Singing in different languages

[shyamwestwind]

Hi Everyone
How many of you singers sing in different languages ? I'm sure quite a few of us sing a few verses of Spanish and maybe some Latin too.
I dont know a word of Spanish but have somehow learnt to pronounce them right but have mostly got away with it cos the audience do not know Spanish themselves.
I remember singing Cu cu ru cu cu (the Trini Lopez version ) without batting an eye lid.
Comprehende Signior ?

[geordiebennett]

Hi All,
I live in Spain and I have had to learn quite a few songs in Spanish,it's fairly easy to learn how to say the words but getting the pronounciation right is another thing,I have a lot of Spanish friends who have helped me out and suggest what songs to sing.It's a good feeling when I get it right and the Spanish really appreciate me trying.
Geordie

[geraint]

I sing in both English and Welsh on a regular basis.

[shyamwestwind]

Hava nagila is a song where I got the pronunciation and accent, right . Really loved singing it when the sailors came out to do their jig , in the port town of Cochin.
I love mixing up the languages, like singing Cheb Khaled's "AICHA"
Geordie, do suggest some Spanish nos which I should try.

[shyamwestwind]

Are there English words for Guantanamera ? It would be wonderful to sing in both languages.

[weegeo]

lol lol i had enough trouble singing in english but i do love to hear a welsh choir in full flow now thats what i call music


weegeo

[JohnG]

As a very proud other half I can boast that my wife sings in German, English, French and Italian. She recently had a project where she had to learn Czech (is that how you spell "Check"?) in order to sing a song by Dvorak (hard work learning all the accents I believe).

My only claim to fame is a little verse in Swahili, which goes,

Jambo Jeroge, habari yako lao?
Wape watu yote? Na kwisha kwenda cho.
Kitchwa na uma, tumbo na njaa,
Nyoka makubwa sana na kwisha kula dawa.

And ...

One man went to mow a meadow in Swahili, which starts

Mtu moja kwenda ... man one went
Kwenda malima shamba ... went to mow a meadow
Mtu moja na umbwa yake ... man one and dog his
Kwenda malima shamba. ... went to mow a meadow

Ha, ha, hahahaHA!
hahahahahahahahaha!
Glug.

Just my shillingi mbele,
JohnG.

[oliver101]

I am just trying to get the hang of learning a song from the 70's called Ca plane pour moi. My French is way behind my command of the English language ( which does not say much ) so it is likely to take me some time. I am trying to learn it phonetically, playing the song over and over again in the car. My hat goes off to all those that are multi lingual.

Ian

[shyamwestwind]

Swahili !!!!!!! That language has rhythm !!
I guess it all comes down to learning phonetically . Though I can speak,read and write Hindi and Tamil ans speak Malayalam, I just can't sing in those languages and believe me I have tried ! My western accent comes through and people think I'm puttiing it on , trying to "pretend" I dont know the local lingo and that I;m aping the western culture !!!!!!! Ha !Ugh !!!
I honestly "THINK in ENGLISH", and mainly speak English at home, and its not I'm acting like a Pseudo - I cant help it if I cant get the local accents correctly , especially when singing.
I guess you guys dont face this problem ,as much as we do here in India, a land with hundreds of languages and dialects.
To complicate matters, further, I find Spanish more comfortable than the local languages ........ gosh !........ where do I belong ? !!!!!!!

[shyamwestwind]

Gerraint, I think this thread should be shifted to the Vocalists Lounge as it pertains to singing. Do think about it. Thanks

[JohnG]

Hi Shyam,
Way back, I started to learn Swahili at the age of four! Not by being taught but, as any child does, by listening to the Africans around me. We left at the end of '62, but it's strange, that when I meet anyone from the 'old country' or Kenya and try my Swahili on them, I get a very surprised reaction when they tell me I still speak 'like a native Ugandan'.

I dare say my spelling of the Swahili tongue has many faults, I spell phonetically.

JohnG.

[rogerb]

As for singing in a foreign language, I never got beyond Frere Jacques. That said, despite living for over ten years in Northern Cyprus where the locals speak Turkish, I am still more fluent in French (O level GCE fifty years ago!) I have a vast vocabulary of Turkish but the grammar lets me down - such a difficult language. I'm a bit like Eric Morcambe, all the right words but not necessarily in the right order.

[Jacqui]

Apart from La Bamba in Spanish, and a few Italian lines in Where The Boys I can't think of any others, I've been meaning to learn the Irish National Anthem in Gaelic, I'd be interested to know the English words of Guantanamera.

I have a lovely Scottish lady in a care home I sing in who gets me to say this line whenever I go there.... in my best Scottish accent
"it's a braw, bricht, moonlicht nicht the nicht" (It's a beautiful, bright, moonlight night tonight).

Jacqui

[shyamwestwind]

The Scottish Accent !!!!!!!! P H E W !!!!!! We had some Scottish Ship builders at the Cocjhin Shipyard and It took me and my Mrs, a full year to get what they wanted to say . I wont say we succeeded, but we could communicate. They were some of the best friends we made and till some years ago, we kept in touch with a few of them, and it saddens me that we dont even know where they are now......... Hugh Mc Ilroy, James Patterson,etc etc

[doricvision]

Jacqui that was a lovely translation of the Braw bricht etc . Have you forgotten'' Michelle'' by The Beatles
Bigmike