Sing your way to fluency

In the early 90s I worked a few seasons in the south of France for Eurocamp, and count them among some of my best summers ever. MC Solaar’s song Caroline was playing every half hour on the radio, and a friend introduced me to Francis Cabrel’s album Samedi soir sur la terre.  

I listened to that album endlessly and picked up the melodies, humming them in my head and singing along where I knew the words. If I was unsure of the words, I would check the lyrics on the cassette inlay and look them up in my pocket dictionary. As time went on, I realised I was singing along in French, without it seeming to be all that difficult. 

A few years later I was living in Marseille and studying at the école de commerce in Luminy, just to the south of the city. Disney’s Aladdin and The Lion King were showing in Marseille’s cinemas and my French flatmate bought the soundtracks, in French. We would sing along together, and again, I picked up some great French vocab and phrases without even thinking about it. 

My point is, and I reiterate this to my French students both young and older that listening to French music, even in the background, is a great way to improve your French. Find music or an artist whose music you enjoy, and let it wash over you. Don’t concentrate on the lyrics straight away, just let the melody take over. Choose an artist who sings clearly and coherently. 

With adult students, I play them Francis Cabrel’s Je Je t'aimais, je t'aime et je t'aimerai, as the pause between each line enables you to sing that line in your head, and it helps perfect the é sound. My Dad enjoyed listening to Les Frères Jacques during his time in Paris in the 60s, and I can still sing excerpts from Général à vendre. My rendition of Le Poinçonneur des Lilas is breath-taking. 

Try as I might though, I am still unable to sing along to MC Solaar’s Caroline – especially that bit in the middle that goes “…Claude MC prend le microphone genre love story ragamuffin…”. You’ve got to have something to aim for, I suppose.