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GMC Forum _ THEORY _ Musical Terms In Different Languages?

Posted by: Arpeggio Dec 24 2019, 01:47 PM

I was wondering about certain musical terms in other languages? do they stay the same? I know certain words in Italian are used universally in music such as "tempo" or "forte". What about chord names like...

E major

C suspended 4th aka Csus4

G minor 7 flat 5 aka Gm7b5

F diminished or F augmented

etc.

Say in Spanish, Portuguese, German, Italian, French or whatever etc. I suspect they remain the same but need to ask as I don't know. I know there's a lot of teachers and students here from different parts of the world (who might also have some non-English material with this stuff in) so thought this would be the best place to ask. I can only think of chord names at the moment but if there's anything I haven't though of I'd be interested to know.

Posted by: Mertay Dec 24 2019, 02:50 PM

Notes written in Turkish, but I think origin is French. Even if in USA to my knowledge you need to learn these to sing solfeggio;

C; Do
D; Re
E; Mi
F; Fa
G; Sol
A; La
B; Si

They also change these if share/flat comes but I didn't learn like that.

Major/minor is spoken the same as those words are accepted in the language (this happens often with every language, even more this era as technological terms come up. But few Like Dim (eksik) Aug (artık) uses the translation.

Posted by: Arpeggio Dec 24 2019, 03:54 PM

QUOTE (Mertay @ Dec 24 2019, 02:50 PM) *
Notes written in Turkish, but I think origin is French. Even if in USA to my knowledge you need to learn these to sing solfeggio;

C; Do
D; Re
E; Mi
F; Fa
G; Sol
A; La
B; Si

They also change these if share/flat comes but I didn't learn like that.

Major/minor is spoken the same as those words are accepted in the language (this happens often with every language, even more this era as technological terms come up.


Thanks. I suppose it's also down to the context being a musical term. For instance the sentence "We have a major task ahead of us" if in Turkish would use the Turkish word for "major"....?

QUOTE (Mertay @ Dec 24 2019, 02:50 PM) *
But few Like Dim (eksik) Aug (artık) uses the translation.


If so when referring to chord that makes abbreviations tricky? Fdim or Faug becomes Fek or Fart?

Posted by: Mertay Dec 24 2019, 09:50 PM

QUOTE (Arpeggio @ Dec 24 2019, 02:54 PM) *
Thanks. I suppose it's also down to the context being a musical term. For instance the sentence "We have a major task ahead of us" if in Turkish would use the Turkish word for "major"....?


Not often as far as I noticed, daily life usually "big, Turkish; Büyük)" is used. But as language Turkish takes most of the words from other languages both east and European, so things may vary depending on persons birth place, education etc.


QUOTE (Arpeggio @ Dec 24 2019, 02:54 PM) *
If so when referring to chord that makes abbreviations tricky? Fdim or Faug becomes Fek or Fart?


Symbol's are used

Things are pretty much as-is taken from (Europe) classical music and named after that with little variance depending on country. So when thinking of a classical orchestra conductor travelling the world, he would have no problem anywhere even if he doesn't know the language of that country.

It's the modern terms (to my knowledge American to be specific) like you mentioned can be written or spoken differently. Even symbols on tab can be different from book to book if you go back only 10-20 years ago, now with web and computer thats also standardizing.

There is also the culture thing. For example, in asia (think entire asia) one first learn note "G" as "SOL" (or whatever interation in their language) but after learning to read "G" when speaking they still read it as "SOL".


Posted by: AK Rich Dec 25 2019, 12:45 AM

QUOTE (Mertay @ Dec 24 2019, 05:50 AM) *
Notes written in Turkish, but I think origin is French. Even if in USA to my knowledge you need to learn these to sing solfeggio;

C; Do
D; Re
E; Mi
F; Fa
G; Sol
A; La
B; Si

They also change these if share/flat comes but I didn't learn like that.

Major/minor is spoken the same as those words are accepted in the language (this happens often with every language, even more this era as technological terms come up. But few Like Dim (eksik) Aug (artık) uses the translation.

Here in the US, we say Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Ti. Apparently the 7th note was revised in the 1800's from Si, to Ti so that all of the notes start with a different letter.
I tried to provide a link to show this but I can't seem to copy and paste an address into a forum post with my phone.

