# Songs not in english



## martinkunev (Mar 23, 2017)

From my observation in a lot of countries in the world english-language music dominates. I have always wondered how exactly did this come to be. The only reason I can think of is the fact that many people have some familiarity with the language. Any theories are welcome.

Something that can make a difference is how suitable is a language for music. Of course you can make songs in any language, but some people will argue that one language is more beautiful than another (lots of people don't like dutch for example).

Do you listen to songs not in english often? In what languages are these songs? Is it your native language?

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I have kind of a music collection and _English_ dominates. The second biggest is _Bulgarian_ (my native) and the third is _French_ (another language I speak). I also have songs in _Italian_, _Greek_, _German_, _Finnish_, _Spanish_, _Portuguese_, _Russian_ and just one or two in _Catalan_, _Breton_, _Estonian_, _Arabic_, _Latin_, _Hungarian_, _Romanian_, _Wolof_, _Sanskrit_. I can share which songs if somebody is interested 

I think whether the lyrics are understandable and memorizable influences whether I like a song. Some languages I find beautiful (english, french, italian, greek, finnish) and this has provoked me to find songs in them. Some songs I know just because I was exposed to the culture (I live in France, I have spent some time in Greece).


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## Introvertia (Feb 6, 2016)

I've always thought english songs are not that deep, but it's not because of their message, it's because of the language itself. My relationship with english is detached, probably because it's not my native language, but another language that was mandatory to study in school. Finnish is my mother language, it's no surprise songs in Finnish feel more personal to me. I enjoy listening to russian, although I'm not fluent, especially when female is singing. She could be singing about a pile of crap and it would sound beautiful to me.


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## stentorious_paroxysm (Apr 25, 2012)

English is my native tongue, but I also listen to Japanese music. This growing interest is a direct result of a fascination with anime and Japanese culture.

Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk


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## Jaune (Jul 11, 2013)

Most of the songs to which I listen happen to be in English, which is my native language. Since lyrics aren't important to me in music, I think this is because I have been most exposed to English-speaking musicians throughout my life. In addition, I noticed that a lot of rock and metal bands in countries that don't have English as their native language still music in English. Looking through my library most of my foreign stuff are in Russian, Swedish, Spanish, Japanese, French, Danish, and German.


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## NipNip (Apr 16, 2015)

martinkunev said:


> From my observation in a lot of countries in the world english-language music dominates. I have always wondered how exactly did this come to be. The only reason I can think of is the fact that many people have some familiarity with the language. Any theories are welcome.


Because English is the dominating language in the Western culture. (Asia has their own music industry with songs in their language(s), and so does Latin America and the Arabic nations in Africa.) So why would musicians within a region that is utterly dominated by the English language target one of the niches (e.g. French, German, Spanish, or Dutch songs)?

The audience for languages other than English is so small that, as a consequence, there is only a restricted amount of spots available for bands to make a career out of a national breakthrough. And in the current internet era music spreads so fast and easy that more and more bands are opting for the logical thing to do: produce songs that are universally intelligible within this greater region (the Western culture), so that you have got yourself a target audience over 100 times the size of your domestic crowd.


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## NipNip (Apr 16, 2015)

I do find songs in foreign languages (e.g. French or German) quite charming though. They are exclusive, as the following prove, and perhaps we should not take this feature away from them.


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## VapeMaster69 (Sep 1, 2017)

honestly one of my favorites is Alex Boye's rendition of "Baba Yetu" (the lords prayer in Swahili) with the BYU men's chorus. 

Oh yeah, and I love the Spanish version of "Bailando" by Enrique Iglesias. 

But other than that, it's mostly all English


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## R22 (Aug 16, 2009)

My parents listened to music in Polish, English and French when I was growing up, I remember this song in particular being played a lot. Cyganeria by Anna German (original in Greek, Oi Mortez by Angela Zilia):







These days I like to listen to Peter Fox. He said he could have made a lot more money if he chose to sing in English, but he decided to keep his native language, which is German. Glad he did, I love listening to him sing, although I don't speak German so I don't understand what he's saying:


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## Eren Jaegerbomb (Nov 13, 2015)

I'm a native English speaker but there's a lot of songs in other languages that offer melodies and tunes you just can't find in English. I like music in any language... Well except anguages that I don't like... Such as French and Spanish... (No offense).

I mainly listen to Japanese music besides English, but if there's a song in another language I like, well I like it then!






I like the catchy tune





I love this Arabic song





And there's this...




:laughing:

And I like this catchy song too


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## strawberryLola (Sep 19, 2010)

I have a collection of international foreign songs I have no clue what the lyrics are about, but it's the harmony, the tempo, the singing, the quality of the overall piece when put together rhythemically, everything is on cue, especially the emotions behind the singing.

