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Meghalt a szeretet!

English translation: A reliable English translation by ZOÉ OROSZ

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
Hungarian term or phrase:Meghalt a szeretet! (Rezső Seress' song from "Gloomy Sunday)
English translation:A reliable English translation by ZOÉ OROSZ
Entered by: Erika Pál (X)

19:05 Feb 4, 2003
Hungarian to English translations [Non-PRO]
Art/Literary - Music / Lyrics
Hungarian term or phrase: Meghalt a szeretet!
I am just wondering whether this translation of the infamous song is more or less accurate. Comments are greatly appreciated! Thanks!:

Ôsz van és peregnek a sárgult levelek
Meghalt a földön az emberi szeretet
Bánatos könnyekkel zokog az öszi szél
Szívem már új tavaszt nem vár és nem remél
Hiába sírok és hiába szenvedek
Szívtelen rosszak és kapzsik az emberek...

Meghalt a szeretet!

Vége a világnak, vége a reménynek
Városok pusztulnak, srapnelek zenélnek
Emberek vérétôl piros a tarka rét
Halottak fekszenek az úton szerteszét
Még egyszer elmondom csendben az imámat:
Uram, az emberek gyarlók és hibáznak...
Vége a világnak!
~~~~
It is autumn and the leaves are falling
All love has died on earth
The wind is weeping with sorrowful tears
My heart will never hope for a new spring again
My tears and my sorrows are all in vain
People are heartless, greedy and wicked...

Love has died!

The world has come to its end, hope has ceased to have a meaning
Cities are being wiped out, bombs are making music
Meadows are coloured red with human blood
There are dead people on the streets everywhere
I will say another quiet prayer:
People are sinners, Lord, they make mistakes...

The world has ended!
Corbacho
A reliable English translation by ZOÉ OROSZ
Explanation:
Dear Corbacho,

You would like to sing/perform this song - I am right?
Well, even if I am wrong– you surely need an accurate translation to enable you to follow the changes in mood, so you can keep track of the flowing emotions.
I assure you this translation by ZOÉ OROSZ is an accurate one you can rely on it as it has been around for a while.
I would not worry about the changed word order–the translator had to make minor sentence re-structuring otherwise it would not make too much sense in English.
(Hungarian sentence structure differs greatly from English and prepositions(to, with, for) work as suffixes at the end of the stem word.)
I have found a good web page for you which actually takes an analytical view of the English translation of this song.

REF: At the moment I am translating a Hungarian opera libretto for the Dorset Opera Company.


--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2003-02-05 10:58:09 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Correction: \"....a useful article on the webpage...\"

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2003-02-05 11:33:15 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

By Sarah Brightman: \"Zoé Orosz also made a translation into English of the original Hungarian song, adding:
It looks like Jávor wrote the first part and Seress the second. It is very-very gloomy. It seems to refer to the horrors of a war at the end. I\'m glad that there\'s an English version that makes it less terrible. To be honest, I don\'t think it was ruined at all. We are a very pessimistic people, so maybe it was good after all that it was not made popular in its original form.
The war Zoé mentions could be the First World War, as the song originates from the 1930s. But since the second part of the song is even more gloomy than the first part, the second part may have been added after the Second World War. \"
Selected response from:

Erika Pál (X)
Local time: 09:28
Grading comment
Thank you very much. Your comments (everybody) were very helpful indeed. A ppareciate the links, too. Sarah Brightman is a singer, though, and a beautiful version of this utterly distressing song she has sung. Many other artists have tried to sing it, as you might guess, Billie Holiday, Elvis Costello, Björk... - and I am glad I have even found a hungarian version, too. Unfortunately I can't tell who the singer is... Thanks and so long.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +1Meghalt a szeretet = Love has died
Katalin Szilárd
5Love has died
Susanna & Christian Popescu
5A reliable English translation by ZOÉ OROSZ
Erika Pál (X)
3 +1:-)
Leush


  

Answers


37 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
Meghalt a szeretet = Love has died


Explanation:
I think its a great and accurate translation of this lyrics. I have found 3 links of this lyrics, all of them are the same, I don't know though who translated it. I guess the author himself : Rezső Seress".


    Reference: http://www.phespirit.info/gloomysunday/lyrics_seress.htm
    Reference: http://home.kimo.com.tw/abbychau2000/main/vers.htm
Katalin Szilárd
Hungary
Local time: 10:28
Native speaker of: Native in HungarianHungarian

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Elvira Stoianov
1 hr
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

37 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5
Love has died


Explanation:
:-(

Susanna & Christian Popescu
Germany
Local time: 10:28
Native speaker of: Native in GermanGerman, Native in RomanianRomanian

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Erika Pál (X): ...on a Gloomy Sunday...Hey, Christian, cheer up!:-))
15 hrs
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

12 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +1
:-)


Explanation:
This is just a remark:
I think he/she (?) did not mean the translation of the title. Corbacho wanted to know whether the whole translation is accurate or not. Am I wrong?

Leush
Local time: 10:28
Native speaker of: Native in HungarianHungarian

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Erika Pál (X): :-)) gotta start from somewhere
3 hrs
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

15 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5
A reliable English translation by ZOÉ OROSZ


Explanation:
Dear Corbacho,

You would like to sing/perform this song - I am right?
Well, even if I am wrong– you surely need an accurate translation to enable you to follow the changes in mood, so you can keep track of the flowing emotions.
I assure you this translation by ZOÉ OROSZ is an accurate one you can rely on it as it has been around for a while.
I would not worry about the changed word order–the translator had to make minor sentence re-structuring otherwise it would not make too much sense in English.
(Hungarian sentence structure differs greatly from English and prepositions(to, with, for) work as suffixes at the end of the stem word.)
I have found a good web page for you which actually takes an analytical view of the English translation of this song.

REF: At the moment I am translating a Hungarian opera libretto for the Dorset Opera Company.


--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2003-02-05 10:58:09 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Correction: \"....a useful article on the webpage...\"

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2003-02-05 11:33:15 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

By Sarah Brightman: \"Zoé Orosz also made a translation into English of the original Hungarian song, adding:
It looks like Jávor wrote the first part and Seress the second. It is very-very gloomy. It seems to refer to the horrors of a war at the end. I\'m glad that there\'s an English version that makes it less terrible. To be honest, I don\'t think it was ruined at all. We are a very pessimistic people, so maybe it was good after all that it was not made popular in its original form.
The war Zoé mentions could be the First World War, as the song originates from the 1930s. But since the second part of the song is even more gloomy than the first part, the second part may have been added after the Second World War. \"



    Reference: http://www.xs4all.nl/~josvg/cits/sb/sb911.html
Erika Pál (X)
Local time: 09:28
Grading comment
Thank you very much. Your comments (everybody) were very helpful indeed. A ppareciate the links, too. Sarah Brightman is a singer, though, and a beautiful version of this utterly distressing song she has sung. Many other artists have tried to sing it, as you might guess, Billie Holiday, Elvis Costello, Björk... - and I am glad I have even found a hungarian version, too. Unfortunately I can't tell who the singer is... Thanks and so long.
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)



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