Coffee Break Languages

Hallo zusammen! Today we’re bringing you a Tune for Tuesday from a singer and rapper who is fairly new to the German hip hop music scene. Namika, whose real name is Hanan Hamdi, released her first single Lieblingsmensch in 2015, making her an overnight success and reaching Number 1 in the German Singles Chart. She has now released two albums, Nador and Que Walou, which have both been a success in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. 

Already just from the song’s title you can learn a lovely new word, Lieblingsmensch, which means “favourite human”. We hope you enjoy practising your German comprehension with the rest of this song. To give you a hand, you can find the lyrics online by clicking here, or if you’d like to hear the song played more slowly, we recommend watching the YouTube video below and selecting a slower playback speed by clicking on the settings symbol.

Remember to check out our full Tune for Tuesday playlist below to find other songs in German or in other languages you may be learning. Happy listening!

Bonjour à tous et à toutes ! Today’s Tune for Tuesday is by Carla Bruni, a French-Italian singer-songwriter who is also the wife of Nicholas Sarkozy. You may already know Quelqu’un m’a dit, as it was very popular throughout Europe when it was released in 2002, reaching the top ten in Italy, Portugal, Germany and Switzerland.

This song is great for French learners, as she sings very clearly and the lyrics contain examples of a number of different tenses. Can you identify the 3 tenses found in the chorus? Let us know in the comments! If you need some help, you can find the lyrics online by clicking here, or if you’d like to hear the song played more slowly, we recommend watching the YouTube video below and selecting a slower playback speed by clicking on the settings symbol.

Carla Bruni sings mainly in French and English but we’d also recommend, especially for Coffee Break Italian listeners, checking out Le ciel dans une chambre, which contains both French and Italian. We hope you enjoy listening to this song and all the others in our Spotify and YouTube playlists which you can find below.

Salve a tutti! This week, we’re bringing you a Tune for Tuesday from the so-called Principe dei cantautori (“The Prince of the singer-songwriters”). Francesco De Gregori is an Italian poet and folk-rock singer who has been an important figure in Italian music since the 1970s. And the good news for us is that his song Buonanotte Fiorellino is a great way to practise our Italian greetings! We hope you enjoy listening to this song on your way to work, while doing the shopping or whenever you would normally have music on.

If you’re a Coffee Break Italian learner, try listening to the song without looking at the lyrics at first and see how much you can understand. Then, click here to find the lyrics and read them as you listen to the song. If you’d like to hear the song played more slowly, we recommend watching the YouTube video below and selecting a slower playback speed by clicking on the settings symbol.

Let us know in the comments what other songs in Italian you know and like. We’d love to hear some of your suggestions of others to add to our Spotify and YouTube playlist!

This week, our Tune for Tuesday comes from Austrian composer, Franz Schubert. Schubert (1797-1828) was a very famous composer of the early Romantic period, who was especially well-known for his vocal compositions, known as Lieder (German for “songs”). Wanderers Nachtlied is a poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe set to music by Schubert in 1822. We hope you enjoy listening to this performance of this beautiful Lied by German opera and Lieder baritone, Matthias Goerne.

Coffee Break German learners, for a test of your comprehension, see how much of the lyrics you can understand! We recommend finding them online and reading them as you listen if you’re finding the words difficult to pick out. Or if you’d like to hear the song played more slowly, we recommend watching the YouTube video below and selecting a slower playback speed by clicking on the settings symbol.

Do you know any other composers of Lieder? We’d love to hear from you in the comments!

Remember, whatever language you’re learning, you can enjoy our playlist of songs in many different languages and of a variety of genres by scrolling down.

¡Hola! This Tuesday, we’re listening to La vuelta al mundo by Puerto Rican group, Calle 13. Their music is a fusion of a number of styles, notably hip-hop and Puerto Rican reggaeton. They have had huge success within Latin America and further afield, holding the record for winning the most Latin Grammy Awards.

While you’re listening to La vuelta al mundo, think about how you would translate the repeated expression in the chorus, “dar la vuelta al mundo”. If you think you know, let us know in the comments!

You can find the lyrics by clicking here or if you’d like to hear the song played more slowly, we recommend watching the YouTube video below and selecting a slower playback speed by clicking on the settings symbol.

We hope you enjoy this song and check out the rest of our multilingual Spotify and YouTube playlists below.

Bonjour tout le monde ! This week’s Tune for Tuesday comes from French singer-songwriter Serge Gainsbourg. Often considered one of the greats of French popular music, he wrote songs influenced by a variety of genres to create a distinctive style. This week we’re listening to his song La chanson de Prévert, inspired by Jacques Prévert’s poem, Les feuilles mortes. There have been many musical interpretations of this poem, in French and in English, translating as Autumn Leaves.

Have a listen to Gainsbourg’s version this week and listen out for when he sings “les feuilles mortes” – it’s good practice hearing how to pronounce that tricky word for “leaves”, and a good example to remember how the sound and spelling of mort change when it agrees with a feminine noun!

