I wish I had a triple libretto as follows:

[CC21106]

I wonder if this exists. A French libretto (first column), literal translation (second column), English libretto (third column).

And another set for every language it's appeared in. This would be, besides French, German, Spanish, Hungarian, Hebrew, Japanese, I think maybe Polish too? Probably some more as well. Italian? Chinese? Hindi? Russian? For the Japanese I'd like a second column with a transliteration. Maybe a French to English literal translation column for all the others so I could compare translations. Yeah, I don't want much.

The first would be doable, sort of, using Google Translate, but a real literal translation by a real speaker of the language would be much better.

Like here is a nice "Do you hear the people sing" literal translation that isn't a bunch of Google garbage: http://lyricstranslate.com/en/la-volonte-du-peuple-will-people.html at http://lyricstranslate.com/en/les-mis%C3%A9rables-lyrics.html So some of this stuff is out there but wouldn't it be nice all on one page.

[Acaila]

This might interest you: http://chanvrerie.net/musical/paris-rev ... nslations/
It's the Paris revival version of the French libretto with a translation into English.
Worth looking up the utterly gorgeous lyrics of the finale!

[deHavilland]

And another set for every language it's appeared in. This would be, besides French, German, Spanish, Hungarian, Hebrew, Japanese, I think maybe Polish too? Probably some more as well. Italian? Chinese? Hindi? Russian? For the Japanese I'd like a second column with a transliteration. Maybe a French to English literal translation column for all the others so I could compare translations. Yeah, I don't want much.

You are missing Hungarian, Icelandic, Norwegian, Swedish, Dutch, Danish, Czech, Castillian, Mauritian Creole, Flemish, Finnish, Argentinian, Portuguese, Estonian and Korean.

But on the whole, it's not a bad project to put together. On top of Acaila's link for the Paris Revival production, Mmebahorel did up the French Concept lyrics in a side-by-side comparison as well. Most of the different versions of the libretto are definitely floating around on the internet, with a little industriousness it wouldn't be too hard to put something together.

I could probably do up a Swedish one with a little help from Mac on the more idiomatic phrasing.

[23623]

This is a very...ambitious but interesting project! It's definitely needed...considering how many foreign Mis recordings I've listened to without understanding a single word (and those I do get something but not enough to fully comprehend the lyrics)

I've actually translated some of the Spanish lyrics before, as an excuse for not studying for my Spanish exam, lol. Maybe I can do it for the full libretto someday. It's a good practice for me anyway. But I don't think my translation would be reliable enough to share with you guys because I'm a non-native speaker of both languages.

[CC21106]

....You are missing Hungarian, Icelandic, Norwegian, Swedish, Dutch, Danish, Czech, Castillian, Mauritian Creole, Flemish, Finnish, Argentinian, Portuguese, Estonian and Korean.

I had NO idea!

...

I could probably do up a Swedish one with a little help from Mac on the more idiomatic phrasing.

Cool. I wish to goodness I knew even one non English language. If I take one up it will probably be Spanish because of so many Spanish speakers (Mexican variant) in Texas.

I was looking at the outdoor German production and noticing how close some of the phrases are to English. I have a bad tendency to skip to the barricade scenes, and "Trink mit mir" sounds very close to "Drink with me". Also, "Feuer!" (spelling...been a long time since I studied German and never got very good at it). I picked up on "kleine Hund" also, and a word here and there. Javert saying "du" to Jean when he gives him his ticket of leave--can't do that in English.

[CC21106]

This might interest you: http://chanvrerie.net/musical/paris-rev ... nslations/
It's the Paris revival version of the French libretto with a translation into English.
Worth looking up the utterly gorgeous lyrics of the finale!

Oh, yes, thank you, that is a good site and the lyrics of the finale are indeed splendid.

