Translation

e've got to stay together
We've got to find each other now
That is how we can learn all about the other man's song
On the plains of Abraham
When they sent the lamb to die
You and I were asleep in the Rock of Ages
Remember the unborn children still to come

If you need me and I need you
There's nothin' else needs sayin'
Understand it
I'm not too deaf to hear the song you're playin'

Nous vivons ensemble
Nous nous connaissons maintenant
Voici comment nous pouvons decouvrir une autre humanite
Sur les plaines D'Abraham
Lors du dernier sacrifice
Toi et moi nous dormions tres loin dans le temp
Souviens toi des enfants qui attendent encore

Si tu me veux je serai la c'est tout ce que j'ai a dire
Car comprend moi
Je ne suis pas sourd a la musique que tu joues

What language is being spoken here and is he saying the same thing above just in another language, I can't tell?.


You are at: Home - Albums - Summer Side of Life - Nous Vivons Ensemble


webmaster@corfid.com

e've got to stay together
We've got to find each other now
That is how we can learn all about the other man's song
On the plains of Abraham
When they sent the lamb to die
You and I were asleep in the Rock of Ages
Remember the unborn children still to come

If you need me and I need you
There's nothin' else needs sayin'
Understand it
I'm not too deaf to hear the song you're playin'

Nous vivons ensemble
Nous nous connaissons maintenant
Voici comment nous pouvons decouvrir une autre humanite
Sur les plaines D'Abraham
Lors du dernier sacrifice
Toi et moi nous dormions tres loin dans le temp
Souviens toi des enfants qui attendent encore

Si tu me veux je serai la c'est tout ce que j'ai a dire
Car comprend moi
Je ne suis pas sourd a la musique que tu joues

What language is being spoken here and is he saying the same thing above just in another language, I can't tell?.


You are at: Home - Albums - Summer Side of Life - Nous Vivons Ensemble


webmaster@corfid.com

[Auburn Annie]

English with French translation. As our Val posted to another newsgroup:

"I don't know about the other songs, but the Lightfoot song (Nous Vivons Ensemble,
which means "We Live Together") was written about the problems between the French
and English speaking people in Quebec. It was written during a time of political
difficulties, and was written as a metaphor (the French & English populations/a man
and a woman). Lightfoot wrote the English lyrics and had them translated by a
Francophone (a woman, in fact); the translation is beautiful. And Lightfoot's
singing of it isn't bad; he has an Anglophone accent, yes, apparent in the vowels
and of course the "R", but it is not badly done and the Quebeçois themselves
enjoyed his concert performances of it and appreciated it. I wouldn't put it in the
category of inappropriate use of a foreign language at all; in fact, his singing of
it is just an additional metaphor for trying to live together. Today, more than 30
years later, the message in the song is still appropriate. He didn't just decide to
sing in French as a lark or as a gimmick; the choice was thoughtful and deliberate
and entirely appropriate. And, as I said, appreciated by the native speakers of the
language he was singing in that was not his mother tongue. For those not familiar
with the song, it is sung in both languages, English and then French."

[Auburn Annie]

English with French translation. As our Val posted to another newsgroup:

"I don't know about the other songs, but the Lightfoot song (Nous Vivons Ensemble,
which means "We Live Together") was written about the problems between the French
and English speaking people in Quebec. It was written during a time of political
difficulties, and was written as a metaphor (the French & English populations/a man
and a woman). Lightfoot wrote the English lyrics and had them translated by a
Francophone (a woman, in fact); the translation is beautiful. And Lightfoot's
singing of it isn't bad; he has an Anglophone accent, yes, apparent in the vowels
and of course the "R", but it is not badly done and the Quebeçois themselves
enjoyed his concert performances of it and appreciated it. I wouldn't put it in the
category of inappropriate use of a foreign language at all; in fact, his singing of
it is just an additional metaphor for trying to live together. Today, more than 30
years later, the message in the song is still appropriate. He didn't just decide to
sing in French as a lark or as a gimmick; the choice was thoughtful and deliberate
and entirely appropriate. And, as I said, appreciated by the native speakers of the
language he was singing in that was not his mother tongue. For those not familiar
with the song, it is sung in both languages, English and then French."

