Spanish – Page 18 – Cultural Portfolio

Beginners’ Spanish I (SPAN 201): Listening to Music

Philipp Francke

For my second cultural portfolio entry, I listened to 4 songs by Álvaro Soler. Álvaro Soler is a Spanish-German singer, currently 33 years old, who was born in Sant Cugat del Vallès to a German father and a Spanish-Belgian mother. He is one of my favourite Spanish-language singers.

The first song is “Volar” from 2015:

The song is about la vida, to let go and the moment. It was easy to understand overall. I didn’t catch every word, but I was surprised by how many I recognized.

Words I got from the song: Voy (ir)-to go, volar-fly, la vida-life, quiero más- want more, quiero ser-I want to be, minuto-minute, tiempo-time, el momento-the moment, para el tiempo-for the time, las casas-the houses

The second song is “Sofia” from 2016:

For this song, I couldn’t catch many of the words. It was a bit too fast, and he used some words I hadn’t heard before. The song is about love and volar and la verdad. Words I got from the song: ya no soy- I am no longer, pasó-spend, solo-only, sin-without, volar-to fly

Words I want to know: mirar-to look, mirada-look, creo-believe, la verdad-the truth

The third song is “El mismo sol” from 2015:

This song was easier to understand. I caught more words than I did in the previous one. It’s about the idea that we all share the same world under one sun, celebramos and maybe love.

Words I got from the song: Yo quiero-I want to, claro-of course, amor-love, solo hace-only makes, estamos mano a mano- we are hand in hand, del este hasta oeste- from east to west, nos vamos-we are leaving, el mismo sol- the same sun, bajo-under, fronteras-frontiers, era-era/age, celebramos- celebrate, el mundo-the world

The fourth son is “La libertad” from 2019:
This song is about freedom, volar, Viento and Cielo. It was difficult to get the context of the song. But I understood some words. Words I got from the song: cuatro-four, hogar-home, nuestro-our, un mundo más- a world more, allá-there, con el viento-with the wind, el cielo-the sky, el momento-the moment, la Libertad-the freedom

Overall, it wasn’t easy to understand the songs because they were quite fast, but I was able to catch some words. Reading the lyrics made it easier to understand them. It was also difficult to grasp the context of the songs because the lyrics often used words and sentences symbolizing special meanings. Furthermore, understanding was challenging due to the melody and background music, which made it hard to catch all the words. However, it was good practice, and I’m surprised that I could already understand some parts. While the reading Week, I listened to songs several times, and I feel like I was able to pick up more and more words each time.

Bibliography

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%81lvaro_Soler

First Song:

https://www.songtexte.com/songtext/alvaro-soler/volar-5379fb89.html

Second Song:

https://lyricstranslate.com/en/alvaro-soler-sofia-lyrics.html#translations

Third Song:

https://lyricstranslate.com/en/alvaro-soler-el-mismo-sol-lyrics.html#translations

Fourth Song:

https://lyricstranslate.com/en/alvaro-soler-la-libertad-lyrics.html#translations