Did Kraftwerk translate The Man-Machine into French?
Kraftwerk said it themselves when discussing the problems they had attempting different language versions of “Tour De France,” which included terminology so specialized as to defy attempts to translate it and have it work within the structure of the song. Apparently at least one Kraftwerk song was attempted in Portuguese, Spanish and Italian, but I couldn’t tell you which one.
I just googled your query in German and found this page where somebody (called ‘feelflow’) confirms that Die Mensch-Maschine was not released in French or Russian, only in German and English. According to him, people thought there might be a French and Russian release as the title on the cover appears in all four languages.
Thanks jp021272, that makes sense as the origin of a myth. Though the story as I heard it was that Kraftwerk had recorded French vocals for the songs on Die Mensch-Maschine, but I’ll take it as gospel from now on that L’homme-machine only exists in alternate realities from the one we live in and not in a vault in Germany.
