As a student of Chinese, I have found listening to music a very effective way of familiarizing myself with the language. Music can function as an excellent listening exercise, and is thus also a really good personal/independent teaching tool (both for language and culture). I have, in the process of listening to Chinese pop/rock music, not only learned some current-day slang (which naturally doesn't get taught in classrooms), but have also learned some fairly complex vocabulary that I have been able to apply to more academic settings later on. This sort of "studying" also masquerades as fun -- or, rather, really is fun -- and even further provides a great topic to discuss with people from the country you're studying.
While my Japanese is not nearly good enough to understand much of anything in these songs, I hope to continue to use music as a "fun" point of entry into Japanese language and culture. Here are a few places I've begun...
Sukiyaki: This song seems to be pretty famous, and the tune was popularized in the U.S. a number of decades ago complete with a set of English (translated?) lyrics.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvuO0BsEEss&feature=related
Shuji to Akira -- Seishun Amigo: A boy-band-sounding song, which includes a video complete with backup dancers and backflips to conclude the recording. I got "terebi" and "desu" in the announcer's introduction! The lyrics are included on the screen, with some recognizable words there, too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=725Iff7alAo
Konayuki, by Remioremen: A very pop-rock-ish ballad, which (judging from the video) expounds on the troubles of love.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHHJwo2xFwo
Ashita ga aru sa, by Ulfuls: The video for this one has some pretty funny moments...and includes "ashita" in the title.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nDCZDLf48A
才悩人応援歌, by Bump of Chicken: Despite the very strange name of the band, I really liked this one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2x8uxa0ksDw
Enjoy, みなさん！
Enjoy, みなさん！
It's so cool how we can't understand the lyrics, but we still feel the overall message. I became interested in J-Pop through anime so I had only heard recent songs, but I loved listening to Sukiyaki because it is so different from what I'm used to. Are there any Chinese songs you would recommend?
ReplyDeleteTo add to the list of music, there's one that my friends shared with me years ago. It's very basic, and actually includes a lot of vocab words from lesson 6. It's called Oha Rock, performed by Shingo Mama, a cross-dressing Japanese performer. The song itself can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WvxqtHIkoA
ReplyDeleteAnd here is a version that includes the romaji lyrics and a translation (though it starts and ends with a weird interview): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AullHqZomY0
And speaking of weird, I just heard the audio of this song for a long time (that's what my friends gave me), and I must say, as odd as the audio is, the video is much weirder. Just to warn you.
So Allison, this is what you do during the weekend heh? I can just see you reading Chinese literature and listening to "Bump of Chicken".
ReplyDeleteI do think that listening to music would be a great learning tool. I have been thinking about asking my mom to send me her Japanese dramas so that I can watch them during the weekend. They always used to make her cry and, as we progress in our studies, maybe I can finally understand why they were so sad. I always imagined these deep, moving stories that were filled with heart-break; at least that's the feeling I got from the music playing in the background. Hopefully I won't come to find that it is something similar to "Days of Our Lives" in Japanese.
Anyways, hope you did well on the test! See ya tomorrow morning.
I'm a Rock/Punk fan but I don't really listen to Japanese songs even though they've got a full-fledged rock&roll culture. Partly because I really can't stand lyrics that don't make sense to me. How weird I am:p
ReplyDeleteBut I can't agree with you more that music is a very effective way of learning a foreign language. I remember in primary school I listened to Lene Marlin every day, though she's Norwegian but her English's really good and the songs were awesome. But now I think I should download more J-pop! I tried to recollect my memory about the singers/bands in your post but I couldn't, maybe when I see the Kanji of their names I would remember instantly:)
BTW, who's your favorite chinese singer/band??
Some of the links don't work anymore =/ But the ones I got to listen to were very good! I especially liked by the one "Bump of Chicken" since the lyrics were on the screen and I could read the kanji =D
ReplyDelete