Google Translate Songs

About

Google Translate Songs are remixes of popular songs in which the original vocal tracks are replaced with a narration of the lyrics provided by Google Translate’s text-to-voice feature.

Origin

Though Google Translate^[1] has been available since 2006, Google Translate-narrated songs did not appear on YouTube until April 2010, when German YouTuber quelllympfe^[2] uploaded a Google Translate version of Eminem’s 1999 hit rap single My Name Is.

Spread

In April 2011, Tumblr user Popshit!^[3] further popularized Google Translate covers of pop songs with a remix version of Lady Gaga’s Born This Way. On May 4th, 2011, a YouTube video^[4] for the song was uploaded on May 4th, 2011. The fad has been since featured on several internet humor sites and blogs, including Japanese culture blog CrunchyRoll^[5], I Heart Chaos^[6], FunnyJunk^[7] and Geekosystem.^[8]

Rebecca Black’s Friday

A Google Translate rendition of Rebecca Black’s Friday was uploaded to YouTube on March 23rd, 2011 by nameinflashinglights^[12].

Google Translate Easter Egg

On November 28th, 2010^[9], Redditor harrichr posted a tip on how to get Google Translate to beatbox by translating a combination of the letters P, V, Z, and K from German to German. This was then reposted to Geekosystem^[10] and TechCrunch.^[11]

Notable Examples

Search Interest

Search for “Google Translate Singing” peaked in April 2011 when the My Name Is cover was posted to YouTube and the Born This Way cover was uploaded to Tumblr.

External References