Journal of English Language and Education
Vol 10, No 3 (2025)

Metaphor in Lyrics: How do Humans and Machines Interpret Maher Zain’s Insha Allah and Harris J’s Worth It Using Different Translation Techniques?

Nabilah, Fatihatul Haqi (Unknown)
Saehu, Andang (Unknown)
Ardiansyah, Erlan Aditya (Unknown)



Article Info

Publish Date
16 May 2025

Abstract

Translation of metaphors in song lyrics presents a unique challenge, especially in the context of human versus machine translation. This study investigates how metaphors in Maher Zain’s Insha Allah and Harris J’s Worth It are interpreted and translated differently by human translators and machine translation tools such as Google Translate and DeepL. Using a descriptive qualitative approach with a comparative analysis method, this research identifies the translation techniques used and evaluates how effectively the metaphorical meanings and emotional tones are conveyed in both types of translations. The findings reveal that machine translators tend to translate metaphors literally, often missing cultural and emotional nuances. In contrast, human translators employ strategies like adaptation and paraphrasing to preserve implied meanings and emotional resonance. Furthermore, machine translation performs better on culturally universal metaphors but fails to accurately render idiomatic and emotionally rich metaphors. This study highlights the ongoing relevance of human translators in conveying metaphorical meaning in creative texts and contributes to the broader discourse on translation quality and technique in the age of artificial intelligence.

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Journal Info

Abbrev

jele

Publisher

Subject

Languange, Linguistic, Communication & Media Other

Description

Journal of English Language and Education (pISSN: 2597-6850 and eISSN: 2502-4132) is a journal that focuses on researching or documenting issues in education, language education, applied linguistics, English education, English language teaching, English Literature, language assessment and ...