A Bit Of An Explanation

I am not a professional. Not anywhere near it. But I like to think that some little observations I have about language and the social construction of it are worthwhile.

Some of these notes were originally written for acquaintances with no linguistic experience whatsoever, so please be patient through the explanations of basic concepts, and the simplistic tone.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Introducing: Songs In Languages I Don't Speak

I love music. I really love music. I make it, listen to it, play it, study it - it's really the biggest part of my life. (Sorry, linguistics...) But I have a habit that some people call bad, and others call awesome: Loving music that's in languages I don't speak. It can be as almost understandable to me as a Romance/Germanic song, or as foreign as the Sámi national anthem. My tastes run all across the gambit, from Finnish death metal to Romanian folk music.

And guess how I first heard Finnish? Music. Hearing those songs kick-started my interest into this beautiful language. The same story with Hungarian later on.

A couple of people have asked me: Well, why don't you show us exactly what you listen to? (This is because they want to gawk at my bizarre tastes.) But, it got me thinking - maybe its good to spread the love of languages and music around? And at the same time, get attention for some great musicians/works.

So, from now on, every Wednesay and Sunday, I'll post a video of a song in language that is not English or Latin. Genres and styles will vary, to provide a bit of a taste for everything!

Note that this is called "Languages I Don't Speak", not "Languages I Don't Understand". I understand any number of songs that aren't English or Latin, for miscellaneous reasons - the language is so similar to ones I know that I can get it, I've seen English subtitles, or just plain context clues. But still, even if I can understand them, they have a charm that those super-familiar-language-songs just don't have.

You can send suggestions in, if you want to see one of your favorite songs displayed! Long live the music!

(Of course, if I'm gone, I won't be able to post. That should be expected.)

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