CfP: Translation and Music: An interdisciplinary dialogue (29.06.-01.07.2025, Westsächsische Hochschule Zwickau) Deadline: 15.05.2025
Call for Papers
Translation and Music: An interdisciplinary dialogue
International conference at the Westsächsische Hochschule Zwickau (Germany) in cooperation with the Université Polytechnique Hauts-de-France
June 29th to July 1st 2026
As songs are multimodal in nature and the translation of song texts represents a specific challenge: it must take into account not only linguistic but also cultural, musical legal and economic aspects. In a globalised world, where music is often shared across linguistic and cultural borders, the intercultural dimension of song translation is becoming increasingly important.
The conference “Translation and music: an interdisciplinary dialogue” provides the opportunity to explore and discuss the many facets of the link between music and translation within different fields, such as linguistics, musicology, translation studies, media studies, marketing and law.
Possible topics for contributions:
How is the music adapted to different performing styles in different cultures?
What are the cultural underpinnings of different methods and theories of song translation?
What is the role of interculturality in song translation? How do cultural contexts influence the translation of song texts?
What are the linguistic and musical challenges encountered in the translation process?
What translation strategies are used to allow integration into specific cultural contexts as appropriately as possible?
What strategies and methods can be applied to foster intercultural understanding through music?
How is the synthesis between rhythm, melody and language achieved?
How do translators deal with linguistic varieties?
What happens with multilingual songs?
What types of adaptation can be observed in terms of visuals (design of record sleeves, videoclips...) and performance?
To what extent do differences between the source and target music markets influence translations?
How is the choice of a translation strategy impacted by the time gap between the source and target works?
What are the challenges of transferring cultural references in song texts?
How does the identity of the performer influence the target work (gender identity, target audience, musical genre, etc.)?
What are the challenges when translating musical and poetic elements?
What are the ethical and legal issues involved in song translation (copyright, remuneration and recognition of the author of the source work)?
By examining these and other questions, the conference aims to deepen our understanding of the complex processes involved in translating songs. The presentations may take the form of case studies, diachronic analyses...
Please submit your proposal of approximately 200 words with a short CV by the 15th of May 2025 to the following address: Zwickau2026[at]gmail[dot]com. Please use a word file.
Papers shall be 20 minutes in length. They can be held in English, French or German.