She-Wolf and the Girl with Tears

Author’s Column by Tymur Levitin
Series: “Language. Identity. Choice. Meaning.”

🌐 Choose your language:

🔗 Read in Ukrainian / Читати українською
🔗 Read in Russian / Читать по-русски

📍 Introduction

This is not just a story about words.
It’s a story told by a grown man.
A teacher. A translator. A son.

And it started with a simple question from a student:

“What did he really mean when he called her a ‘she-wolf’?”

That’s where true translation begins — not with dictionaries,
but with understanding what was meant, not just said.
We’re not translating lyrics.
We’re translating the space between the lines.

🐺 The She-Wolf: a man’s voice about a grown woman

She’s just a lonely she-wolf,
Not every man can win her love.
She’s like a queen, untamed and free —
You can’t buy her, and you can’t break her.

This isn’t a boy singing.
It’s a man, speaking with silence, not control.
He doesn’t want to change her. He recognizes her.
She doesn’t beg. Doesn’t explain. Doesn’t play.
She just leaves — when she’s no longer seen.

And if you’ve ever met a woman like that,
you’ll never forget her.

🐱 The Cat: a young girl’s voice, talking to herself

What does she dream of
when tears fall on her lashes?
Another night without sleep…
and it hurts to smoke alone.

This is not a man’s voice.
This is a young girl, trying to understand her own sadness.
Still open, still hopeful, still raw.
Her pain is not yet shaped by silence.
She’s trying to speak it — with her whole body.

🔹 Note: In Russian, the original line is «Что ей снится…», not «О чём ей снится…».
“Что” is the idiomatic and poetic way to ask what she dreams — “о чём” would sound unnatural here.

🌍 Why it matters to language learners

Because language is not neutral.
A word in one language may carry respect, shame, tenderness, or pride in another.
And if you want to speak a language — truly speak it —
you must understand how it speaks you.

When a student says “she’s a she-wolf,”
does he mean she’s fierce? Untouchable? Mysterious? Sexual?
And if he says “my little cat,”
does he mean it playfully? Or is he crossing a line?

That’s why we don’t translate lyrics.
We translate the emotion behind them.

🎓 Translation comparison: “She-wolf” verse

When her ice melts before a heart that burns —
she’ll forget the pain of loneliness…

🎵 Translation comparison: “What does she dream of?” (Face2Face)

What does she dream of,
when tears fall on her lashes?

🧭 The contrast: She-Wolf vs Cat

💡 For language learners

• Words are never neutral.
• Literal translation may distort emotional tone.
• Grammar and syntax matter — but context matters more.
• Language is music. Meaning lives in rhythm and hesitation.
• Translation is not copying — it’s choosing.

🔗 Related articles:

• One Word — Two Worlds: Girl, Baby, Detka
• Real Language Is Never Literal
• Grammar Is How We Think

💙 Dedication

🔹 This article is dedicated to my mother — Emma Yurievna Levitina.
A woman who never played roles,
never pretended, never asked for anything.
She did what she believed was right.
Always.

I don’t know if it made me better or worse —
but I am who I am.
Because she raised me that way.
And I wouldn’t be any other.

© Tymur Levitin. All rights reserved.
Author’s Column by Tymur Levitin — founder, director and head teacher of Levitin Language School.