I listen to music in foreign languages all the time. Music is such a universal language that you don't need to understand the song to get the song.

I grew up on the Eurovision Song Contest so not being able to understand a song has been with me since before I can remember.

We have to distinguish between two different things:

1. To understand the language in which the song is written.
2. To know what the lyrics say.

As I said before, knowing the language allows you to appreciate more the artist's merit. But obviously this is not always possible, because you can't learn all the languages you would like to speak. However, at least you can get information on what the songs says. And thanks to the Internet, that's easier and easier. Thousands of amateur translators, common people like us, write lyrics translations on the net. I myself do my bit.

Hmmmmm... that sounds a bit "mystic" to me. I know some people don't feel the need to understand the lyrics. Obviously it depends on the genre. In a case like this, sound is enough to enjoy like an animal (in the good sense of the word, of course :)). But I think sometimes is necessary to know the lyrics' meaning in order to appreciate the work. For instance, two months ago, I translated Vetusta Morla's Copenhagen into English. Some time before, while surfing the web, I saw how many non-Spanish speakers (including Danes) liked the song. An indeed, if you listen to it (here), specially if you're from Copenhagen, unless you are an insensitive brute you will feel "something special". But actually, as you can see in my (I hope it is good :)) translation (here), it isn't only a song about Copenhagen, but also tells about a love story between a man and a woman who meet in the city, and in addition it includes a kind of psychological descriptions.

Anyway, we can make an "experiment" right now. Listen to this another song by Vetusta Morla. Just listen, don't continue reading for now.

..

And well? Did you get it? I'm sure that it has conveyed feelings to you. But besides that (which is great, indeed), that song contains poetry. It talks about life, about the passage of time, and how affects a person. "La marea" means "The Tide". Tide is a metaphor for life. The lived life. Suppose that life (or a part of one's life) is like a tide. And when tide goes out, you observe what effects (both positive and negative) has caused on you. So, that's what this band has expressed through marine metaphors. For example: how would you refer to the good things you've lived, and which you want to remember forever? These boys have done it this amazingly poetic way:


I mean certain things cannot be known by only listening to the music. You need some extra information on lyrics.

Finally, do you dare to interpret these two directly?:

YouTube - LA HABITACION ROJA - Scandinavia
Olaf el vikingo los nikis - goear.com

(just kidding :))

I honestly don't really care about lyrics.

Now don't get me wrong, powerful lyrics are a fantastic thing, and of course I appreciate talented words, but I very rarely pay attention to lyrics even when I understand them. Even when I'm singing along to a song do I pay attention to the lyrics. When listening to a song in a foreign language I kind of like not knowing what they're singing about. It adds to the charm and exotic feeling.

The music itself is not going to be any better (or worse) whether or not I understand the song. At least not for me.

I think because I listen to so much instrumental music (whether it be ambient, classical or movie scores) lyrics feel so secondary.

Well, I guess it's a matter of taste. Subjetive and personal.

Anyway, what annoys me is that consideration of "exotic" (perhaps promoted by some media companies some years ago), as if a language made a whole genre by itself. I hate how they consider a style apart what is nothing but a linguistic classification. That doesn't happen in Literature or Cinema. I still don't know what the hell Latin means, every time I try to mark the genre of an mp3 file in a media player. Julius Caesar playing the electric guitar, Cicero rocking the bass and Octavian at the drums. For Jupiter's shake!

I find it's harder to get into songs with a foreign language but yes, I sometimes listen to songs I can't understand, most of them I wouldn't consider great though, just cool sounding and quite catchy really. Like some of CSS's stuff.

I know what you mean, it annoys me too that they seem to get their own genre for a different language but Latin music is basically music in a Latin-derived language.

I listen to a lot of musicians who sing in a different language. It's not important to me if the music is groovy, and sometimes they just speak to me regardless of language. For isntance, I love Jacques Brel and Serge Gainsbourg is fun too and they both sing in French. Einsturzende Neubauten is amazing. Sigur Ros is very touching. etc.

I more or less agree with you - for me, when it comes to a particular kind of band (When I first heard Sigur Ros generally springs to mind) the lyrics aren't so important.

To be honest, I caan't say I ever really gave much thought to whether it's important to understand the lyrics. It's one thing hearing a song you understand and thinking 'yeah, those are great lyrics' but I wouldn't go out of my way to translate what I don't understand. I'm pretty happy to enjoy a song or piece of music on face value most of the time.

In a lot of music, even if I can't understand what they're saying sometimes (Let's use "Sometimes" by MBV as an example), you might know what they're talking about just based on how their voice sounds. It's easy to tell what "Sometimes" is about thematically, really. The emotion is easily connected to you. If I can take something out of the way they speak, what they're saying doesn't matter as much as it would before.

Yup this is exactly how I feel too! :)

OK. Definitely it's a matter of taste. The only "problem" are all those crazy indies singing humorous, bizarre and crude lyrics in a dreamy and romantic way:

YouTube - Los Punsetes - Tus Amigos
YouTube - Los Punsetes Maricas
YouTube - Klaus&Kinski-En la cama
YouTube - klaus and kinski - La mano de Santa Teresa (fotos)
YouTube - Adoro a las pijas de mi ciudad-La costa brava
Derribos Arias - Brankias bajo el agua derribos arias - brankias bajo el agua - goear.com

Honestly, it makes me laugh when I imagine someone listening to these songs and saying: "Oh, it's so romantic!", "I love this exotic foreign pop!"... :)

Needless to say what they sing. For sure you don't want to know it, do you? :)