I personally think that's what separates great music from mediocre. And if you look at world icon musicians, it's always because they sung about experiences they felt most passionate and meaningful about. Naturally, all of the tempos and melodies, harmonize with one another. Finding that chemistry in a band to bring about such profound emotions or even subdued, excited, whatever emotions one can think of still boils down to the content of what inspired them to create that song in the first place. JMO. Tacky songs have tacky lyrics. Great Masterpieces, comes from genius, and genius stems from profound experiences, something truly significant as with anything worth considering calling art, Art.


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## strawberryLola (Sep 19, 2010)




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## bigstupidgrin (Sep 26, 2014)

Lyrics are either irrelevant or matter very much. I think I should have had more examples of non-English songs I like, but many songs are in English, regardless of country of origin.


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## hellonearth (Sep 9, 2017)

A third of the songs I listen to must be in English, another third are in French (my mother tongue) and the rest are composed of songs in Korean, Japanese, Spanish (and a whole lot bunch of other languages). 

Right now: 






And two in French (from _Kyo_*** and _Superbus_) :











***every song _Kyo_ ever made are cool.


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## Asmodaeus (Feb 15, 2015)




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## Monadnock (May 27, 2017)

martinkunev said:


> From my observation in a lot of countries in the world english-language music dominates. I have always wondered how exactly did this come to be.


It's a combination of power, wealth and widespread geographic distribution. English is the primary language of countries on three continents (North America, Europe and Oceania). All of these countries are first world and hence having the wealth to impact the rest of the world, with the U.S. and the U.K. both obtaining superpower/empire status. They also draw large numbers of immigrants from countries where English isn't the primary language.


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## Asmodaeus (Feb 15, 2015)




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## Flow Ozzy (Nov 7, 2015)

martinkunev said:


> From my observation in a lot of countries in the world english-language music dominates. I have always wondered how exactly did this come to be. The only reason I can think of is the fact that many people have some familiarity with the language. Any theories are welcome.
> 
> Something that can make a difference is how suitable is a language for music. Of course you can make songs in any language, but some people will argue that one language is more beautiful than another (lots of people don't like dutch for example).
> 
> ...





> Do you listen to songs not in english often? In what languages are these songs? Is it your native language?


Yes, I do ( and English is not my native tongue ) my native language is Hindi/Urdu. I think I have been listening songs in German (mostly Rammstein ), Irish, Arabic, Persian, Punjabi, Sindhi, Balochi, Dari, Pashto etc.


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## DelicateLarkspur (Nov 18, 2015)

Young Yeshiva boys passionately sing about their love of Israel:





 @martinkunev , what song suggestions do you have?  I'd love to hear some!


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## DelicateLarkspur (Nov 18, 2015)

@Lemmy have you heard this song before?


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## pwowq (Aug 7, 2016)

Languages in my playlist:
English, swedish, german, french, finnish. Majority in the playlist is instrumental.





German+metal+sarcasm=epic.


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## Spirited (Oct 14, 2017)

French :












Italian :






Spanish :







Arabic :






I "only" speak portuguese and french fluently but for some reason I love italian, spanish, and even arabic (even if, unlike with italian and spanish, I don't understand a single word) songs as well.


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## Gossip Goat (Nov 19, 2013)




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## Asmodaeus (Feb 15, 2015)




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## ShatteredHeart (Jul 11, 2014)




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## Gossip Goat (Nov 19, 2013)




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## Gossip Goat (Nov 19, 2013)




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## Gossip Goat (Nov 19, 2013)

hands down one of my favorite songs


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## Enkidu (Apr 19, 2010)

Such a fun and bubbly track


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## Gossip Goat (Nov 19, 2013)




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## Instinktual (Oct 29, 2017)

Figure I'd throw in some Norwegian rock for good measure..


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## Judson Joist (Oct 25, 2013)




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## Asmodaeus (Feb 15, 2015)




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## Enkidu (Apr 19, 2010)




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## Sybow (Feb 1, 2016)




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## Asmodaeus (Feb 15, 2015)




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## Maybe (Sep 10, 2016)




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## Sybow (Feb 1, 2016)




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## Instinktual (Oct 29, 2017)




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## Asmodaeus (Feb 15, 2015)




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## atamagasuita (May 15, 2016)

Rock n roll


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## Enkidu (Apr 19, 2010)




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## Asmodaeus (Feb 15, 2015)




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## Flow Ozzy (Nov 7, 2015)

Desi heavy metal  @Vahyavishdapaya @Chrystallinum @Despotic Nepotist


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## Chrystallinum (Jun 19, 2017)

subzhero said:


> Desi heavy metal  @Vahyavishdapaya @Chrystallinum @Despotic Nepotist


omg, I think I realised halfway through its the same guy.