Posted by: Arpeggio Dec 28 2019, 07:46 PM

Thanks. I was also wondering do song names such as the following, get translated from English to foreign languages?

Achy Breaky Heart (Billy Ray Cyrus)
Blowin’ in the Wind (Bob Dylan)
Love Me Do (The Beatles)
Wild Thing (The Troggs)

I would have thought not, on the basis that if translating the actual song, the lyrics would no longer fit rhythmically? Another way of me asking would be, when you listen to the radio in a non English speaking country how would the presenter introduce these songs?

Posted by: Mertay Dec 28 2019, 09:31 PM

QUOTE (Arpeggio @ Dec 28 2019, 06:46 PM) *
Thanks. I was also wondering do song names such as the following, get translated from English to foreign languages?

Achy Breaky Heart (Billy Ray Cyrus)
Blowin’ in the Wind (Bob Dylan)
Love Me Do (The Beatles)
Wild Thing (The Troggs)

I would have thought not, on the basis that if translating the actual song, the lyrics would no longer fit rhythmically? Another way of me asking would be, when you listen to the radio in a non English speaking country how would the presenter introduce these songs?


As is, if they can pronounce them right laugh.gif



Posted by: Arpeggio Dec 28 2019, 10:03 PM

QUOTE (Mertay @ Dec 28 2019, 09:31 PM) *
As is, if they can pronounce them right laugh.gif


Excellent thanks Mertay.

Ruv me Roo (Japanese "Love me Do").

Posted by: Caelumamittendum Dec 30 2019, 06:50 AM

Here's a few Danish ones, see if you can guess them:

Dur
Mol
Kvintcirklen
Terts
Kvint
Prim
Formindsket kvint


Posted by: Mertay Dec 30 2019, 09:53 AM

impossible biggrin.gif

Posted by: HungryForHeaven Dec 30 2019, 11:13 AM

Dièse and Bémol are the French terms used in addition to Do, Re, etc to denote sharp and flat, respectively.

The note B is called H in German.


QUOTE (Caelumamittendum @ Dec 30 2019, 05:50 AM) *
Here's a few Danish ones, see if you can guess them:

Dur
Mol
Kvintcirklen
Terts
Kvint
Prim
Formindsket kvint


Those are easy for a Swede. laugh.gif

Posted by: Todd Simpson Dec 31 2019, 06:38 AM

B is H in german? You learn something new every day!

QUOTE (HungryForHeaven @ Dec 30 2019, 06:13 AM) *
Dièse and Bémol are the French terms used in addition to Do, Re, etc to denote sharp and flat, respectively.

The note B is called H in German.




Those are easy for a Swede. laugh.gif

Posted by: klasaine Dec 31 2019, 06:51 PM

B natural is H in a lot of eastern Europe and Scandinavian countries. B for them is our Bb. It's a really old way of notating and there is more than one theory as to why (and too long to go into here).
*In the 19th cent. musicians would spell Bach with the musical notation B A C H that translated musically into Bb A C B natural.

Posted by: Phil66 Jan 1 2020, 12:38 AM

Ken should be appointed, if he so agrees, to be our music historian. His posts on the subject are fascinating.

Posted by: HungryForHeaven Jan 1 2020, 12:50 AM

QUOTE (klasaine @ Dec 31 2019, 05:51 PM) *
B natural is H in a lot of eastern Europe and Scandinavian countries. B for them is our Bb. It's a really old way of notating and there is more than one theory as to why (and too long to go into here).
*In the 19th cent. musicians would spell Bach with the musical notation B A C H that translated musically into Bb A C B natural.


That's true, also in Scandinavian coutries (such as my country Sweden), the note B is called H (and Bb is called B ). It is changing to the Anglo-Saxian notation, at least in some communities, but the H notation will live on (don't you dare re-naming Bach's H-moll Messe).

I'm gonna do a free translation of Cael's Danish terms into English (some of them have more than one corresponding term, but I guess most of them should be apparent).

Major
Minor
Circle of Fifths
Third
Fifth
Root
Tritone (\m/)

Oh, and Happy 2020, everyone.

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