Music in other languages - When you just can't help but enjoy the song despite not understanding a single word of the lyrics

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Do you listen to music in other languages?

  • Yes

    Votos: 71 98.6%

  • No

    Votos: 0 0.0%

  • The thought never crossed my mind

    Votos: 1 1.4%
  • Total de votantes
    72
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Dread First

Dread First

Grand Mufti of Autism & Shitposter Emeritus
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12 de Mayo, 2017
I'm sure the Kiwis among us can attest to loving music from bands all over the world. Certainly, I'm a fan of bands like Amon Amarth, Avatar, Rammstein, and so many more. However, those bands (with the exception of Rammstein) all make music in English. How many of us actually go out of their way to listen to stuff in other languages?

One of the most important aspects of language learning for me is to get as much exposure as possible. Generally, I watch movies for this purpose but the music's always welcome if I can find some good recommendations. Here are some of my favourites. Feel free to drop some of your own as well.

Pashto

Fun fact: this song also has official Farsi and Urdu versions as well!

Mongol


Russian

 
Meme dance (Truly was a different time) from the 2000s, I came back to it recently and realised how much I actually like the song.


According to translations its about her being tired of being surrounded by people with problems and basically she just wants to have a spa day away from life.
Which given how it is sung and performed if that's what its about, to me shows how radically different communication styles can be even between closely related languages and peoples.
 
If one thinks of music as its own language and medium of communication, the other "lexical" languages in which it is created are merely accents

That being said, one could certainly argue that certain (lexical) languages lend themselves better to being sung than others. For example, I find French to be quite melodic both in the flow of its spoken words and in music due to its softer sounds. Italian words also tend to end in vowels, making it easier to connect words and string them out into a melody.

I recall reading some interesting studies comparing the rhythms inherent in different languages, specifically divided by their isochrony; I believe I also came across a study that considered the sociolinguistic factors. I will look for them again and link them here.
 
Just picture yourself bored out of your mind in New Mexico collecting money drop-offs paired with a no-nonsense type boomer.
 
Medical Hawaii dijo:
If one thinks of music as its own language and medium of communication, the other "lexical" languages in which it is created are merely accents

That being said, one could certainly argue that certain (lexical) languages lend themselves better to being sung than others. For example, I find French to be quite melodic both in the flow of its spoken words and in music due to its softer sounds. Italian words also tend to end in vowels, making it easier to connect words and string them out into a melody.

I recall reading some interesting studies comparing the rhythms inherent in different languages, specifically divided by their isochrony; I believe I also came across a study that considered the sociolinguistic factors. I will look for them again and link them here.
Presiona para expandir...
"An empirical comparison of rhythm in language and music"

"3 Rhythm in language and music - Michigan State University"

"Rhythm in Language and Music: Parallels and Differences"

"Comparison of Rhythmic Processing in Language and Music:
An Interdisciplinary Approach"

"Exaggeration of Language-Specific Rhythms in English and French Children's Songs"
 

I found this band when I was studying German. My German proficiency is still awful (partly because the language is hard af, mostly because I'm lazy), but the music is good.
 
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