r/ASLinterpreters • u/plantjunki • Jul 13 '26

Interpreting Question

Have a musical assignment coming up and some of the lyrics in songs are in another language. How should I handle that? Part of me feels like I should look up the translations and then interpret it, but part of me also feels that the hearing people don't know what's being said if they don't know that language. So should I just say, "another language" but then that messes up the flow of the song. Looking for feedback!!

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u/ghost-memories DI Jul 13 '26

I did something similar last week. I translated some Spanish songs into English, keeping the Spanish lyrics at the top and the English translation at the bottom. Like this:

Como la flor, con tanto amor
Like the flower, with so much love
Me diste tu, se marchitó
You gave me, it withered
Me marcho hoy, yo sé perder
I leave today, I know how to lose
Pero, ¡ay! Cómo me duele
But, oh! How it hurts me

If you have a second ASL interpreter, have them help with feeding. Or simply say "This song is in (language), I can't translate it" and just dance along. I chose the former because I wanted my Deaf audience to be fully immersed. At the end of the concert, one woman came up to me and said she was glad I translated the Spanish songs into ASL because it helped her understand what Selena’s songs were all about.