It is always interesting to find the original text of a translated
song, because then I can compare them. Of course I have respect to the
translator, who has tried diligently to get the best result of the translation.
I don’t want to criticize or judge the translation. Especially this is a song.
It is really not easy to translate a song. By doing translation you are
responsible to convey the message from the author to the readers, whose
language is different from the author’s language. Translation is the bridge
which connects an author to those readers. However, in translating a song you
have additional works like you should think of the melody and the rhyme.
Not only grammatical problems which need language skills to solve them
in translating there will be some other problems, because there are some factors
which influence. For example a translator needs to know things related to the
author in regard to understand her / him such as her or his background, the political
situation of the country where the author lives or has lived, the culture , the
social life, etc.. Therefore it is not correct if you translate a text from a
translation. In this case this song is in German, maybe the English translation
is available, and you want to translate the song into Indonesian language, so
you should translate it from German, not from the English translation.
Here I want to expose the German Church song “Großer
Gott, Wir Loben Dich”. This song is currently ringing in my ears. :-) I just
want to find the difference between the original text and the translation.
Großer
Gott, wir loben dich;
Herr, wir preisen deine Stärke.
Vor dir neigt die Erde sich
und bewundert deine Werke.
Wie du warst vor aller Zeit,
so bleibst du in Ewigkeit.
I got the text from the paper we used in a family worship in St.
Johannes church, Salzhausen, Germany on 11 August 1996. This song should be
from an ecclesiastical hymnbook. Its number is 331.
Possibly the hymnbook is the book which is used by St. Johannes church. Maybe
it is hymnbook of state church of Niedersachsen. I guess each state church in
Germany has its own hymnbook. Hm, I must ask my German friends. :-)
I have an ecclesiastical hymnbook of state
church of Württemberg “Evangelisches Kirchengesangbuch”
(Stuttgart: Verlag des Evangelischen Gesangbuchs, 1986). Unfortunately this song
“Großer
Gott, Wir Loben Dich” is not found in this hymnbook.
Luckily I still keep the paper from Salzhausen. :-)
Behind the hymnbook of state church of Württemberg there was a very nice story. Hopefully I can make it to write about it. :-)
Tuhan Allah, namaMu,
kami puji dan masyhurkan.
Isi dunia sujud
di hadapanMu, ya, Tuhan!
Bala sorga menyembah
Bala sorga menyembah
Dikau, Khalik semesta!
It is important to realize that I don’t know which text the
translators have used as the source text. But I guess if you speak about this
song “Großer
Gott, Wir Loben Dich”, there should be one version in all Protestant churches
in Germany and Austria. In hymnbook Kidung Jemaat it is written that the author
of the song is Ignaz Franz.
Exposition:
About The Text
Großer
Gott, wir loben dich means “Great God, we praise thee”. Wow, I am translating.
:-). Gross can mean big, great, etc.
Herr, wir preisen deine Stärke means “Lord, we praise thy power”.
Vor dir neigt die Erde sich means “The earth is bending before thee”.
und bewundert deine Werke means “ and admires thy works”.
Wie du warst vor aller Zeit, means “As you were before all time”.
so bleibst du in Ewigkeit means “so you remain forever”.
Now we check the translation. Will we get the same meaning like the “source
text” if the translation is translated back to German? Let us check:
Tuhan Allah, namaMu, means “Lord God, thy name”.
kami puji dan masyhurkan means “we praise and make known”.
Isi dunia sujud means “Content of the world kneels”.
di hadapanMu, ya, Tuhan! means “before thee, oh, Lord!” .
Bala sorga menyembah means “Heavenly troops worship”
Dikau, Khalik semesta! means “thee, creator of the universe!”
The words “Großer Gott” (Great God) and “deine Stärke” (thy power) cannot be
accommodated in the translation. These words show the acknowledgement that God
is great and God has power. This acknowledgement doesn’t appear in the
translation. “Großer Gott” is only described as “Tuhan Allah” (Lord God)
The sentence “die Erde bewundert deine Werke” (the earth admires thy
works) also cannot be accommodated in the translation. This sentence shows the
acknowledgement that God has done works and the earth admires them.
The sentence “Wie du warst vor aller Zeit, so bleibst du in Ewigkeit”
(As you were before all time, so you remain forever) cannot be accommodated in
the translation. This sentence shows the acknowledgement that God is immortal.
In the translation only “wir loben dich” from “Großer
Gott, wir loben dich” can be accommodated in kami puji (we praise). Part of
sentence “...namaMu...dan masyhurkan” (thy name, make known thy name) is not
available in the source text.
In the translation only “Vor dir neigt die Erde sich” can be
accommodated in “Isi dunia sujud di hadapanMu”.
The sentence “Bala sorga menyembah Dikau, Khalik semesta!” (Heavenly
troops worship thee, creator of the universe!) is not available in the source
text.
It is understood now, why it is not really correct if somebody will
translate a text using a translation as the source text, not using the original
language.
About The Melody and Rhyme
This song consists of 7 verses according to the Indonesian
translation. In the German text there are 5 verses, but the numbering is
strange: 2, 3, 5, 9.
There is small difference in the melody. The words ”preisen” and
“wundert” in the “source text” and the word “puji” and part of word “dapan” in
the translation which are in the same bar, have different notes. Also the word
“warst” and the part of word “sor” which are in the same bar, have different notes.
In hymnbook Kidung Jemaat it is only written, that the melody is Austria
(Vienna) 1774. Maybe it is a melody which was known in the churches in Vienna at
that time. Unfortunately there is no information about the melody in the
“source text”.
The translation can have the same rhyme like the “source text”: a-b ,
a-b , a-a
“Source text”: dich – Stärke , sich – Werke , Zeit – keit.
Translation: Mu – kan , jud – han , bah – ta.
I find it great.
That’s all, what I have found in the “source text” and the Indonesian
translation. Interesting. However, if you want to translate this song into
Bahasa Batak or any other language, please use the German text as the source
text, not the Indonesian translation. :-)
Now, let me sing the song for you. :-) Indonesian text with the Indonesian melody and German text with German melody. Please join me. Of course, you can sing the Indonesian text with German melody and vice versa. :-) Please click these following links:
Now, let me sing the song for you. :-) Indonesian text with the Indonesian melody and German text with German melody. Please join me. Of course, you can sing the Indonesian text with German melody and vice versa. :-) Please click these following links:
Back to text 45: Hurray, I am in Germany
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