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Sunday, February 23, 2014

For lovers of French

As readers of this blog will know, I've been trying to learn French. Why? One, because I like the language, two because I find TV5, the French television network available on cable, is an excellent source of both movies and documentaries and three because my granddaughter is attending French public school. I wish to support the little girl in her effort to learn another language.

When it comes to reading French, I do fairly well. I often watch French movies and catch the gist of what is being said by turning on the French subtitles for the hearing impaired. Unfortunately, a lot of the newscasts are not subtitled.

What has me truly stymied is understanding spoken French. The words seem to fly by, merging together. To get past this hearing boondoggle, I have been listening to French songs and other sources of spoken French.

For my own education, I have posted a video of the French song Tu Trouveras sung by Natasha St. Pier. I have also posted the lyrics both in French and translated into English with links to the source on the Web. (I would appreciate any suggestions on improving the translations.)

If interested, listen to the song, check out the vocabulary and then take the test posted on Quizlet. Bonne chance! (Good luck!)




Lyrics to Tu Trouveras:                                         Lyrics to You Will Find:

Comme tout le monde j'ai mes défauts                  Like everybody I have my faults
J'ai pas toujours les mots qu'il faut                        I don't always have the right words
Mais si tu lis entre les lignes                                 But if you read between the lines
Tu trouveras dans mes chansons                           You will find in my songs
Tout c'que je n'ai pas su te dire                             All that I don't know how to say to you

Il y a des fautes d'impression                                There are wrong impressions
Des "Je t'aime" un peu brouillon                             Some "I love you's" a little muddle-headed
Malgré mes accords malhabiles                              Inspite of my clumsy chords
Tu trouveras dans mes chansons                            You will find in my songs
Tout ce que je n'ai pas osé te dire                          All that I haven't dared to tell you

{Refrain:}
Tu trouveras . . .                                                  You will find . . .
Mes blessures et mes faiblesses                             My wounds and my weaknesses
Celles que j'n'avoue qu'à demi-mot                        Those that I only say in a low voice
Mes faux pas mes maladresses                              My slip-ups, my blunders
Et de l'amour plus qu'il n'en faut                             And more love than is necessary
J'ai tellement peur que tu me laisses                      I'm so afraid that you are leaving me
Sache que si j'en fais toujours trop                        Know that if I'm always trying too hard
C'est pour qu'un peu tu me restes                          It's to make you stay with me a little
                                                                               longer
Tu me restes                                                          You stay with me.

Il y en a d'autres que tu aimeras                              There will be some others you will love
Bien plus belles, plus fortes que moi                        More beautiful, much stronger than me

[Je leur laisserai bien sûr la place                            Of course I'll give them my place       
Quand je n'aurai plus dans mes chansons                 When I don't have in my songs
Plus rien à te dire en face                                        Anything else to say in front of you
Le temps vous endurcit de tout                                Time makes you stronger
Des illusions, des mauvais coups]                             From illusions, from hard blows

Si je n'ai pas su te retenir                                        If I didn't known how to retain you
Sache qu'il y a dans mes chansons                            I want you to know that in my songs
Tout c'que je n'ai pas eu le temps de te dire             Is everything I didn't have time to tell
                                                                                 you

Le temps vous endurcit de tout                               Time makes you strong
Des illusions, des mauvais coups                             From illusions, from bad beats
Si je n'ai pas su te retenir                                        If I wasn't able to make you stay
Sache qu'il y a dans mes chansons                           I want you to know that in my songs
Tout c'que je n'ai pas eu le temps de te dire             Is all I didn't have the time to tell you

{au Refrain: x3}
Tu trouveras . . .                                                  You will find . . .
Mes blessures et mes faiblesses                            My wounds and my weaknesses
Celles que j'n'avoue qu'à demi-mot                        Those that I only say in a low voice
Mes faux pas mes maladresses                                My slip-ups, my blunders
Et de l'amour plus qu'il n'en faut                            And more love than is necessary
J'ai tellement peur que tu me laisses                     I'm so afraid that you are leaving me
Sache que si j'en fais toujours trop                       Know that if I'm always trying too hard
C'est pour qu'un peu tu me restes                         It's to make you stay with me a little
                                                                              longer
Tu me restes                                                        You stay with me.

[ These are Tu Trouveras lyrics on http://www.lyricsmania.com/ ]

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