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I am a European, and it depends on the country (and the age). In a lot of European countries young people (up to 30+) have been taught English and they can fol
by pretoriusB 14y ago
I am a European, and it depends on the country (and the age).
In a lot of European countries young people (up to 30+) have been taught English and they can follow an English song quite easily. Even in France, despite never admitting it in public. (This is especially true for music fans).
They might have some trouble with heavy stuff, like some lyric heavy Dylan songs or 500-wpm rap, but they can get most pop/dance songs alright.
- opminion 14y agoNote that I didn't say that European teenagers wouldn't understand the English lyrics, but that they won't care that much about the language, if only because they are used to listening to music in other European languages.
- Aardwolf 14y agoThat makes it seem as if English is the same as just another European language for a non English European. That is not really the case. Most music and movie culture, especially for teenagers, is in fact English. Less often it's your own native language, and even more rarely (but still existant!) other European languages. English is also the one non-native language you kind of learn automatically (unlike other languages we had to learn at school), due to being surrounded by it so much, and the internet. Slightly off topic: When seeing one of the extremely rare movies made in my own country, I'm always surprised by how awesome it is to see something I actually can relate to, e.g. when they speak some juicy dialects or show some typical living room in a house as they look here. American movies always seem "fake" or something to me, and also always use the same dialect, but I wonder if for Americans they can actually relate to that just like I can relate to native movies of my own country :)