Alizée in English

[Deepwaters]

RMJ, in an interview, Alizée pretty heavily put down singing in a language one doesn't understand, and said she was taking English lessons so she would be able to sing in English. I think we can depend on it that she understands the lyrics of any song she sings in English.

If she's like most people, she can probably understand more spoken or written English than she can speak. I'm definitely that way with French. I'm getting to the point where I can often follow Alizée's French lyrics and interviews, but I can't trust myself yet to put words together in French from a cold start.

Her English is no doubt better than my French. How much better is guesswork.

[DesertFox]

I think she should sing in French ALWAYS...but i admire her more for her interest in singing in other languages. A+.

Thanks. I need water...

[Cooney]

I think a very big, important part of speaking a new language is being in an environment where you're not worried that the other person will take offense or poke fun at you. Basically, having the confidence to use it without worrying about your mistakes.

I run in to that with French myself. I have no worries speaking French with my friends, or to other Americans at work, but when I find myself face to face with a French person, I can feel my heart speed up, I forget words, and I'm a bit intimidated. I've been working on not having that happen whenever I get the chance, slowing my speech and making a point of looking them in the eye, but it still makes me nervous.

I wouldn't be surprised if Alizée would have a similar reaction (it seems fairly widespread). If she was talking with a fellow Frenchman in English for some reason, she probably wouldn't have too many issues, but when you put the cameras on her she might hesitate a bit.

I dunno... probably it's because when we're with friends, we don't care about making little mistakes, and we figure if the other person isn't a native speaker, maybe they'd make that mistake too. The fact is, and what I've been trying to get through my head, is that even with those mistakes, you're probably quite understandable the majority of the time!

[brad]

She probably could get by pretty good with her English, but I doubt she would be able to follow all of the threads on a forum like ours. You never know though, I would be really impressed if she was on the same level as aFrenchie.

I would think she has been pretty busy with other things, like her daughter for example. That doesn't leave a lot of time to become fluent in another language.

That said, she is probably exposed to English a lot more than say an average American would be exposed to French. Like movies and other things. One thing is for sure, her English is way better than my French

[SupaKrupa]

We know nothing of her past 3 years except she's married, had a child and has been working on an album. Who knows, maybe the entire family chose to take up english? Baby Anny-Lee may be bilingual for all we know! In any case, knowing lots of languages is a good thing! Let's hope she's decided to learn English as well, for all of our sakes

[brad]

Maybe the delay with the album is because Jeremy decided to write Lili some English songs for all of us English speaking fans

Even though I like the French versions of her songs better, I really love to her her sing / speak in English. She sounds so sweet ...

[Drake498]

Originally Posted by RMJ

Singing and speaking is two totally different things.

Anyone can sing in any language. You just need to know how to pronounce the words in the song. You don't have to understand one single bit of it.

So, hearing someone to sing in some language, doesn't mean one can really speak that language.

Originally Posted by Deepwaters

I think we can depend on it that she understands the lyrics of any song she sings in English.

Her English is no doubt better than my French. How much better is guesswork.

RMJ, altough that is essentially true, its also true that Alizée was taking english classes, and as Deepwaters said, I'm am extremely confident that she knows the differences in translation between the English and French versions of her songs

And yes... her English is much better then my French... damn I need to work on it

[Deepwaters]

Originally Posted by brad

Even though I like the French versions of her songs better, I really love to her her sing / speak in English. She sounds so sweet ...

Agreed, but as I said, she needs new English lyrics writers. If you really want to hear what she can do with a song in English and don't want to be distracted by the bad lyrics, check out her cover of Madonna's "La Isla Bonita." Very, very good!

Well, OK, to be fair, the English version of Youpidoo isn't bad. I like the wordplay with the numbers and the names of the week days. But "I'm Fed Up" is just -- I'm sorry, it's just terrible.

"Legs up for hours"? Huh? Sounds like she's going through a really unpleasant gynecological procedure. "My goldfish is under me"? Sounds like she's sitting on the poor thing and squashing it.

Right idea in that nobody tried to do a literal translation of either song, but poor execution in the case of "I'm Fed Up." Made worse because I like the lyrics of the French song a lot, which does a very nice transition from the insulated, luxurious bubble-bath-with-fish world into everything that annoys her and from which she retreats into said world, via the line about the shadow of bombs.

In any language, though, she sings beautifully. Maybe if I didn't understand English . . .

[Krey317]

Originally Posted by Deepwaters

But "I'm Fed Up" is just -- I'm sorry, it's just terrible.

"Legs up for hours"? Huh? Sounds like she's going through a really unpleasant gynecological procedure. "My goldfish is under me"? Sounds like she's sitting on the poor thing and squashing it.

lmao dude i agree i always thought her other english translation songs were ok, although amelie is sketchy at points. but i'm fed up is simply gibberish. But hopefully, she might know enough english to write her own lyrics, maybe for some songs sung in english first. she is capable of doing the language justice, i think if she practices english enough.

[MiamMiam]

Originally Posted by Krey317

lmao dude i agree i always thought her other english translation songs were ok, although amelie is sketchy at points. but i'm fed up is simply gibberish. But hopefully, she might know enough english to write her own lyrics, maybe for some songs sung in english first. she is capable of doing the language justice, i think if she practices english enough.

Eh I think half of it is that the subject and lyrics of her songs in French can't be translated into English with it sounding like it does in French, and not only that...normally the subject matters and the play on words isn't something one normally hears in English pop songs. We're just not used to having songs translated and not only that, it's really hard to convey the same meaning while fitting it to the song. So no I don't think "I'm Fed Up" sounds completley ridiculous, it just doesn't work in English, they tried their hardest probably under a time constraint. If you don't like the song, don't listen to it imo.