[deHavilland]

I was looking at the outdoor German production and noticing how close some of the phrases are to English. I have a bad tendency to skip to the barricade scenes, and "Trink mit mir" sounds very close to "Drink with me". Also, "Feuer!" (spelling...been a long time since I studied German and never got very good at it). I picked up on "kleine Hund" also, and a word here and there. Javert saying "du" to Jean when he gives him his ticket of leave--can't do that in English.

English itself is a Germanic language, so it has noticeably a lot in common with languages like German, Swedish, Norwegian, etc. The Swedish for Drink with Me is even closer: "Drick med Mig."

What I find most fascinating about the 22 languages Les Mis has been officially translated to are the languages NOT on the list: namely Italian and Russian.

[CC21106]

English itself is a Germanic language, so it has noticeably a lot in common with languages like German, Swedish, Norwegian, etc. The Swedish for Drink with Me is even closer: "Drick med Mig."

I have been told that Swedes, Norwegians, and Danes can more or less understand each other with a little effort. Is this true? Disclaimer: Many years ago I studied linguistics but there is more I don't know than I do.

What I find most fascinating about the 22 languages Les Mis has been officially translated to are the languages NOT on the list: namely Italian and Russian.

Italian is definitely surprising. Russian? Hm. It actually first came out when the USSR was still in business. Has it ever been produced in Russia in any language? All that red flag waving might rub them the wrong way (different kinds of wrong way in different eras). I especially don't see them getting it any time soon (2016) considering the present state of things there.

[CC21106]

Hot dog! Nihongo no Re-miserabu. I have found a youtube that has Japanese writing, a transliteration, and a translation. No pictures, just sound and words. But close to what I was looking for. It's in 28 parts (!). Ah-oh. it's not all of it. The later parts don't have the printed words, rats. And they don't have the barricade scenes. More searches turn up more music. There's one in 45 parts no translation. But it's all in there.

I know a few (really a few) words in Japanese: kokoro (heart), kami (spirit, god, or God), kuro (black), shiro (white), shima (island), jin (person), -san, -sama (honorifics), o- and dai- (large, or an honorific), kotatsu (heated table), neko (cat), watashi (I), odaiko (a kind of very large drum), bijin (a beauty), ba (old lady), no (grammatical marker), sake (sake) plus ichi, ni, san, shi, go, roku, shichi, hachi, ku (1-9). That's pretty much it. Jean's number ends in san so's to rhyme with Jan Barujan. I've picked up that yume means dream and pan means bread, which means they didn't have a word for bread before the Portuguese arrived. All but the numbers gathered from manga and anime.

I know exactly 3 words in Hebrew: kibbutz (a sort of commune), Elohim (God) and shalom (peace)

It is very obvious listening to these languages how many times the word God appears in the show. LOTS.

Why am I listening to this instead of getting my 8 hours? I'm hooked, hooked I say!

[Prisoner 24653]

I've been meaning to do a full Japanese translation for years -- found a document ages ago with the lyrics for most of the show (I think it's only missing "Attack on Rue Plumet" and maybe something else). Just need to actually sit down and do it. Though it seems there were some minor changes in the lyrics between the 1994 and 2003 recordings (and the show itself changed as some cuts were made); and the promo album made for their original production in 1987 featured a very different take on "Do You Hear the People Sing?" But yeah...

[CC21106]

I've been meaning to do a full Japanese translation for years -- found a document ages ago with the lyrics for most of the show (I think it's only missing "Attack on Rue Plumet" and maybe something else). Just need to actually sit down and do it. Though it seems there were some minor changes in the lyrics between the 1994 and 2003 recordings (and the show itself changed as some cuts were made); and the promo album made for their original production in 1987 featured a very different take on "Do You Hear the People Sing?" But yeah...

I would love to see that! One of the translated ones was Master of the House and it was interesting and amusing as in English. Interesting how they use different animal body parts for the sausage in different languages - but all repulsive. This had "tongue of the cat" and something else--worth a re-watch.

Just from watching with no translation it appeared that "Do you Hear" was closer to the French than the English, which veers pretty widely from the original.

[Pitt]

If someone is interested in polish libretto (the one from 2010)... click