I think all of us appreciate a good song. It could be the beat that makes our head bob or our feet tap, but we all can understand, and more importantly, feel music. Usually, we feel the bass, but occasionally, when coupled with the perfect movie scene or video, it makes us feel all soft and gooey.
I sometimes play theme songs from different movies as background sound. My all-time favorites include the “Pirates of the Caribbean” and the “Jurassic Park” theme songs. But lately, I have changed the genre and the language of my background music. Since I am actively learning French on Duolingo, I’ve changed it to French. Although I cannot understand most of what they are saying, I love the music and the emotion that the songs convey.
Since I play it in the background, I am not actively watching the videos, just listening to bits and pieces. When I do watch the video, though, I understand more of what they are trying to convey through the music as well as the video.
What I mean by the title of this article is that when is the language is not known to you, you look at other clues to try and understand the meaning of the song, including the tempo or the pitch, and you try and gauge the emotion behind the person singing it. You have more clues to understand than it than if it was just being said. However, I am not implying that if a foreign language is sung instead of said you will automatically understand the meaning of the song. The same also applies also to any music piece (without vocals).