# Translating lyrics of popular songs

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-lyrics-of-popular-songs/131052>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [October 6, 2002, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-lyrics-of-popular-songs/131052 "2002-10-06T08:03:11Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\
**Post date:** [October 6, 2002, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-lyrics-of-popular-songs/131052/1 "2002-10-06T08:03:11Z")

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The old standard “I Don’t Want to Set the World on Fire,” for example:  
_I don’t want to set the world on fire,  
I just want to start a flame in your heart._  
Has this perhaps been rendered into…  
Spanish?  
_Yo no quiero encendar el mundo…  
…Corazón._  
or German?  
_Ich will nicht die Welt an Feuer zu setzen…_  
or French?  
_Je ne veux pas incendier le monde…_  
Any information, please? I’d like to see these lyrics translated… 🙂

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**Author:** ![Lodrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@Lodrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lodrain)\
**Post date:** [October 6, 2002, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-lyrics-of-popular-songs/131052/2 "2002-10-06T14:08:44Z")

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(Disclaimer - IANANative speaker of German - my knowledge of German is enough to get me through Kafka, Nina Hagen and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, not a casual conversation with a friend. I speak German like err… that one guy… err, oh, _macht nichts_.)

I think the German would be better if you said _ich will die Welt in Brand nicht setzen_. The _zu_ is completely unnecessary in this case, the _nicht_ should be right before the main verb and the difference between _Brand_ and _Feuer_ is pretty subtle - a _Brand_ is (usually) destructive, and _Feuer_ is (once again, usually) controlled and useful. A campfire would be a _Feuer_, but if that campfire got out of control and smoked the surrounding forest, it would be a _Brand_. Otherwise, the translation is right on.

Now, for the second given line, since it’s too early for me to search for the entire song - _Ich will kein Flamm in dein Herz entfachen._ Since in the mornings my German tends to be weird and rambly, I couldn’t think of the right words - this comes out as ‘I don’t want to ignite a flame in your heart’ - a bit too dry for a pop song, but otherwise correct, I think.

So, by my German,  
_ich will die Welt in Brand nicht setzen,  
Ich will kein Flamm in dein Herz entfachen._

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**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\
**Post date:** [October 6, 2002, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-lyrics-of-popular-songs/131052/3 "2002-10-06T22:31:32Z")

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_Danke,_ Lodrain… 🙂 there’s only one problem…the accents on the second verse fall like this:  
I **just** want to **start** a **flame** in your **heart.** (Maybe it can’t be rendered into German any other way…?)  
Also, your German for the second line sounds like “I _don’t_ want to start a flame in your heart.”