“There’s Hope” Translations (Blog Post #8)

Original

“Back when I had a little,
I thought that I needed a lot.
A little was overrated,
but a lot was a little too complicated.
You see, zero didn’t satisfy me.
A million didn’t make me happy.
That’s when I learned the lesson,
that it’s all about your perceptions.
Hey, are you a pauper or a superstar?
So you act, so you feel, so you are.
It ain’t about the size of your car,
it’s about the size of the faith in your heart.”

– “There’s Hope” by India Arie

Translation 1

Back when I was poor,
I thought that I needed a lot of money.
Being poor was too simple,
but being wealthy made things too complicated.
Having nothing wasn’t satisfying.
Having everything didn’t make me happy.
But then I learned
that life is about your perception of it.
Are you dirt poor or are you filthy rich?
How you act is how you feel, and therefore who you are.
Your material possessions aren’t what’s important,
what’s important is the strength of your faith.

Principle 1

This translation is the more obvious of the two. Although Arie does not actually use the word “money” here, it is a natural correlation to make due to her use of numbers and references to things associated with money (e.g. a pauper is a person who is poor, a superstar is a person who is likely rich, and cars are generally expensive). This contrast between being poor (having “a little”) and being rich (having “a lot”) was my basis for this first translation. In both of my translations I decoded the lines “that’s when I learned the lesson, that it’s all about your perceptions” to “but then I learned that life is about your perception of it”. I felt that those lines had the same message in both translations, because at that point Arie learns that what is important in life can change based on her perspective. In this example she thought that the amount of money she had (whether it was a little or a lot) was what was important, but later realized that her faith (in herself, in life, or in god) was what was truly important.

Translation 2

Back when I had low self esteem,
I thought I needed to be boastful to be happy.
Being too humble was disappointing,
but being too proud wasn’t gratifying either.
Feeling self-conscious wasn’t satisfying.
Being self-centered didn’t make me happy.
But then I learned
that life is about your perception of it.
Are you insecure or are you overconfident?
How you act is how you feel, and therefore who you are.
It’s not about the size of your ego,
it’s about the kind of person you are.

Principle 2

This translation is the more abstract of the two. In the original line when Arie says “it ain’t about the size of your car”, it reminded me that people brag about their material possessions to feel self-worth. This contrast between being too humble (having “a little” ) and being too boastful (having “a lot”) was my basis for this second translation. It focuses more on how Arie feels than what she physically has. In both of my translations I decoded the lines “that’s when I learned the lesson, that it’s all about your perceptions” to “but then I learned that life is about your perception of it”. I felt that those lines had the same message in both translations, because at that point Arie learns that what is important in life can change based on her perspective. In this example she thought that how much she boasted about herself (whether it was a little or a lot) mattered, but after changing her perspective realized that what actually mattered was her character.