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Language Barrier in Music

She's referring to "Holding Out for a Hero" by Frou Frou.
Where have all the good men gone
And where are all the gods?
Where's the street-wise Hercules
To fight the rising odds?
Isn't there a white knight upon a fiery steed?
Late at night I toss and turn and dream of what I need

I need a hero
I'm holding out for a hero 'til the end of the night
He's gotta be strong
And he's gotta be fast
And he's gotta be fresh from the fight
I need a hero
I'm holding out for a hero 'til the morning light
He's gotta be sure
And it's gotta be soon
And he's gotta be larger than life

Somewhere after midnight
In my wildest fantasy
Somewhere just beyond my reach
There's someone reaching back for me
Racing on the thunder and rising with the heat
It's gonna take a superman to sweep me off my feet

I need a hero
I'm holding out for a hero 'til the end of the night
He's gotta be strong
And he's gotta be fast
And he's gotta be fresh from the fight
I need a hero
I'm holding out for a hero 'til the morning light
He's gotta be sure
And it's gotta be soon
And he's gotta be larger than life

Up where the mountains meet the heavens above
Out where the lightning splits the sea
I would swear that there's someone somewhere
Watching me

Through the wind and the chill and the rain
And the storm and the flood
I can feel his approach
Like the fire in my blood

I need a hero
I'm holding out for a hero 'til the end of the night
He's gotta be strong
And he's gotta be fast
And he's gotta be fresh from the fight
I need a hero
I'm holding out for a hero 'til the morning light
He's gotta be sure
And it's gotta be soon
And he's gotta be larger than life

I need a hero
I'm holding out for a hero 'til the end of the night
He's gotta be strong
And he's gotta be fast
And he's gotta be fresh from the fight
I need a hero
I'm holding out for a hero 'til the morning light
He's gotta be sure
And it's gotta be soon
And he's gotta be larger than life
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Dewgong said:
Ha, I probably don't know what I'm talking about, but doesn't it bother you when people disregard music as total crap because it's not in their language? I've had people at my school tell me that my music is not real music, because it wasn't in English. In fact, I've had people at my school tell me that it wasn't music at all.
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It's the exact opposite for me. It's hard for me to sing anything but Japanese, since I haven't done anything else before. I still enjoy the non-Japanese music, I just can't sing it.

:3 But that's pretty much all I have to say.
 
Anche said:
Coincidentally, my favorite band has semi-good diction (this is like the best you can get with rock.)
Click to expand...

Then you haven't heard a lot of rock bands.

In the topic of language barrier, it really ticks me off when people ignore or hate music with lyrics in Spanish. A lot of people still think every song ever in my mother tongue is shitty reggaeton or obnoxious rancheras.

I really don't mind listening to music with lyrics I don't understand. I just appreciate it for what it is, and maybe look up a translation (though the original, true meaning will often be lost.)
 
Frozen Weta said:
In the topic of language barrier, it really ticks me off when people ignore or hate music with lyrics in Spanish. A lot of people still think every song ever in my mother tongue is shitty reggaeton or obnoxious rancheras.
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Awww Spanish language music rules.

Besides rock in Spanish, I also enjoy norteño and tejano music from time to time.
 
There's this one French-Canadian band and I keep forgetting the name but I kinda of liked them... :(

Darksong said:
It's the exact opposite for me. It's hard for me to sing anything but Japanese, since I haven't done anything else before. I still enjoy the non-Japanese music, I just can't sing it.

:3 But that's pretty much all I have to say.
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I don't know why, but Japanese is a much more easy language for me, (when it comes to singing), when it comes to singing as well. Not so much just because it's Japanese, but because it works better with my tongue. Hard to explain. It's almost easier for me to speak (just not completely proficient, of course). It's sort of choppy when I try to sing in Japanese, I like it.
 
Dewgong said:
It's almost easier for me to speak (just not completely proficient, of course). It's sort of choppy when I try to sing in Japanese, I like it.
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I feel this, too. I think it's because Japanese has a small amount of phonemes. Most of the sounds are in English, and the ones that aren't in English are in the Romance languages (except French D<).

I've found that I quite like listening to songs in Russian and Hindi. This is of course, in addition to languages I know and kind of know.
There's something awesome about the foreign-ness of it all. :x
 
Dewgong said:
I don't know why, but Japanese is a much more easy language for me, (when it comes to singing), when it comes to singing as well. Not so much just because it's Japanese, but because it works better with my tongue. Hard to explain. It's almost easier for me to speak (just not completely proficient, of course). It's sort of choppy when I try to sing in Japanese, I like it.
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I seem to sing languages I listen equally well. Mind you, I don't think my musical language selection is that wide, and I grew up speaking Mandarin, so I can pronounce all sorts of funny sounds that English-speakers don't get. =P

... said:
I feel this, too. I think it's because Japanese has a small amount of phonemes. Most of the sounds are in English, and the ones that aren't in English are in the Romance languages (except French D<).
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That's it, if anything. The sounds are closer to English than Mandarin Chinese or Korean. Also, unlike, say, Chinese and Vietnamese, it's not tonal, which can trip up people trying to pronounce it.
 
well, now that i think about it, i listen to a lot of european music and am interested in more; most of it is french or german. but it doesn't really apply.. while m83 and kraftwerk are french and german, respectively, their music is anglophone, if that makes sense. (but i know kraftwerk releases music simultaneously in english and german. the english versions are more readily available, and i've yet to hear a german version of trans-europe express..)
 
I definitely think Kraftwerk's music is nicer in German, but it's true that it might be a little harder to find than the English versions. It's a pity really.
 
Hmm I was kind of thinking about the phenoms in Japanese... there's a lot less anyways.

Jpop isn't really my cup of tea (I know I've said that before).
 
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I prefer music in languages I don't understand, unless the lyrics are horrendous and funny.
 
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