Do you like to listen to other languages, or people of other languages in your own? (hell, America)

[Djamila]

I enjoy listening to languages like Turkish and Arabic, even though I only understand words they have in common with my own. My sister, though, finds it frustrating to listen to a language she doesn't understand - it nearly gives her a headache.

Which of these two versions of Seceru would you prefer to listen to, having to chose either one or the other?

Seceru in Bosnian:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=0QxdX00hZqw

Seceru in English:

http://media.putfile.com/Seceru---English

Why do you believe you'd prefer the one you do?

And a second question... I find listening to, for example, Turkish artists singing in Bosnian to be almost as good as listening to Turkish artists sing in Turkish. Their accents and expressions are flawed, you can easily tell they don't normally speak Bosnian, and that makes their music more exotic somehow.

Do you sense the same "foreign" element from the English version of Seceru?

[Djamila]

There's only one line in the English version that really strikes me as needing an explanation for you all to understand.

When she says, "I want to know you better, come into my neighborhood". Neighborhood in Bosnian is mahala and it has many more meanings than it does in English. A neighborhood can be one street, or half a town, but it's a very close-knit area where everyone knows every other family, most have lived together for centuries. There's inter-marriage, the old women keep tabs on everyone under 35. A single strange car, strage man, anything like that in the area will get the gossip grapevine going and the average old woman in that neighborhood will know about that man than the FBI could find out by the end of the day. So she's just asking him, literally, to pass through her neighborhood so she can find out every detail about him.

[robtex]

I listen to spanish everyday because of where I live and have picked up enough to make simple conversations with the locals who only speak spanish. I speak German pretty well but only listen to it on audio a few times a year.

[Sunstone]

I like listening to French singers. I also like listening to Cajun French singers. And Spanish sounds so beautiful!

[Djamila]

Originally Posted by robtex

I listen to spanish everyday because of where I live and have picked up enough to make simple conversations with the locals who only speak spanish. I speak German pretty well but only listen to it on audio a few times a year.

I love Spanish music also, and Portuguese. I must confess, probably offensively, that the two are more or less identical to me - except, in Europe (the opposite is probably true in South America), Spain is the larger of the two, with more artists, bigger music industry, and consequently "better" music (or more options for anyone looking for what they like).

I also love Azerbaijani music.

German is one of the few I can't really listen to. I like Du Idiot, and that's about it. It's just a hideous language to my ears - hahaha.

[Djamila]

Originally Posted by Sunstone

I like listening to French singers. I also like listening to Cajun French singers. And Spanish sounds so beautiful!

French I like also, but the type of French music that they put out there for Europe to hear is all... snobby? I like normal, French music that you'd hear on the radio in an average, mid-sized French town.

My favorite French song is "Le Vent" (The Wind), but I don't know the full name or who sings it. LOL Someone sent it to me years and years ago.

[Djamila]

I also love listening to other Slavic languages because so much of it is the same as any other Slavic language. We didn't really mix when I was growing up - you simply didn't hear, for example, a Ukrainian song or a Russian song on the radio. Now you do and the languages are so similar that you catch a few words each verse.

Take Milly (Honey) by Tina Karol (Ukraine) for example.


http://youtube.com/watch?v=nyC4pGyTFpA

The first bit sounds like "Hello? Hello? What friend is calling?"

Sto = what
glaski = voice
Da da da = Yes yes yes, etc.

[ayani]

i love hearing Turkish... and Spanish, too. i can't understand much, but it's great to just listen.

and Arabic.

[robtex]

Originally Posted by Djamila

I love Spanish music also, and Portuguese..

I misread your post. I thought it referred to speaking. I listen to tex-mex music weekly though due to geography. It is sorta hard to explain though. It is in spanish, sorta a slanly mexican more than spanish though, and it either has a country flair to it or a hip hop beat to it. Dancing to it is like going to an areobics class. You move in a circle to it going counter-clockwise. The pace is very fast where you make footwork motions that compliment the beat of the music. Everyone is sweating very quickly and the music is very festive. The more interesting thing is there is very little violence in most tejano dance clubs. I think the festive atmosphere that the music encourages has an impact on this as opposed to metal, or rap or other groups of music that seem to create a darker atmosphere. Puerto Rician music is sometimes mixed in to. I can hear them in my head sometimes when I am not there but I can't understand all the words. When I can understand them they mostly talk about nonsense things --which seems true to most music in general.

[Djamila]

Listening to the second verse now:
Sunce = Sun, something sunset
lozna = Bad
ljubit = Love-something (lover, loving, etc.)

Pupsik = Poopsie
Moj slatki pupsik = My sweet poopsie
kraj sveta = End of the world