One example of an untranslated song creating a particularly
dysjunctive effect comes in "Frida". Throughout the film, we in
the audience (grudgingly) accept the conceit that all these
Spanish-speaking characters living in a Spanish-speaking
environment have decided to communicate in English. Then,
Frida encounters an old woman who sings a dramatic song
about death but she sings it in Spanish. While Frida listens
appreciatively, the non-Spanish-speaking audience is left to
fend for itself. To me, the effect is as if the characters in
"Spartacus" suddenly started spouting Latin!
Incidentally, is there a financial reason not to translate songs?
Perhaps translating the lyrics would require the "foreign" distributor
to pay additional fees to the lyricist.
--Robert Keser
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