The Foreign-Language Song Version

Today I wanted to share one of my favorite musical/linguistic phenomena: the foreign-language version!

It used to be common for musicians in non-English speaking countries to cover songs in their native language. Artists may even release songs in languages they don't speak to cross over into more markets. 

ABBA themselves recorded in English, Spanish, Swedish, German, and French. They also made Swedish versions of some of their songs to be recorded by other artists on their record label, Polar. 

Some artists would make their own translations when covering songs, such as this one from Brigitta Wollgård covering Mamma Mia.

When Mamma Mia! the musical was translated into Swedish, this version was not used. Instead a new translation was made for the musical.

Bjorn and Benny of ABBA found some early success with some of their songs in Japan, and in 1972 the earliest Japanese-language cover of an ABBA song I've found so far was released: "She's My Kind of Girl" by LOVE STORY. (More Japanese-language covers collected here.)

And what is likely my favorite foreign translation of an ABBA song: In 1981, sisters Salma and Sabina Agha released an album titled "Sing the Hits of ABBA in Hindi." It is exactly what it sounds like, with the two sisters covering ABBA songs in Hindi and different vocal stylings.

Of course, ABBA were not the only ones to do this. The Beatles recorded two of their hits in German before refusing to do any more. 

Germany used to be a major market for music, prompting artists to translate their songs into German. ABBA recorded several songs into German, though they stopped after Waterloo. Agnetha Falktskog from ABBA also recorded heavily in German.

The foreign translation declined in popularity over time. Perhaps record labels saw they weren't worth the effort since foreign audiences would consume the English versions anyway. If the concern was understanding the lyrics, then it might be cheaper to include a booklet with translations of lyrics rather than write a new lyric that scans, is approved by the writers, and is then recorded by the performer (likely with phonetic lyrics or a coach for pronunciation).

In the 21st century, the only non-English language I've ever seen English-speaking artists record in is Spanish for the Latin American market. Beyonce noticeably released an EP "Irreemplazable" with 5 Spanish-language translations of her songs. It recalls ABBA recording an entire album of Spanish-language translations, and is unusual in its dedication.

Avril Lavigne deserves some credit for recording her song "Girlfriend" 2007 in 8 different languages: English,  Japanese, Portuguese, German, Chinese, Italian, Spanish, and French.

While the English-language music industry, for the most part, doesn't bother with translations anymore, some other music industries do still attempt translations. The k-pop music industry attempts to target China and Japan, and to that end release some Chinese and Japanese versions of their songs.

Hong Kong and the rest of China have historically had separate music industries. Faye Wong, who is a native Mandarin speaker, originally broke through singing in Cantonese. Her early career is in Cantonese, while her latter career is in Mandarin. Some of her songs have both languages available, such as "Love Letter To Myself."