[muklucannie]

As I posted in another thread - I love this song -his belief that Quebec should remain a part of Canada is one held by many people - those of us who struggle to speak French know how hard it is not to sound English!
lol
I have a 2 1/2 year old girl I babysit and her parents are from Quebec originally. They speak only French at home - the mum is a French Immersion teacher...The little girl speaks English with a French accent - I still sound English when I speak.... she thinks it's funny...
lol
Gord's efforts are from his heart and I applaud his devotion to the cause of keeping Quebec as part of Canada.
Char

[Char1]

As I posted in another thread - I love this song -his belief that Quebec should remain a part of Canada is one held by many people - those of us who struggle to speak French know how hard it is not to sound English!
lol
I have a 2 1/2 year old girl I babysit and her parents are from Quebec originally. They speak only French at home - the mum is a French Immersion teacher...The little girl speaks English with a French accent - I still sound English when I speak.... she thinks it's funny...
lol
Gord's efforts are from his heart and I applaud his devotion to the cause of keeping Quebec as part of Canada.
Char

[Selene]

Excuse me, but don't the native French speakers sound French when they speak in English?

[Martin/12]

Excuse me, but don't the native French speakers sound French when they speak in English?

[muklucannie]

yes they do - as the little girl i babysit sounds when she speaks English with a hint of French accent.

[Char1]

yes they do - as the little girl i babysit sounds when she speaks English with a hint of French accent.

[Auburn Annie]

As I have pointed out to my kids on numerous occasions, we ALL have accents - we just don't notice our own. You don't have to be speaking a language you weren't born into, either. I had a roommate, born and raised in Central New York, who sounded distinctly Texan to some of our classmates from downstate New York. She had a broad, "appleknocker" accent - broad flat "a" sound. I grew up 20 miles from her but according to our friends, don't have the same accent. Go figure.

Anyway, unless you grow up multilingual from birth, the secondary language(s) will always sound a bit "off" to a native speaker. And I say hurrah - I like regional accents, imperfections in pronunciation, etc.

[Auburn Annie]

As I have pointed out to my kids on numerous occasions, we ALL have accents - we just don't notice our own. You don't have to be speaking a language you weren't born into, either. I had a roommate, born and raised in Central New York, who sounded distinctly Texan to some of our classmates from downstate New York. She had a broad, "appleknocker" accent - broad flat "a" sound. I grew up 20 miles from her but according to our friends, don't have the same accent. Go figure.

Anyway, unless you grow up multilingual from birth, the secondary language(s) will always sound a bit "off" to a native speaker. And I say hurrah - I like regional accents, imperfections in pronunciation, etc.

[vlmagee]

Just a comment on a favorite topic of mine, "Raising Baby Bilingual" a book I read when my son was a baby. Children raised speaking multiple languages will speak both without a trace of an accent with no effort on their part. Just wait another year or so, and that little girl will sound like a native speaker of English too. This is generally true for any child who is introduced to a second (or third or fourth) language while he is young, generally until around puberty (best language acquisition is from birth to age 6).

Interestingly, language acquisition skills begin to decline noticeably around puberty - which just happens to be when we (in the US) first start a foreign language in school. Smart, huh?

I sent my son to a French-American school from Kindergarten through 5th grade. Most of the children had at least one French parent; about half had two - families who were here on assignment for a period of a few years. Children would often start the school year not speaking a word of English; by Thanksgiving they were speaking it easily with an accent; by the end of the school year, the younger children sounded "like American kids" ... this is a combination of early exposure to the second language and the powers of immersion. They not only speak it without an accent (by which I mean foreign accent, not regional which we all have to an extent), but they think in both languages too. You can learn that when you are older, but it is much harder.

In my son's case, once he switched to an American school and took his French AP in 9th grade, he stopped taking any French at school. However, whenever he has an opportunity to speak it with a native, it takes him only about 15 minutes to regain most of his fluency. And he sounds French, with the Parisian accent of his grade school teachers. I, having started French in 7th grade like most American children, have to struggle to think in French and that is after years of working on it. My accent is very good though because, although my mother didn't speak French with me when I was little, she did speak it with her mother and spoke English with a French accent. When I was 3, I too spoke English with a French accent! My mother quickly sent me off to nursery school to fix that.

And then there is the whole ESL folly in the US ...

Sorry for the soapbox, but for anyone with young children and a love for foreign languages, think about starting your children out early. You can do it yourself, speaking the language to your child even if you are not fluent yourself. My son didn't appreciate it in his middle school or early high school years, but somewhere around 16 or so he began to appreciate the fact that he had a second language. And, if you speak two languages, learning a third is that much easier. Anyone can give their child the gift of a second language.

------------------
Valerie Magee

Visit my GL web site at gordonlightfoot.com and Cathy Cowette's site at cathycowette.com

[This message has been edited by vlmagee (edited November 07, 2003).]