When you're working on a new solo or piece of orchestral literature, what's one of the first things you should do? Finding a good recording of the piece is important, but what I learned from Dr. Su, at the University of Northern Iowa, is that you need to learn what all the different words mean.
For pieces in your native language this isn't something you'd even think about, but when I'm starting out on pieces like Mahler, Strauss, and Villanelle, I have a hard time picking out any of the words. You may say that listening to recordings can get the same return, but with that you're only copying what someone else is doing. Not truly conveying your own idea of what the composer was asking.
Personally, when I have to start a new piece in a foreign language I made it easier on myself and downloaded a free app on my I-Touch that translate any language to any other language. While sometimes this leaves the text choppy and not the exact translation, I can usually get a pretty good idea of what the composer meant to say.
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