Sunday, January 28, 2007

I don't speak French!

I know this probably doesn't come as a shock to any of you. And it's really not a shock to me... but I don't speak French!

I blame my parents (because that's who you are always supposed to blame) that music is like air for me. It's incredibly challenging to live without it. I listen to music when i shower, drive, work, when i'm on a plane, sometimes when i'm sleeping, while i cook, clean, paint, workout, even when playing racquetball (which requires a small amount of communication with your partner). I LOVE music.

I somewhat recently blogged about Finale night. One of the shows we watched at Finale night was Sex and the City. A good portion of the Finale takes place in France. Toward the end, there was a song in the sound track that i fell in love with. It was French, and it was Rap/hip hop. It was an amazing sound and i quickly became obsessed. With Will's help (meaning... it was all him) I was able to find the artist and the cd that the song came from. Since the song was so great i felt like i wanted the whole cd. That's not typical for me, but it was such a unique sound (the brash rap/hip hop beats combined with the soft romantic French language.... AWESOME!) that i was pretty sure i would like it.

The easiest option seemed to be iTunes. The problem was, they didn't have the entire cd, so they refused to sell it at the "album price" of $9.99. Instead they were selling it for $0.99 per song.... I don't like paying $16 and not even having a physical cd to show for it. (I'm weird like that i guess). I called a Luna Music who said they could order it for me, but it was on backorder and could be weeks. I checked Rhapsody... no dice. Amazon had a few copies listed ranging from about $13 to $50 (did i mention it was import only and therefore generally more expensive than a typical cd?) The $13 amazon offer didn't have the greatest feedback record so i kept waiting. Finally ... I found a copy on ebay for about $15.

Let's go back to the constantly listening to music thing for a minute. Because I listen to so much music, it sometimes occurs to me that i have no idea what a song is about. I get caught up in the beat and the flow and after listening to a song several times i catch on to the melody and am suddenly singing along. I've discovered that simply knowing the words doesn't translate to understanding the song. On more than one occasion I've been singing along to song for the 400th time and out of no where the meaning of the words finally sinks in. It sounds ridiculous... but hopefully at least one of you can understand what I'm talking about.

About 80-90% of the music i listen to is in English, most of the rest is Spanish. Because i speak Spanish it's really easy for me to start singing along with these songs too. However, in Spanish, it's even easier for me to have no idea what I'm singing about, because it takes a bit more mental effort on my part.

Enter my new French cd.... the artist's name is Passi and the cd title is Les Tentations. The song that got me hooked (and according to the reviews on Amazon, i'm not the first to be hooked as a result of the Sex in the City finale) is Il Fait Chaud. Since I got the cd (3-4 days ago) I've listened to it almost exclusively. I love it. I'm quite pleased with my purchase. It has however caused me to realize something..... I don't speak French!!!!!! Again, I never really thought that i did, but it's still weird. Typically after 3-4 days of a new cd i can sing along to at least 4 or 5 songs, and i can tell you which songs are good and which ones suck. I know NOTHING about this cd!!!!!!!! Besides the song that originally turned me on to the disc, I can't name a single song. The only reason i know ANY of the lyrics, is because I remember the "after school special" that taught me how to count to 10 in French. I can't sing along, because the sounds don't compute in my head. I sometimes think i'm catching on to a phrase, and then i realize it's and English or Spanish phrase, and therefore, probably not correct at all.

While I do think that French is a beautiful language, it was towards the bottom of the list of languages I want to learn (and yes, i do have a list, and i'm waaaaaaaaaay behind schedule). The (VERY) little that i know about the French language makes me think that it would be incredibly challenging to learn. I think English would be virtually impossible to learn as a second language, but luckily i don't have that challenge. Spanish, while challenging, makes a lot of sense. Once you learn your alphabet and the phonics behind it, you can read like a pro. You may not understand what your reading, but you can at least begin to imitate sounds easily. Every letter has an assigned pronunciation. Comprehension will come with time. In French they drop off like half the word.... like it doesn't exist. There are multiple letters at the ends of words that get no recognition. It's just weird!!!!

Ok... enough of my blathering. I don't speak French. There you have it. I love my CD, but I have a feeling it will be a loooooooooooooong time before i have the ability to sing along with it, much less understand it. It's like "Joy and pain, like sunshine and rain." Me and my non French speaking self are going to bed. Buenos Noches!!!