Why is it confusing to understand Spanish music?
I've tried listening to spanish music. It sounds so pretty some of the songs. But why is it so hard to understand what the songs are saying? I need some suggestions...
5 Answers
Well, I have fairly good vocabulary in English, and I can follow most conversations without a hitch, but I tend to have a hard time understanding the words in English songs. So when I really want to know what's being sung, I do what Marianne suggests: I find the lyrics and read along as the song is played.
For the same reason it's harder to understand someone singing English than speaking it. The words of a song have to rhyme and they have to scan, fitting the tempo, which changes the word choice and phrasing. Plus song lyrics tend to be poetic, so unless you read a lot of Spanish poetry you'll hear words and constructs that you don't hear in everyday conversation. And sometimes the words can just be goofy. I had a Venezuelan friend who practiced her English by listening to American pop songs. One day she asked me, "What does, 'Oh, baby, oh baby, you have such a baby face', mean?" A lot of pop music just sounds silly if you speak the words instead of singing them. As the others have said, try reading the lyrics.
I have started to listen to Spanish music as well and at first I could not understand anything but as my vocabulary grew and I listened to the music over and over, I started to pick up a few words. Even though I can't understand most of the lyrics I can understand much more then when I first started to listen.
I listen to hispanic radio in my car, it helps a lot.
I print out the lyrics and sing along by reading. It helps a lot!
