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How native/ nonnative do Abba songs sound? Thread poster: Lingua 5B
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Lingua 5B 
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 01:36
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
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Actually I'd like to ask native colleagues this question; those of you who heard more than three Abba songs, out of which there are many I believe:
When you listen to them, how do consonants and vocals sound in terms of English nativeness, to your native ear?
A British friend said they sound quite nonnative, and I'd like to hear your opinions as well!
Remember this is not a discussion about musical quality but the English word articulation/pronunciation.... See more Actually I'd like to ask native colleagues this question; those of you who heard more than three Abba songs, out of which there are many I believe:
When you listen to them, how do consonants and vocals sound in terms of English nativeness, to your native ear?
A British friend said they sound quite nonnative, and I'd like to hear your opinions as well!
Remember this is not a discussion about musical quality but the English word articulation/pronunciation.
Thanks!
[Edited at 2010-12-23 17:18 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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Mamma mia - I looked up nonnative but it's just clicked.
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Steven Capsuto
United States
Local time: 19:36
Member (2004)
Spanish to English
+ ...
| Very slight foreign accent | Dec 23, 2010 |
I never noticed the accent till someone told me they were Swedish. Once I was listening for it, there's something ever so slightly strange about the vowels, but Abba clearly had a great ear for accents. Their Spanish pronunciation was also very good.
[Edited at 2010-12-23 17:29 GMT]
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Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 01:36
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
They sound nonnative even to me. Each consonant is just wrongly colored ( probably with Swedish reference).
It's not disputable they have singing/music quality, but we are not discussing that aspect here.
Their lyrics writer is probably a native English, the texts are fairly good?
[Edited at 2010-12-23 17:29 GMT]
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Steven Capsuto
United States
Local time: 19:36
Member (2004)
Spanish to English
+ ...
| The lyrics are very good | Dec 23, 2010 |
I don't know who wrote their English lyrics but they sound like natural English.
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It's hard to say because you know that they're Swedish but if I could listen without prior knowledge, I think I'd believe they were native. It's a debate that could go on and on and on, but that's the name of the game.
Suzy-Hang-Around
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Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 01:36
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | Singing and talking | Dec 23, 2010 |
You also get an extra acoustics when singing, so the real test would be to hear them speak:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0CaKW-e8KI
Suzy-Hang-Around, make up your mind. ;P
[Edited at 2010-12-23 17:38 GMT]
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Thinking of songs like Take A Chance On Me, Fernando and The Winner Takes It All, they sound native to me, and their lyrics are generally excellent (I think I've noticed one or two slight errors, but none that come to mind right now). Like Susanne, if I didn't know they were Swedish, I'm sure I'd think they were native.
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Giles Watson
Italy
Local time: 01:36
Italian to English
In memoriam | The early stuff tended to clunk... | Dec 23, 2010 |
.. but most people weren't listening to the rather pedestrian lyrics of Waterloo when ABBA took the previously very strait-laced Eurovision song contest by storm in 1974 
But you have to forgive them, even if they did attempt to rhyme "Glasgow" with "last show" in Super Trouper.
[Edited at 2010-12-23 19:02 GMT]
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Peter Linton (X)
Local time: 00:36
Swedish to English
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| Varies . . . | Dec 23, 2010 |
My impression is:
-- when they talk English (interviews etc), they sound non-native.
-- when they sing, they sound native
-- their lyrics are generally in good idiomatic English.
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| To my non-native ear... | Dec 23, 2010 |
...they sometimes sound non-native even in songs: especially their explosive consonants, such as "t" and "d" sound a little softer to me. But as I said, I'm a non-native speaker of English.
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| Their lyrics writer is probably a native English - not | Dec 23, 2010 |
Lingua 5B wrote:
Their lyrics writer is probably a native English, the texts are fairly good?
Texts might be fairly good, but, with the exception of their two Eurovision trials/entries, none of the group's songs were ever originally produced in Swedish.
"Ring, ring", their first attempt at Eurovision, was translated by Neil Sedaka and Phil Cody according to Wikipedia. But as I can find no mention of a translator for Waterloo, I hazard to guess that this song was written by Björn and Benny in both Swedish and English.
Don't forget that they are the lyricists of the group's other songs, English version only, as well as the musicals Chess and Mama Mia. Again, these were not originally produced in Swedish. That's not to say that they haven't had any input/proofing/editing/review from native speakers.
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Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 01:36
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Stanislav Pokorny wrote:
...they sometimes sound non-native even in songs: especially their explosive consonants, such as "t" and "d" sound a little softer to me. But as I said, I'm a non-native speaker of English.
It's just not the English "t". And diction and prosody especially ( in interviews). This is however well hidden in singing.
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Gerard de Noord
France
Local time: 01:36
Member (2003)
English to Dutch
+ ...
| We could be on to something | Dec 23, 2010 |
Let's only concentrate on the songs.
To my non-native ears ABBA songs sound non-native. I'm surprised the natives don't experience the same.
Cheers,
Gerard
[Edited at 2010-12-23 22:48 GMT]
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| Hypothesis 1 | Dec 23, 2010 |
Gerard de Noord wrote:
To my non-native ears ABBA songs sound non-native. I'm surprised the natives don't experience the same.
Could this be because non-natives compare pronunciation with the standard English they learnt at school whereas natives have more appreciation/knowledge of the multiple pronunciations of vowel sounds existing in their language's dialects?
The difference between the vowel sounds of BBC English and standard Swedish (rikssvenska) are to my ears generally smaller than the difference between BBC and Glaswegian - Swedish rounded vowel sounds excepted.
Apart from vowel sounds, the main problem for people learning to speak another language perfectly is usually down to the rhythm of language. Anyone remember the Muppets' Swedish chef? I guess that is negated when singing as the song has it's own rhythm.
[Edited at 2010-12-23 23:33 GMT]
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