Hello- I'd like someone who knows French better than I do to translate this.  Simply using on-line French-to-English translation may, or may not work.  I'd posted an earlier version, and have revised it since then. Many thanks, Mark :   

La Lumière de mon Coeur

tu es si jolis ce soir
tu es la lumière de mon coeur

la nuit est magique
a la lueur de la lune

et je suis enchante par toi

chantez pour la vie
chantez pour l'amour
chantez pour un autre jour

chantez pour l'amour
chantez pour la vie 
chantez pour une autre nuit

(01-29-2023, 04:02 AM)Mark A Becker Wrote:  Hello- I'd like someone who knows French better than I do to translate this.  Simply using on-line French-to-English translation may, or may not work.  I'd posted an earlier version, and have revised it since then. Many thanks, Mark :   

La Lumière de mon Coeur

tu es si jolis ce soir
tu es la lumière de mon coeur

la nuit est magique
a la lueur de la lune

et je suis enchante par toi

chantez pour la vie
chantez pour l'amour
chantez pour un autre jour

chantez pour l'amour
chantez pour la vie 
chantez pour une autre nuit

you are very beautiful tonight
you are the light of my heart

the night is magical
in the light of the moon

and i am enchanted by you

sing for life 
sing for love
sing for another day

sing for love
sing for life
sing for another night

I had my daughter translate, Honor’s French for what it’s worth.  Hope it’s what you are looking for.  
Steve

I fed the above translation into ChatGPT because why not, and reverse engineered the French below:

Tu es très belle ce soir
Tu es la lumière de mon cœur

La nuit est magique
À la lumière de la lune

Et je suis ensorcelé par toi

Chante pour la vie
Chante pour l'amour
Chante pour un autre jour

Chante pour l'amour
Chante pour la vie
Chante pour une autre nuit.


Virtually identical, but the different conjugation for Chanter suggests that the English might need to specify that it’s ‘we’ who are singing?

Thanks Steve (and daughter),
Her translation is very close to what I intended, with the exceptions of 'jolie=beautiful' where my thought was 'jolie=lovely'
and 'lueur=light', where my thought was ''lueur=glow'. 

I originally used 'vous=you' instead of 'tu=you', but realized that the more formal 'vous' does not work when the intent is more personal, more intimate.

Subtle yet important differences. 


Thanks busker-
The trans-literation is interesting.  I did struggle with 'sing'.  Would a French person say 'chantez'? Or would it be 'chantes' or another conjugation? 

I wrote this wondering how the words would sound when sung.  If a French person is listening, then would the way I wrote it sound right to them?

I wanted to try this experiment since I find French more lyrical than English (esp American English).  I always wanted to write a love song in French, and wanted to hear how the two languages sounded side-by-side.  Since I'm not a native French speaker, I found it to be an interesting challenge.

I want it to make sense, and be accurate, too.

Mark