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Mandarin Songs | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| monaubergine Diglot Newbie United States Joined 5841 days ago 7 posts - 7 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Polish, Italian, Mandarin, Japanese | Message 1 of 14 10 February 2010 at 6:05pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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This doesn't really pertain to language learning itself, but I am curious: When listening to songs in Mandarin, can
speakers understand the lyrics, even though the words are spoken with certain tones but may be sung with different tones? Do Mandarin singers pronounce the words differently when they sing depending on what tone they intend to pronounce? I suppose this goes for all tonal languages, not just Mandarin, but I'm studying Mandarin now so I thought I would focus on that in this question. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Wilco Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 6329 days ago 160 posts - 247 votes  Speaks: French*, English, Russian | Message 2 of 14 10 February 2010 at 6:42pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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I guess it depends on the singer's style. For example, I am pretty sure you can hear the different tones of 邓丽君, but probably not for 周华健.
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| Ari Heptaglot Senior Member Norway Joined 6581 days ago 2314 posts - 5695 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese Studies: Czech, Latin, German | Message 3 of 14 10 February 2010 at 7:11pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
Not necessarily. In Cantonese singing the tones correspond with the melody, so just about all the information is there. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Pyx Diglot Senior Member China Joined 5734 days ago 670 posts - 892 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: Mandarin | Message 4 of 14 11 February 2010 at 1:18am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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I've heard the same thing as Ari (but can't vouch for it): In Cantonese singing the tones are mostly preserved, whereas great liberties are taken with them in Mandarin songs.
That being said, since all Mandarin songs recycle the same freaking words, it's probably not too hard to guess what they're saying ;P See also: http://laowaichinese.net/new-song-kuaile-%E5%BF%AB%E4%B9%90. htm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| IronFist Senior Member United States Joined 6436 days ago 663 posts - 941 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Korean | Message 5 of 14 11 February 2010 at 1:36am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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I've been curious about this, too. Wouldn't singing by definition mess up the tones in Chinese?
Every Chinese video I've seen where someone was singing had subtitles. I assumed that was to make sure people understood the words. But when they're actually singing, does it have to be taken in context then? Man, I could see how that would be insanely confusing. I can't even come up with an equivalent example in English. I'm a classically trained musician. Thinking about it makes my head hurt! Edited by IronFist on 11 February 2010 at 1:37am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Pyx Diglot Senior Member China Joined 5734 days ago 670 posts - 892 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: Mandarin | Message 6 of 14 11 February 2010 at 2:11am | IP Logged | ||||||||
Apparently not ;) Anyways, I've always found it stupid (and just plain wrong) when people think/say you have to 'sing' Mandarin.
Then again, everything has subtitles. Movies, TV shows, Interviews.. everything. I've heard a number of theories about that: 1) It helps people whose language isn't Mandarin (but who use the same characters) 2) It promotes literacy (You can see what they're saying, thereby learning new characters) 3) especially for music videos of course: Karaoke is very big in Asia :) So everything has to have subtitles anyway
Wait, you're a 'classically trained musician' and you're listening to Rammstein? Heh.. :-D 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Levi Pentaglot Senior Member United States Joined 5566 days ago 2268 posts - 3328 votes Speaks: English*, French, Esperanto, German, Spanish Studies: Russian, Dutch, Portuguese, Mandarin, Japanese, Italian | Message 7 of 14 11 February 2010 at 3:58am | IP Logged | ||||||||
Why is that? Mandarin has tones, and tones involve changing the pitch of your voice, so I see how there is sort of a "sing-song" quality to Mandarin. It isn't literally singing, of course, but I find the analogy useful when trying to explain the idea of tones to Westerners who aren't familiar with the concept. As for Mandarin songs, it is true that tones are for the most part ignored when singing. I imagine a lot of the lyrics can be figured out from context (even I, at an upper-beginner level, can understand some of the lyrics to Mandarin songs), but there is bound to be more ambiguity than singing in a non-tonal language, which is part of the reason why most Chinese videos are subtitled. P.S. I love this song. :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6bklmAZufk Edited by Levi on 11 February 2010 at 4:00am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Pyx Diglot Senior Member China Joined 5734 days ago 670 posts - 892 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: Mandarin | Message 8 of 14 11 February 2010 at 4:30am | IP Logged | ||||||||
Well, you know the 'typical' demonstration of how we use tones in Western languages? Asking questions, being angry, and so on? Well, would you tell somebody he has to 'sing' a question? Anyway, if that works for you, fine, but I find that there's nothing musical about Mandarin :) PS: Yeah, I like that song too :D Faye Wong has some really good songs (and a lot of crappy ones! ;) I also enjoy for example 给自己的情书 Edited by Pyx on 11 February 2010 at 4:38am 1 person has voted this message useful |
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