U2start.com | General Chat 16

I can't remember ever hearing it. If I have I think I didn't like it that much.

Sounded a lot like an old Iggy Pop song to me. YouTube it.

Sitting on a freezing cold German train station. Flight was a wild ride,the guy next to me almost died ;-) well,so GOOD to be home. Not.

Olof,you know I hate you now. I just have to.
No love,me :p

Mr_Trek

13 years

Oh, Kirsten, I hate you too!!

iTim

13 years

For those who don't speak very good English or have a limited vocabulary, when listening to music written in English do you learn the words and the translations or do you learn the sounds?

For example, I don't speak Italian (apart from a few basic phrases) yet I could probably speak (sing if forced

) most of my favourite Andrea Bocelli songs. For example, just been listening to Con te partirò and after hearing it so many times, I know how it goes and could pronounce most of it whilst I'd have no idea how to transcribe it or translate most of it. Same would go for a few songs of that genre, Caruso, Finiculi, Finucula, 'O Sole Mio etc Also Pavarotti's section in Miss Sarajevo.

So when you first heard U2/whatever was it a case of learning the pronounciation of the lyrics or the actual words? Olof might know where I'm coming from as he's a Russell Watson fan.

LikeASong

13 years

I know what you mean. I used to do that back in the day when I actually didn't speak English very much (7, 9, 11 years old). I have learnt most of my English by listening/reading/singing along to Achtung Baby (the first pressed AB vinyl here in Spain had all the lyrics fully translated into Spanish), so I really owe most of my knowledge to that album. But yeah I remember when I didn't speak or understand English that well, I did a lot of 'phonetical singing'. That days are happily gone

Nevertheless I still do that with the fewer non-English-nor-Spanish music I listen to, like the rare German or French music I often come across.

iTim

13 years

Originally posted by LikeASong:I know what you mean. I used to do that back in the day when I actually didn't speak English very much (7, 9, 11 years old). I have learnt most of my English by listening/reading/singing along to Achtung Baby (the first pressed AB vinyl here in Spain had all the lyrics fully translated into Spanish), so I really owe most of my knowledge to that album. But yeah I remember when I didn't speak or understand English that well, I did a lot of 'phonetical singing'. That days are happily gone Nevertheless I still do that with the fewer non-English-nor-Spanish music I listen to, like the rare German or French music I often come across.

I'm a little better with the German music, admittedly I only really listen to Wir Sind Helden but after studying German for four years, I can have a good guess at the words and their meanings. I've pretty much got Wenn es Passiert nailed but I do love that song.

I do recall your experience with Warning Baby and the Spanish translation. Apart from the possible word positioning that might be off its a good tool. I still remember the educational songs we sang in French and German.

LikeASong

13 years

I studied German for 4 years as well, but it happened from 2004 to 2008 and most of it is sadly forgotten

I'm pretty good at Geboren Um Zu Leben though

iTim

13 years

Originally posted by LikeASong:I studied German for 4 years as well, but it happened from 2004 to 2008 and most of it is sadly forgotten I'm pretty good at Geboren Um Zu Leben though

I studied for three years, I beg your pardon. From 2004-2007, though like yourself I've forgotten a lot. Hopefully a visit to Germany will refresh my memory.

Mr_Trek

13 years

Yes. I remember as a kid listening to songs sung in English; I just sang what I thought it sounded like. Then I got mad at my parents when they told me I was wrong

Some of those "phonetical lyrics" are so deeply entrenched in my mind that I still sing those songs incorrectly.

On to today and Russell Watson: Yes, I sing some of the songs phonetically and therefore sometimes with non-existent words. If I take a look at the actual lyrics I can understand quite a lot of them, thanks to my Spanish studies. In the booklet to Russell's first album, The Voice, that I got for christmas, all lyrics are translated, so I sometimes take a look in there. I imagine I will eventually learn most of what's in there.

iTim

13 years

Achtung Olof...