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## Asmodaeus (Feb 15, 2015)




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## Flow Ozzy (Nov 7, 2015)

Chrystallinum said:


> omg, I think I realised halfway through its the same guy.


Same guy ?  There are three different people in this music video (excluding the guy who shows up first cleaning the lens).


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## Enkidu (Apr 19, 2010)




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## Flow Ozzy (Nov 7, 2015)




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## Asmodaeus (Feb 15, 2015)




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## Enkidu (Apr 19, 2010)




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## SpaceMan (Dec 11, 2014)




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## Asmodaeus (Feb 15, 2015)




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## Cephalonimbus (Dec 6, 2010)




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## Enkidu (Apr 19, 2010)




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## Cal (Sep 29, 2017)




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## Asmodaeus (Feb 15, 2015)




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## Sylarz (Sep 4, 2014)




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## Sylarz (Sep 4, 2014)




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## Sylarz (Sep 4, 2014)

_russiangirlsalldayeverydayamirite_


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## Sylarz (Sep 4, 2014)




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## Enkidu (Apr 19, 2010)




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## lolalalah (Aug 1, 2015)




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## Lunar Lamp (Sep 21, 2014)

I listen to musical soundtracks in German and other languages sometimes. I like hearing different versions. I think some of the songs are better than their English versions, mostly because of the sound of the languages, and stronger lyrics (if I know the translated versions). 


* *












I also used to watch anime more often, and I liked a lot of the Japanese songs I heard. So I guess most of other language music I've heard was from a show/game/musical theatre/etc. So maybe I'm a loser. Lol.
But I'm not very knowledgeable about English music either, even though I like music. I can't really say what my favorite singer or band is.  I tend to like a little of everything. lol


* *


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## Glitch_ (Dec 7, 2017)

LOL



Sybow said:


>


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## Glitch_ (Dec 7, 2017)

No, but seriously.. I only speak English but I don't find understanding lyrics necessary to enjoy music.


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## Sybow (Feb 1, 2016)




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## Ka1serTheRoll (Oct 4, 2017)




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## Enkidu (Apr 19, 2010)




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## Asmodaeus (Feb 15, 2015)




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## I am justice! (Feb 28, 2018)




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## R22 (Aug 16, 2009)




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## Asmodaeus (Feb 15, 2015)

* *





LillyFlower


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## Ka1serTheRoll (Oct 4, 2017)




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## Ochi96 (Jun 5, 2017)




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## Energumen (Apr 24, 2015)




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## Asmodaeus (Feb 15, 2015)




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## Max (Aug 14, 2014)

I really enjoy listening to this song, too.


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## incision (May 23, 2010)




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## Ka1serTheRoll (Oct 4, 2017)




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## Enkidu (Apr 19, 2010)




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## Ka1serTheRoll (Oct 4, 2017)

But where is Gilgamesh


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## Asmodaeus (Feb 15, 2015)




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## VertigoH (Mar 21, 2012)




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## Soul Kitchen (May 15, 2016)

Here are some songs by Kino, a Soviet band fronted by Viktor Tsoi.
















I also really appreciate songs by a Polish folk group called Tekla Klebetnica.


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## Preciselyd (Mar 18, 2018)

I'm British but my roots are Ugandan.

In Uganda the official language spoken is English and Swahili. Then in various regions people speak native languages combined with English or Swahili. Ugandan people listen to music from America, England, Zaire, Tanzanian and South African music. 

They tend to like the beat and instruments used from countries whose official language is Non-English.

To name a few here are some songs:

Soukous music from Zaire (French):











South african music but English:


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## Enkidu (Apr 19, 2010)




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## Just Peachy (Jan 2, 2018)

I listen to songs in my native Italian also. Here is one I like.


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## Asmodaeus (Feb 15, 2015)




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## R22 (Aug 16, 2009)




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## Enkidu (Apr 19, 2010)




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## R22 (Aug 16, 2009)




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## Crowbo (Jul 9, 2017)




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## Flow Ozzy (Nov 7, 2015)




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## Enkidu (Apr 19, 2010)




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## Enkidu (Apr 19, 2010)




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## Enkidu (Apr 19, 2010)




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## Mone (May 22, 2017)

Behold the Czech Republic


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## NIHM (Mar 24, 2014)




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## isaac_a15 (Feb 14, 2018)

My native language is English, but I listen to non-English language music as much as I do English language music.

I listen to some music in French, like "Papaoutai" by Stromae and "Je ne suis qu'un homme" by Måns Zelmerlöw. I also listen to a lot of Spanish music, primarily Shakira and Maluma.


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## Flow Ozzy (Nov 7, 2015)

@sinpin


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