hearing English?

[mellowtigger]

I'm usually really good at hearing past accents, so I'm very curious why I have such extreme difficulty with understanding some songs.

After listening to it many, many times, I finally can understand the majority of the words to the Teen Titans intro song.  The first few times I heard it, though, I couldn't have told you that any of it was in English except for the obvious "Teen Titans" phrase.  I dunno, with the Cartoon Network logo on this one in native Japanese, some of the times I've been watching maybe it really hasn't been English?

It's not just a fluke, though.  Websurfing tonight, I somehow ended up at this song.  On the first viewing, I couldn't have told you that it was sung in English either.  I'm a sucker for llamas, though, so I watched it more than once and finally started understanding a few words here and there.

Do I just not properly hear high-pitched, staccato, female voices?  I'm not sure what's the common acoustic thread between these two examples, since normally I would claim that an accent is less of a barrier for me than it is for other people.

Comments

[bluebear2.livejournal.com]

I have a question. Do you also listen to music in languages that you don't know? I say this because I do that all the time and some people think it's odd to not know what they're singing. To me it's okay because I find it hard to decipher lyrics normally. I remember asking someone how they are able to figure out the words and they just looked at me strangely like how could anyone not.
I think some people have better congnitive abilities than others.

[mellowtigger]

I do, yes. Not frequently, but I do enjoy listening to music that I don't understand. (Not the same as music in which the lyrics are not understandable because the instruments are too loud and the voices too soft.)

[bbearseviltwin.livejournal.com]

It is not that odd if you consider that operas are often performed in languages that most listeners can't understand. One normally (what ever that means) listen to opera for the words but for the sounds, the voices are just instruments, they are there for the sound they produce not for content.

[mellowtigger]

Opera is a good example.

When I was in my early teens, my father went to Taiwan. He asked what I wanted him to bring back, and I suggested tapes of whatever music is popular there. I didn't understand any of it, but one of the tapes was nice to listen to.

[vulpesferox.livejournal.com]

Damn you for getting the Teen Titans song stuck in my head! Now it'll be there all morning!

[mellowtigger]

Teen Titans, Go!

[mellowtigger]

Helpful counter-lyric acoustics:

Doom, doom, doom, doom, doom, doom.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqcn_TPu4qQ

[foeclan.livejournal.com]

I understood most of the English lyrics eventually, but yes, they did a Japanese version as well. I think it was only on one episode where they went to Japan. The lyrics for both are here (http://www.cfhf.net/lyrics/teen-titans.htm).

[moofedct.livejournal.com]

I love Teen Titans!!

And I do the same thing...I listen to music in languages I don't understand because I like the sounds. I'll also listen to a particular voice if I like how it sounds; usually it's a strong male voice.