To find the lyrics to the song online, click here, or if you’d like to hear the song played more slowly, we recommend watching the YouTube video below and selecting a slower playback speed by clicking on the settings symbol.

Have you heard any other songs by Serge Gainsbourg? Or any other poems by Jacques Prévert? Share some of your favourites in the comments below!

Ciao a tutti! We couldn’t possibly talk about Italian music without mentioning Italian opera. We’re sure that many of you are familiar with Luciano Pavarotti, an Italian operatic tenor (the term used to describe a higher male voice). He was one of the most successful operatic singers of all time and was particularly well-known for his performances in bel canto opera roles (Italian for “beautiful singing”, bel canto is the term used to describe this Italianate style of operatic singing).

Have a listen to Pavarotti’s performance of La danza, written by Italian composer, Rossini, in 1835. This energetic song is fun to listen to and the music perfectly describes what the title suggests – a dance!

For Coffee Break Italian learners, don’t be disheartened if you struggle to understand the fast lyrics at first. To help you, we recommend reading the lyrics as you listen, which you can find by clicking here. Or if you’d like to hear the song played more slowly, we recommend watching the YouTube video below and selecting a slower playback speed by clicking on the settings symbol.

We’d love to hear what you think of La danza in the comments! To discover more songs of a range of genres and from many different countries, scroll down to find our full Spotify and YouTube playlists.

Hallo! Wie geht’s? This week, Max Raabe’s Tune for Tuesday is going to help us with our German! He wrote the song Für Frauen ist das kein Problem, and many others, to perform with his Berlin-based Palast Orchester, which he founded with fellow students while studying opera in Berlin. Together, Raabe and Palast Orchester perform covers of cabaret songs from the Weimar period as well as original songs that merge 1920s and 30s melodies with modern lyrics. Luckily for us, he also sings very clearly! So have a listen to this song and let us know what you think in the comments.

To help you understand the German, we recommend reading the lyrics as you listen or, if you’d like to hear the song played more slowly, you can watch the YouTube video below and select a slower playback speed by clicking on the settings symbol.

Remember, whether you’re learning French, Spanish, German, Italian or another language, you can continue your international music listening with our full Spotify and YouTube playlists below.

¡Hola a todos! Welcome back to Tune for Tuesday, bringing you a new song every week from around the world! This week we’re listening to Ojalá que llueva café by Juan Luis Guerra from the Dominican Republic. Possibly one of the most internationally successful Latin artists, his music is heavily influenced by a range of styles, including native Caribbean merengue and bachata rhythms. We love this catchy song, whose lyrics use coffee to express an important message about granting people their basic necessities and relieving those in need of their hunger and struggle.

Coffee Break Spanish learners, have you noticed the use of the subjunctive in the title yet? It’s a perfect example of the structure ojalá que + subjunctive (to hope that something will happen). The lyrics also contain one other subjunctive trigger. Can you spot it? To help, try reading the lyrics while you listen to the song.

If you’d like to hear the song played more slowly, we recommend watching the YouTube video below and selecting a slower playback speed by clicking on the settings symbol.

To find our Spotify and YouTube playlist containing a whole range of music in some of the languages you may be learning, simply scroll down the page. Happy listening!

Salut les amis ! Have you heard of Stromae? He is a Belgian rapper and singer-songwriter who is often associated with Belgian New Beat electronic music. His stage name comes from the word maestro. This is an example of verlan, a type of French slang which involves swapping round the syllables of a word. This week our Tune for Tuesday is Stromae’s song Papaoutai which was a great success across much of Europe when it was released in 2013.

While you’re listening, listen out for the title, coming from “Papa où t’es” (“Dad, where are you?”). The lyrics refer to the absence of Stromae’s father, Pierre Rutare, during his childhood, before Rutare was killed in the 1994 Rwandan genocide. 

Stromae sings a little fast but quite clearly, so try listening to the song a few times and let us know how you get on in the comments! Click here to read the lyrics while you listen or if you’d like to hear the song a little slower, you can play the YouTube video below at a slower playback speed by clicking on the settings symbol.

Do you know any other Belgian artists? Feel free to share some of your music suggestions for other French learners in the comments. And remember that you can find our full Spotify and YouTube playlist of songs from around the world by scrolling down.

Dàjiā hǎo 大家好! Hello everyone! Today’s Tune for Tuesday comes from Taiwanese singer, Teresa Teng. The song is Yuèliang dàibiǎo wǒ de xīn 月亮代表我的心 (The moon represents my heart). It was made famous by Teng in 1977 and is often considered a classic within the Mandarin-speaking community.

Teng’s music was very important in the musical history of Taiwan and China. Her songs revolutionised music in China and were banned from the country in the 1980s, as this romantic style of song coming from Taiwan and Hong Kong was considered commercial and decadent. After the ban was lifted a few years later, however, Teng regained her status as one of the most popular singers within the worldwide Chinese community.

Luckily for Coffee Break Chinese learners, the lyrics are quite slow and clear, so see if you can pick out any words you know! Click here to read the lyrics written out in pinyin to help you. Or if you’d like to hear the song played more slowly, we recommend watching the YouTube video below and selecting a slower playback speed by clicking on the settings symbol. 

