Learning French in France can also turn the French classroom into a concert hall. You don’t need to be a professional singer to be a part of the show. What you need is just to learn the French lyrics of any song you like… and at last understand the meaning of it!
If learning French by cooking can be exciting and fun, you can also add another technique to your range of ways to speak French.
In many cases, songs are often seen as one of the best way to learn a language, and French is no exception : singing french songs a very good way to learn how to speak French.
You can start with one of the most famous of all, “La vie en rose”, iconic, romantic and such a classic. As much as Mona Lisa, the Eiffel Tower or the Champs-Elysées,
Quand il me prend dans ses bras
Il me parle l’a tout bas
Je vois la vie en rose
Il me dit des mots d’amour
Des mots de tous les jours
Et ça m’ fait quelque chose
When he takes me into his arms
He speaks to me softly
And I see life in rose
He speaks words of love to me
They are every day words
And they do something to me
And you may have noticed that in French songs, once written, some words are shorten. Instead of writing “ça me fait”, the author, Edith Piaf herself, with probably the help of Paul Durand, wrote “ça m’fait”. So don’t be afraid when you see the French language being twisted, turned around and almost tortured by the authors of many French songs lyrics.
You can also pick one of Serge Gainsbourg’s song, like his first success “Le poinçonneur des Lilas” and again, you can spot that the way this song can be transcripted with much shorter words, that help give the exact pronunciation. Listen to the song and you will clearly hear it!
J’suis l’poinçonneur des Lilas
Le gars qu’on croise et qu’on n’ regarde pas
Y a pas d’soleil sous la terre
Drôle de croisière
Pour tuer l’ennui j’ai dans ma veste
Les extraits du Reader Digest.
So if you encounter some words with an apostrophe in some song’s lyrics, make sure this is not just a way to show the rhythm of the song instead of the real correct spelling.
Now that you have some insight on how to read and understand French lyrics, you can use this great tool to speak French by singing in French. And why not cooking and singing in French at the same time?
