Pamela Galli Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 I watch a lot of foreign TV shows and movies, and I have noticed that quite a lot of the time the happy birthday song is the same one we sing in America, in English. Why would people who don’t speak English as a first language Sing happy birthday in English? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Deakins Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 (edited) I'm not aware of people in non-english-speaking countries singing Happy Birthday in english, but I have noticed sports people (tennis players, for instance) who's own language isn't english often shout "COME ON" to themselves, and I've wondered why they use english for that. The song Happy Birthday is the number 1 royalties earning song of all time, according to a programme of the top 50 biggest earning songs that I watched a while back. Edited July 21, 2018 by Phil Deakins 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Syo Emerald Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 I don't know how that song found its way into everyday use in my country (Germany), but it did and there is no german version of exactly that song. The only german german birthday song that I can remember to ever have sung was in kindergarten and I would consider it a childrens song only based on the song text. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pamela Galli Posted July 21, 2018 Author Share Posted July 21, 2018 30 minutes ago, Syo Emerald said: I don't know how that song found its way into everyday use in my country (Germany), but it did and there is no german version of exactly that song. The only german german birthday song that I can remember to ever have sung was in kindergarten and I would consider it a childrens song only based on the song text. It’s odd, isn’t it? I read up on the song history but it said nothing about why it is an international tradition. It’s not just that song — as Phil mentions, there are all sorts of interjections and phrases* — but I can’t picture everyone at a US birthday party breaking into a German or French song. * For example in this Dutch language series Iam watching: love you, happy Halloween, bull****, just shoot me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alwin Alcott Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 21 minutes ago, Pamela Galli said: * For example in this Dutch language series Iam watching: love you, happy Halloween, bull****, just shoot me. nah not shooting yet... but curious about what series? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Callum Meriman Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 21 minutes ago, Pamela Galli said: It’s not just that song — as Phil mentions, there are all sorts of interjections and phrases* — but I can’t picture everyone at a US birthday party breaking into a German or French song. One of the first songs Aussies sing in Kindergarten is Frère Jacques. Frère Jacques, Frère Jacques,Dormez-vous? Dormez-vous?Sonnez les matines! Sonnez les matines!Ding, dang, dong. Ding, dang, dong. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pamela Galli Posted July 21, 2018 Author Share Posted July 21, 2018 (edited) 13 minutes ago, Callum Meriman said: One of the first songs Aussies sing in Kindergarten is Frère Jacques. Frère Jacques, Frère Jacques,Dormez-vous? Dormez-vous?Sonnez les matines! Sonnez les matines!Ding, dang, dong. Ding, dang, dong. We sing it too, tho not often, and not in French. Edited July 21, 2018 by Pamela Galli Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pamela Galli Posted July 21, 2018 Author Share Posted July 21, 2018 (edited) 19 minutes ago, Alwin Alcott said: nah not shooting yet... but curious about what series? It is a Belgian series, Tabla Rasa, but all the dialogue is Dutch. A lot of Dutch words are easy to understand, they are so similar. it has been a treat getting to watch so much international media. Until recently I did not have much in the way of this fascinating window on the non English world, outside of an occasional Das Boot or some French films. It seems like all these years the world has been looking through the US media window into our culture, but the glass was one way. Edited July 21, 2018 by Pamela Galli Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Callum Meriman Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 3 minutes ago, Pamela Galli said: We sing it too, tho not often, and not in French. Mm, not unusual for Americans. For me, I've never heard the English words, it was always English speaking kindy kids all singing in French! The hold some popular songs can get across nations and cultures is rather strong. Happy Birthday is just like Frère Jacques in that. The language isn't so important as being a global ohrwurm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alwin Alcott Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 2 minutes ago, Pamela Galli said: A lot of Dutch words are easy to understand, they are so similar. it's the same language family, together with german and scandinavians ( except Finish) .. and in contra to english( and of course in special the frenchies too)... we love the hard sch and gggg sounds Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pamela Galli Posted July 21, 2018 Author Share Posted July 21, 2018 2 minutes ago, Alwin Alcott said: it's the same language family, together with german and scandinavians ( except Finish) .. and in contra to english( and of course in special the frenchies too)... we love the hard sch and gggg sounds Yes but significantly easier for me to hear and understand than any of those. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Deakins Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 28 minutes ago, Callum Meriman said: One of the first songs Aussies sing in Kindergarten is Frère Jacques. Frère Jacques, Frère Jacques,Dormez-vous? Dormez-vous?Sonnez les matines! Sonnez les matines!Ding, dang, dong. Ding, dang, dong. Same in England - in french. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Deakins Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 15 minutes ago, Pamela Galli said: It seems like all these years the world has been looking through the US media window into our culture, but the glass was one way. If I remember correctly, Happy Birthday was written by 2 US sisters. Also, if I remember correctly, the susters didn't get much out of it but their later family did, and probably still do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pamela Galli Posted July 21, 2018 Author Share Posted July 21, 2018 We do sing it in French, but more often in English, since not high percentage understand it in FrencH. It’s not odd to me that someone would sing a song in another language but that they would do it as a birthday tradition. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pamela Galli Posted July 21, 2018 Author Share Posted July 21, 2018 2 minutes ago, Phil Deakins said: If I remember correctly, Happy Birthday was written by 2 US sisters. Also, if I remember correctly, the susters didn't get much out of it but their later family did, and probably still do. I just looked it up today, that is correct. I had no idea it was an international tradition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Syo Emerald Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 37 minutes ago, Callum Meriman said: One of the first songs Aussies sing in Kindergarten is Frère Jacques. Frère Jacques, Frère Jacques,Dormez-vous? Dormez-vous?Sonnez les matines! Sonnez les matines!Ding, dang, dong. Ding, dang, dong. I remember singing that one in Kindergarten as well. Both in French and German. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nostoll Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 (edited) Edited July 21, 2018 by Nostoll Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Callum Meriman Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 Quote -0:05. Someone brings out the cake. The crowd shuffles closer and gives each other excited looks, while eyeballing the cake to check that it will feed the whole group. Everyone looks to the person with the cake to start the song, even though that's the one person already doing a job. -0:02. One person starts singing and everyone fades in, trying to find the note and the tempo at the same time, because while this is the best-known song on the planet it's impossible to start in sync, unlike, say, "One Week" by the Barenaked Ladies. 0:00. Now everyone has joined in. From here, everyone else will slow down to match the schmuck who came in last. 0:01. Everyone completes the word "happy", but not all at once, because they're still syncing up. 0:03. About now, the birthday person starts getting in her head. Where should she look? Is she grinning enough? Why isn't this song over yet? If you plan on commenting that no one panics like this when people sing them "Happy Birthday to You", then answer this: Why else do some birthday people start singing along? 0:05. The first line is finally over. The birthday person has settled for making brief, almost apologetic, eye contact with each guest. 0:06. If you've managed to sing any faster than this, someone now decides to add a little flair by shouting "Hey!" 0:07-0:11. General dread. 0:12. Another scramble to set the tempo, as we climb up the third line. The birthday person is choosing where to look when her name is sung, and every option is terrifying. 0:14. BIIIIIRTH-NO-ONE-CAN-HIT-THE-NOTE 0:15. Everyone slows down for the exciting bit - hey you, that's your name we're singing! Your name is in a song! 0:17. The crowd hits hard on the name, since that should be the climax of the song, but it's at this weird low note. Or at least they should hit hard. God help you if your name comes out quieter than the rest of the song. 0:18. Everyone pauses, why would you pause we're so close to ending this, to congratulate themselves on singing the name. 0:18-?:??. General dread. https://www.lifehacker.com.au/2018/01/stop-singing-happy-birthday-to-you/ 1 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Love Zhaoying Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 (edited) My family has its own birthday song. I annoyingly offer to sing it at work for people, and when I do sing it, I embarrass the heck out of myself. Edited July 21, 2018 by Love Zhaoying Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Deakins Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 (edited) 49 minutes ago, Pamela Galli said: I just looked it up I decided to do the same. The song has a very interesting past, and its status wasn't settled until a couple of years ago. If anyone is interested, and doesn't want to look it up, it is now in the public domain and has stopped earning money, but it is still the biggest earning song of all time. Note: What an interesting thread, and it didn't need to go off-topic to be interesting Edited July 21, 2018 by Phil Deakins 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rolig Loon Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 This thread reminded me of one of my first visits to China, 17 years ago. I was asked to join a question/answer session for university students who had been studying English. Well over 100 showed up, filling a small auditorium. Somewhere during the hour, someone asked if I could sing something. I imagine that it's as hard for other people to understand sung lyrics as it is for me, and it must be even harder for people who speak a tonal language like Chinese, so I decided to sing Happy Birthday. Simple tune, simple lyrics, .... and it turned out that a surprising number of students started singing along. They already knew the song. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dillon Levenque Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 7 hours ago, Pamela Galli said: We do sing it in French, but more often in English, since not high percentage understand it in FrencH. It’s not odd to me that someone would sing a song in another language but that they would do it as a birthday tradition. Fascinating, both the 'Happy Birthday' business and 'Frère Jacques'. As to the latter, I learned it (here in the US) in French as a small child. It wasn't until I was much older (like, ten or so) that I learned the English words and that Frère Jacques meant Brother John. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Syo Emerald Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 25 minutes ago, Dillon Levenque said: Fascinating, both the 'Happy Birthday' business and 'Frère Jacques'. As to the latter, I learned it (here in the US) in French as a small child. It wasn't until I was much older (like, ten or so) that I learned the English words and that Frère Jacques meant Brother John. Interesting. In the german version, that guy is named Jakob. And I just googled it and that song got translated in sooo many languages. And its interesting to see how the name of the monk changes and what countries went with which name. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coby Foden Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 Finnish version: Jaakko kulta, Jaakko kulta. Herää jo. Herää jo. Kellojasi soita. Kellojasi soita. Pium paum poum! Pium paum poum! Literal translation into English: Dear Jaakko, Dear Jaakko. Wake up already. Wake up already. Ring your bells. Ring your bells. Ding, ding, dong! Ding, ding, dong! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Deakins Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 1 hour ago, Dillon Levenque said: It wasn't until I was much older (like, ten or so) that I learned the English words and that Frère Jacques meant Brother John. I knew that the french word brother but, until today, and as a result of looking it up because of thread, I didn't know that the 'brother' refered to monk. I'd always assumed a family brother. I also learned that the word 'friar' comes from the french 'frere'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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