We hope you enjoy this taste of this style of music and would love to hear what you think of Yuèliang dàibiǎo wǒ de xīn in the comments.

Ciao a tutti! This week our Tune for Tuesday comes from Italian indie rock singer-songwriter, Giuseppe Peveri, known by his stage name, Dente (Italian for “tooth”). He started his solo career in 2006 and has since become one of Italy’s most popular independent artists.

For any Coffee Break Italian learners who find the verb piacere a bit tricky to use, have a listen to Dente’s song A me piace lei for some good examples. Notice how the verb changes depending on whether what he likes is singular (mi piace) or plural (mi piacciono), or whether he’s talking about what she likes (le piace). Why not trying creating your own song or poem listing the things you like, using the verb piacere?

What other Italian artists do you know? Feel free to share some of your favourites in the comments!

We hope you enjoy listening to A me piace lei even if you’re not an Italian learner, and remember that you can find our full Spotify and YouTube playlists below, containing songs from all over the world.

If you’d like to hear the song played more slowly, we recommend watching the YouTube video below and selecting a slower playback speed by clicking on the settings symbol. To find the lyrics, click here.

Hallo alle zusammen! This week’s Tune for Tuesday is by German rock band Unheilig, who were together between 1999 and 2016. Their song Geboren um zu leben, released in 2010, was a great success in Germany and Austria. The whole 2010 album, Große Freiheit, was #1 in the German charts for 23 weeks, breaking the German record at the time. The singer, Bernd Heinrich Graf, isn’t too difficult to understand, so add this song to your music listening for the week and see how much you can understand by the end of the week! Look out for the many different tenses used as well. Feel free to share some examples you’ve found in the comments. To hear the lyrics sung more slowly, we recommend watching the YouTube video below and selecting a slower playback speed by clicking on the settings symbol.

What other German-speaking artists do you know? We’d love to hear from you in the comments!

We hope you’re enjoying our Tunes and remember to check out and follow our Spotify and YouTube playlists below, containing songs from all over the world.

For copyright reasons, we cannot publish the lyrics to Geboren um zu leben, but you can find them to read while you listen by clicking here.

¡Hola amigos! This Tuesday we’re bringing you a classic Spanish “Tune” by Ana Belén and Víctor Manuel. La Puerta de Alcalá was a huge success when it was released in 1985 and it remains an important song for many Madrileños because of its link with Madrid’s monument of the same name. Its lyrics also give us a good example of ser vs. estar. Listen out for the refrain “Ahí está, la Puerta de Alcalá” (“There it is, La Puerta de Alcalá”).

If you’d like to hear the lyrics sung more slowly, we recommend watching the YouTube video below and selecting a slower playback speed by clicking on the settings symbol. And you can find the lyrics to La Puerta de Alcalá by clicking here.

What other songs in Spanish do you know? Share some of your favourites in the comments below! We’d be delighted to add some of them to our Spotify and YouTube playlists, which you can find by scrolling down the page.

Ciao, come state? This week’s Tune for Tuesday is one of Coffee Break Italian Francesca’s favourite songs! La cura was a collaboration between Sicilian philosopher Manlio Sgalambro, who wrote the lyrics, and Sicilian musician, filmmaker and painter, Franco Battiato. Battiato’s experimental musical style – a fusion of various genres – and his collaboration with Sgalambro on numerous albums made him one of Italy’s most popular artists from the 1970s up until today. In 1984, he represented Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest, performing with Italian singer, Alice.

We hope you like listening to La cura, and take the time to switch off and enjoy the poetry and the music. If you’re not an Italian learner, we recommend looking up a translation of the lyrics online so that you can fully appreciate the beauty of the words. And for Coffee Break Italian learners, this song contains plenty of examples of the future tense. Let us know in the comments which ones you could pick out!

To hear the lyrics sung more slowly, we recommend watching the YouTube video below and selecting a slower playback speed by clicking on the settings symbol. If you’d like to read the lyrics while you’re listening to La cura, you can find them by clicking here.

Salut ! This week’s Tune for Tuesday comes from Céline Dion, from French-speaking Quebec in Canada. Although well-known for her hits in English, she mainly sings in French. Her cover of Le blues du businessman, originally performed by Claude Dubois in 1978, was a major hit throughout French-speaking Canada and France, and still is today. Have a listen to it throughout the week – you’ll be surprised how quickly you’ll begin to understand more of the lyrics! While you’re listening, see if you can spot the repeated use of the conditional perfect tense – “J’aurais voulu” – meaning “I would have wanted”!

Even if French isn’t your language, we hope you enjoy this song and listen to some of the others in a range of languages in our Spotify and YouTube playlists below.

If you’d like to hear Le blues du businessman sung more slowly, we recommend watching the YouTube video below and selecting a slower playback speed by clicking on the settings symbol. We cannot publish the lyrics due to copyright reasons, but you can find them by following this link. Try reading them while you listen to the song, to help you recognise the words you’re hearing.