and their expectation of lyrics translation, with an aim to explore the standards of lyrics translation in the eye of target text receivers. Based on an attitude-analysis approach, this paper qualitatively analyses users’ comments on the Chinese translations of the English song “See You Again” in Chinese music app NetEase Cloud. By collecting 1200 pieces of subtitling comments a month before and after the translation was published, the paper revealed how music consumers perceive of lyrics translation and what is expected from the translator, underscoring three debatable issues: (1) the audience desire for lyrics and subtitles, realised by a series of affective descriptions; (2) their personal judgement on the competence of the translator, partially reflected in showcasing their bilingual abilities; (3) the stylistic use of classic Chinese in the official translation, with appreciation expressions accounting for their interpretation about the level of appropriateness. Empirically, the reception analysis of consumer comments suggests that the target audience give priority only to selected aspects of song lyrics translation in terms of sense, naturalness, and rhyme.