Hello fellow language learners!
As you know when learning languages your teacher may ask you to listen to a song in that language. It’s a very fun way to learn commonly used words and and grammatical structures without boring yourself easily.
Today I want to share the karaoke version of the song ‘7 Years’ by Lukas Graham. It is a song about family, parents and life. The song has lyrics subtitled in 7 languages, some of which written by myself. You can use this song to learn French, Spanish, Japanese, Portuguese, Italian, or Vietnamese. By the way translating lyrics is among one of the hardest translation jobs because you must not only convey the original meaning, but also make sure the output has the right rhythm, rhyme and in some languages intonation.
Here are some of the lyrics for your perusal:
English
Once I was seven years old, my mama told me.
Go make yourself some friends or you’ll be lonely.
Once I was seven years old
It was a big big world but we thought we were bigger
Pu-shing each other to the limits we were learning quicker
By 11 smoking herb and drinking burning liquor
Never rich so we were out to make that steady figure
French
Un jour quand j’avais 7 ans, ma mère m’a dit
Fait toi des amis ou tu seras seul
Un jour quand j’avais 7 ans
C’était un monde immense, mais nous pensions être plus grand
Repoussant nos limites les uns les autres, nous apprenions plus vite
Ce n’était pas sans peurs, appréhendant l’avenir
Nous n’étions pas riches et nous rêvions parfois d’un monde meilleur
Spanish
A los siete años mi madre me dijo
Has amigos no te quedes solo
A los siete años
Solíamos pensar que éramos tan grandes
Llegamos al límite aprendiendo rápido y muy fuerte
A los once empecé a beber licor ardiente
Y el dinero nunca fue ni ha sido algo constanteQuando eu tinha 7 anos
Minha mãe me disse assim: Vá faça amigos ou vai ficar sozinho
Quando eu tinha 7 anos
Era um mundo gigante, mas a vontade crescia
Indo ao máximo um do outro, assim aprendia
Aos 11 fumando maconha bebendo birita
Nunca ricos, mas lutando pra ganhar dinheiro
Portuguese
Quando eu tinha 7 anos
Minha mãe me disse assim: Vá faça amigos ou vai ficar sozinho
Quando eu tinha 7 anos
Era um mundo gigante, mas a vontade crescia
Indo ao máximo um do outro, assim aprendia
Aos 11 fumando maconha bebendo birita
Nunca ricos, mas lutando pra ganhar dinheiro
Italian
A sette anni una volta mia mamma mi ha detto
Fatti degli amici o sarai solo
A sette anni una volta
Un mondo grande noi ci sentivamo eroi
Senza dei limiti crescendo più veloce che mai
Fumavamo erba, bevevamo fino a tardi
Anche se non ricchi sembravamo proprio duri
Japanese
７歳の僕に ママが言った
「友達作ってみなさい
一人じゃ寂しい」と
広い世界に僕ら向き合い
互い限界まで押し込み合い
たった１１歳でハーブ吸い酒を飲み
稼げる日を待つ貧困の日々
Vietnamese
Lúc xưa khi tôi mới lên bảy, mẹ tôi nói tôi rằng
Phải kiếm cho mi con ai chơi chung cho đỡ một mình
Lúc xưa khi tôi mới lên bảy
Mặc dù thế giới mênh mông nhưng mình sẽ đi suốt đêm ngày
Cùng-dìu nhau bước qua mọi thử thách để mình ghi nhớ tháng năm này
Vừa mươi mốt đã nhậu say khướt xong ngồi đó hút những điếu cày
Tiền luôn thiếu nên phải đi kiếm từng đồng rơi rớt như ăn mày
You can sing along to the full lyrics in the video above. Remember to turn on subtitles and fast forward to the right chapter for the language you want.
