How to Sing French Christmas Carols
You don’t need to claw the Santa hat off your head every time you hear the same old holiday song such as “Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way.” You can add a little variation to the song—and a bunch of other holiday ditties—when you sing the same songs in a new language. You can sing French Christmas carols--many of which share the same tune with those you already know--with a little practice and a few simple steps. Does this Spark an idea?
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Instructions
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Know the tunes. You will be familiar with some of the Christmas music sung in French, as they use the same music you’ve sung along to for ages. A few may be new to you, but you’ll catch on quick with a couple of listens. In either event, get yourself a French carol CD, either from a music store or your library, and start grooving to the French Christmas music (see Resources below).
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Learn the lyrics. Once you have a host of songs to groove to, find their translations. Some CD sets may come with the music transcribed for you. Research others in French texts, stores that sell sheet music or online at a variety of sites that off multi-lingual pages (see Resources below).
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Practice pronunciation. Before you begin belting out songs, read the lyrics aloud several times. Double check your pronunciation with someone who speaks French, language tapes or by listening again to the carols. You may want to practice general French pronunciation with language tapes from your library to better get the grasp of how letter combinations should sound.
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Repeat, repeat, repeat. Just as you didn’t learn all the words to the English version of “Rudolph” in one sitting, don’t expect the same results in French. Play the CD and read the written words until everyone else in the house wants to claw off their own Santa hats.
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Tips & Warnings
You will find a lot of colloquialisms and even slightly different meanings when you sing Christmas carols in a different language.
Don’t try to translate the songs yourself unless you have studied French extensively. Song translations for carols are not always literally word for word.
Resources
- Photo Credit Illustration by Ryn Gargulinski
