Edited by: Suhavi Bajwa
As a native English speaker who, at this point in my life, almost exclusively speaks English, I have always loved listening to music in languages I don’t understand. Maybe it’s the way I was raised- learning French in school, growing up with friends whose parent spoke another language while I was over and having a father who enjoyed Italian opera. There has always been this pull to listen more closely to words I cannot understand.
Some people find it hard to connect to music they cannot understand as they aren’t completely sure what the artist is trying to say, which is a valid argument, but we are living in a world with access to translations.
Apple music and Spotify offer translation features on many song’s lyrics. However, I would recommend listening to the music without immediately trying to figure out what is being said. Instead, allow yourself to feel the beat and rhythm and try to assess the singer’s tone.
There have been times where I’ve been dancing around to songs, listening to them in the car, singing along based off the sounds I’ve memorized and then I finally read the lyrics and find out that it’s the most tragic things I’ve ever read. Sometimes sad thoughts are attached to really good beats. This new information doesn’t change the fact that the song was enjoyable though. It might just change how I emote when I sing in the car.
Listening to music made in languages different than your own allows you to explore different cultures, methods of expressions as well as sounds since our typical ‘do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do’ used in English isn’t the standard scale around the world. Different languages make sounds that English does not have which translates into different methods of singing which I find the most interesting as I get to hear sounds that I forget humans can make. You’ll end up hearing instruments you wouldn’t normally hear in English music as well.
Music from around the world can offer you so many new sounds and listening experiences that can broaden your outlook on music; it can also evoke emotions that could surprise you. You just need to allow yourself to not understand for a few minutes and just let yourself enjoy.
If you do end up reading the translated lyrics, you’ll find that different cultures and languages express emotions and experiences differently than you might be used to. Sometimes, meaning can be giving to mundane things you wouldn’t even think of as an English speaker. This can give you a new perspective when you see how feelings are explained and how someone from across that world can feel the same way as you put process it totally different because that’s the way that their culture taught them to understand their own emotions.
Recently, Rosalìa performed two songs from her album Lux (an amazing album that I totally recommend) on SNL. Both of the songs that she performed were in Spanish which is her native language, but in general, this album features a total of fourteen languages.
The album follows themes of love, religion, devotion and personal transformation so, it makes sense why so many languages were featured; those themes are somewhat universal and not specific to just her world but the world of billions. Languages don’t divide experience they just explain them differently.
Rosalìa herself doesn’t speak all 14 langugaes that she sings in but her making an album that has parts that she wouldn’t normally understand herself is so important and beautiful- all of these words, feelings and expression exist whether or not we know them. She allowed people to understand some of the words she sang better than she understood them herself.
This is so important in music consumption. When you cannot understand it, you have to remember that someone in the world can. The ability to listen to music from around the world is a modern gift that should be exploited.
Letting yourself explore the world through your headphones can be a nice reminder that you aren’t the biggest thing in the world. It is also a good way to remember that the way you’re feeling isn’t rare or unprecedented, they just come in all different sounds and shapes.
I have found comfort in know that people I would never be able to meet or understand if we started talking one on one can experience the same thing that I am. Through the music we enjoy we can become more connected than we could before but not more alike, not more human to one another. Thankfully there is no original experience. Thankfully we can explore different ways to get to know ourselves.