There is a big backlash with ASL students practicing by attempting to translate (note: translate, not interpret) songs into ASL.  Much of the reaction is negative and often mentions things like how the translation is poor, does not make sense, does not follow proper ASL grammar, etc.  And all of that might be 100% true – but that does not necessarily mean that the translation is inherently wrong.

Sometimes, the reactions are completely over-the-top hostile  – and fail to offer constructive criticism or suggestions other than “don’t do that you audist asshole!” and then blame a negative response to that behavior on “hearing fragility.”  Reacting negatively to negative behavior is not “fragile,” you would do the same.  Remember these people are likely grown adults yelling at teens and early 20-somethings that are still in school.  (I will also suggest that this behavior is probably is not the best way to normalize the use of ASL and help with its acceptance, especially when dogpiling takes place and people just pile on the insults.)

Anyway, before we go any further, one has to understand that songs are a really big part of initial language acquisition and development for hearing people.  As babies we are even exposed to language and songs being sung to us while still in the womb!  After birth, we are sung to by our parents and exposed to songs all the time.  We have a strong affinity for songs and will often try to find ways to utilize songs when trying to learn a new language, like translating an English song into Spanish (or French, or Arabic, or Navajo, etc.) or vice-versa.

Now, songs are complex things.  They are more than just words (vocals) that are are spoken with music playing in the background.  Yes, in the most basic sense, a song is melody and vocals.  Buy how that melody is played and how those vocals are sung is a significant part of the song.  Is it fast or slow?  Are the notes high and happy, or low and somber?  How does the vocal artist present the vocals?  Crisp and sharp, or long and lingering?  How are the words actually sung?   Use of octave, vibrato, length of a tone/word, etc. all play a part.  In some cases, the vocals might not make much sense on their own!  (More on this below.)

All of these things come together in the song, and can usually invoke an emotional response – for example, it can make you feel happy, sad, wistful, triumphant…  complex songs can invoke a combination of emotions at different times in the same song, just by changing the way the music is played or how the vocals are sung.   Sometimes, even the exact same words can evoke a completely different emotion just by how they are sung.

Now try this – think of ASL poetry.  What makes an ASL poem different than just normal conversational signing?  Think about the various parts of it that come together to actually make it happen: meter, rhyme, rhythm, alliteration, etc.   The nuance of an ASL poem might include how a sign is formed, how it moves, how it transitions to the next sign… an ASL poem might just have something in it that is hard to describe – a je ne sais quoi quality.  If you have a favorite ASL poem, think about it now,

Now, I want you reduce the first few seconds of that ASL poem to gloss.  As an example, I will use the first few seconds of Moon in my Bedroom:  NIGHT DARK BEDROOM BED I LAY ON EYES-CLOSED.  Even written in prose: In a dark bedroom at night I lay on my bed with my eyes closed, the poem looses something, right?  The words are just not the same as the poem – it looses the emotion, the expressiveness,… the je ne sais quoi.  Written English cannot easily capture or replicate all of the things that change simple signs into ASL poetry.

Well, the same thing happens when students try to translate a song to ASL.  The first step is usually to reduce the song to its lyrics, which is just like reducing an ASL poem to gloss – something is GUARANTEED to get lost in the translation.  (Just as written English cannot easily replicate the entirety of an ASL poem, it cannot easily replicate the entirety of a song.)  After that is usually an attempt to find the corresponding signs to go with the gloss, and then possibly an attempt to modify the production of the signs to try to match some of the nuance of the original song.

In some simple cases, this works well.  Pretty much every first year ASL student can successfully do ROW ROW ROW YOUR BOAT.  But with more complex songs, the result will just be missing something and that contributes to the ineffectiveness and quality of the result.

Along that example, I present to you parts from two of my favorite songs from one of my favorite groups: Bury My Lovely and Take Me As I Am from October Project.

First, Bury My Lovely:

Cover the mirror, hide in your dreams.
Forget what they told you, forget what it means.
A picture worth a thousand lies
The memory and the mirror
Nothing but what came before
Nothing but a closing door

Now, those words on their own might not make all that much sense. – you have to look at them with a little poetic license in mind.  But the point is that the appeal of a song can be more than just its vocals – the way this particular singer sings these vocals in intoxicating in my opinion.

Now how about Take Me As I Am, sung by two different vocalists, indicated by 1 and 2:

1: Take me as I am
2: Someone you don't know
1: Even in the dark
2: You may not be sure
Both: Take me while you can
1: I can see you standing in the smoky entrance
Both: Giving up your good intentions

Now this song would really require two performers, or at least a left-right-center role-shift.  But again, looking at just the words, much of the song is lost.

An inexperienced ASL student might just translate the words as they are.  And the result might look incorrect, or even like gibberish, but that is what those words actually are, so in a broad sense, the translation might actually be correct, although the interpretation might not be.  It is also easy to make similar mistakes if you are unfamiliar with the source material.

You have to remember that ASL students are not necessarily interpreting students (especially first and second year ones that are just trying to practice and trying to get over performance anxiety) – not everyone takes ASL classes with the goal of becoming an interpreter, just like how not every Spanish language student wants to be a Spanish interpreter.  You might have to lower your expectations and raise your tolerance a bit, and not make the ASL/Deaf community appear as unforgiving as some people (unfortunately) can make it out to be.