Dark vocabulary in song lyrics

[FlagOnce]

No, I'm not referring dark here as something bad, especially, but more to the fact it is unknown and not officially documented. For example, the complexiest vocabulary of a language, used in literature, is probably documented properly and on school you will have to try to read these books. Meanwhile, these "dark" lyrics are harder to understand because it's only temporary, cultural, unexplained and sometimes based on mistakes.

So, you want to translate lyrics to understand better songs and the target language in the end. But you can't really. Who would you ask on help? Is Internet providing good resources on these undocumented words? Should we focus on learners or natives when asking for help?

[宇崎ちゃん]

Let's put it that way:
1. Which words are those exactly?
2. In which language?
3. In which sentence?

Because it really depends on what you mean.
It's hard to answer your questions without knowing the answer on my questions.
Because my answer would be "ask a lawyer", but what if those words are slangs?
He or she would have no idea what you're talking about.

[jamesbonner]

well I don't really think that they use unexplained words in the songs, they use some words used in the streets that's why you can't understand them, and yes if you look in the internet you'll find the meanings

[blikkael]

No, I'm not referring dark here as something bad, especially, but more to the fact it is unknown and not officially documented. For example, the complexiest vocabulary of a language, used in literature, is probably documented properly and on school you will have to try to read these books. Meanwhile, these "dark" lyrics are harder to understand because it's only temporary, cultural, unexplained and sometimes based on mistakes.

You mean by dark is complex vocabulary? Can you please give us an example. This topic, totally captured my thoughts and I am very interested to dig deeper with what you're trying to say here.

As for how I understand your post, I think you mean words that are blurry and made up words? 

So, you want to translate lyrics to understand better songs and the target language in the end. But you can't really. Who would you ask on help? Is Internet providing good resources on these undocumented words? Should we focus on learners or natives when asking for help?

To translate a song, first, you have to identify what genre of the song you're trying to translate. Once you know the answer to that, you have to identify who are the most frequent listeners to the song. Like are they students? Which students, college students? After answering that, try to look for these listeners, if they are the natives or fluent in this language. Try to talk to them. Try to ask for their views, like how they understood and what they're feeling about that song. More so, ask what it's all about, what culture it depicts, the message of the song, what kind of idea the songwriter wants the listener to think of and feel about it. This way, you will find it easier to translate as you have gathered enough information that will surely help on translating a song. If these listeners can't identify a word, still, don't be afraid to ask them if by any chance it's a made up word by the songwriter or the singer. Because you never know, sometimes, singers add their personalities in the songs they're singing. All this can be started on the internet alone. But I can't say they're good. More like, decent enough to guide you to a conclusion. If you're passionate enough, then head out and explore. That'd be so much fun I bet. When it comes to undocumented words, maybe you should go to the native speakers for more in-depth help.

Edited October 22, 2015 by blikkael

[jesolis]

Hello everyone! My name is Jorge Solis. I think some songs are poetic enough that their meaning cannot be reduced to a simple literal translation. With that in mind, I would ask the people who listen to these songs and have a better understanding of the language they are in. Sometimes song lyrics have a different meaning than the literal translation of their words. So, ask the people who listen to this music.

[lushlala]

When I saw dark I understood it to mean bad, but from what you're saying it's simply words that are not commonly used or all that well known. Usually, like someone else said, it could be made up language maybe for poetic license or even street language or slang. I find that even if I may not be familiar with some words, more often than not,  I can deduce the meaning from the context. The Urban dictionary can also come in handy for this sort of thing. Maybe you could give a couple of examples to give us a bit more clarity, because i'm not entirely sure I understand the question.