Kinderlieder in Translation: Funktionale Äquivalenz jenseits des Semantischen
Nursery Rhymes in Translation: Functional Equivalence beyond Semantics

Summary/Abstract: The present study deals with the translation of children’s songs accompanied by finger and hand gestures or knee bouncing. Songs have a significant influence on early childhood development as they stimulate gross and fine motor skills, cognitive perception, language acquisition, emotional bonding and socialisation. Therefore, the translation process focuses not on semantic content, but rather on functional equivalence. The theoretical framework integrates findings from developmental psychology, music education and translation studies. We selected five classic German children’s songs („Backe, backe Kuchen“, „Kommt ein Mäuschen“, „Das ist der Daumen“, „Hoppe, hoppe Reiter“ and „Mein Hut, der hat drei Ecken“) as our corpus, based on their developmental benefits, rhythm, accompanying gestures and finger plays, and metre. The methodology comprises a qualitative case-by-case analysis. After recording all the special features of the songs that make up our corpus, an equivalent in English and Spanish is sought and presented. The equivalent must reflect the same special features, i.e., comparable developmental processes and rhythmic, metrical and gestural equivalents, as the German rhyme. The research presented here shows that counterparts can be found for all German songs in both English and Spanish, although these often use different finger and hand gestures. The study concludes that successful transmission of nursery rhymes must prioritise their developmental purpose and reflect the rhythm, metre and gestures of the original. It thus contributes to intercultural early childhood education practice and advocates a holistic approach to translation.

• Details
• Contents