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What are some of your favorite songs in a language you do not speak?
(sh.itjust.works)
"Buka" by Kwiat Jabłoni
Songs in Russian minorities languages:
- In Bashkir language Homay by Ay Yola
- In Tatar language Piala by Aigel
- In Chulym language Legend by Otyken
Anything by Maximum the Hormone and Band-Maid to be honest, but I like "F" and "Different" most :D
Nao Force - Joutro Mundo https://youtu.be/A2I6dEdQqOY
Tongo Barra - Vieux Farke Touré, Khruangbin https://youtu.be/bVDRTYeGw6Q
Un Simple Histoire - Thievery Corporation https://youtu.be/sCoeuDvwUFk
The French Open - Foals https://youtu.be/MuRODr6vygw
Hjerteknuser by Kaizers Orchestra but it's a lil' cheat since I understand a little Norwegian.
Hoppípolla by Sigur Rós this one sounds so so beautiful.
Jumalan terve by Markus Krunegård when he expanded to Finnish music I was a bit surprised to learn he speaks Finnish natively. So when he then released this album I was very excited. It's Swedish styled pop but in Finnish.
Anda inn by Ouse Idk what it means but by god is it catchy
I got this one. Just fun vibes. https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Bg3-zq0s5kw&desc_update=1
Otherwise some Anri songs like
Remember Summer Days
And similar City Pop (i think that's the genre)
Судно (Борис Рыжий) - by Molchat Doma
if anyone here likes goth music, i highly recommend:
- she past away, most of their discography tbh (turkish)
- lebanon hanover (german, some of it)
- στο σκοτάδι (sto skotadi) by selofan (greek)
- nasha by aurat (urdu)
- reflejos by vacíos cuerpos (spanish)
- fantasmas by twin tribes (spanish)
- à contrecœur by hante. (french)
Wardruna - Helvegen (and the Kalandra cover) Bendik - Stille (all of the old albums before the style pivot are amazing)
Those are immediately on my mind and needed to share them in case someone else might enjoy! There is a lot more, those just popped right up without even thinking
Edit: Ekkolodd - Perler too, Asgeir - Heimförin!
These four songs are a solid intro to the bands if anyone’s interested!
Edit2: Well fuck me, I did mention Kalandra, but the absolute best from them in my opinion happens to be in Norwegian (I think?): Kalandra - Virkelighetens Etterklang!
Tldr:
Wardruna - Helvegen
Kalandra - Helvegen (cover of above)
Bendik - Stille
Ekkolodd - Perler
Asgeir - Heimförin
Kalandra - Virkelighetens Etterklang
New World, by L'Arc~en~Ciel
Seu Jorge's full album of Bowie covers is so epic. Love it, and really adds to the Life Aquatic
Good news everyone!
And if you don't speak English, let me know what you think:
Cafe Tacvba - Hola Adiós
Dude! I love mundian to bach ke!
But most of my "foreign" language music pleasures are less identifiable.
Like, there's a lot of zydeco that's in French that I love, but it's hard to find recordings of any kind, much less digital options.
And I can essentially endlessly listen to what's called throat singing, but have no idea what titles would be to recommend. Almost all that I have is Mongolian or tuvan, and didn't come from a CD.
I love tuvan throat singing! I always recommend Tuva Groove off the album Back Tuva Future for an easy intro to the music and style. I'll add it to the playlist.
"Baba Yetu" - we learned it for the choir. Luckily, i found a translation, so we now know that we are not ordering fridges or something. Look for "baba yetu stellenbosch" for a nice version.
This was the intro song for civ 4. It is "the Lord's Prayer" in Swahili I think? I'd sometimes just both it up to hear the intro, lol
I love their version. Also Maytree.
NAIMONONEDARI (not sure how much this counts. I took Japanese in high school but can't maintain a conversation to save my life.)
Песенка (also grey area for me, I took Russian in uni but I'm far from conversational with it.)
edit: forgot to include Spanish
Dragostea din tei (română) from O-Zone Heard it a lot when I was junger.
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I'm a basic bitch, so some of the first that came to mind have already been mentioned by others:
- Papoutai - Stromae (along with some other of his songs)
- Baba Yetu - Christopher Tin
- Dragostea Din Tei - O-Zone
To those, I'll add some other meme songs / songs that have been used in English-speaking media:
Also the ultra-popular ones everybody already knows and I won't bother to link, such as Bad Apple, Gangnam Style, the K-Pop Demon Hunters soundtrack, etc.
Several Japanese songs, such as Summer of Goodbye, Message in Rouge and Contrails
Garland of a Hundred Flowers - My neighbours' national anthem can't be this cute! (Nepali)
Halls of Hueyteotl and Baba Yetu (both Swahili, both from video games)
The lyrics of Rouge no Dengon are really good. It's about a woman who's on a train, leaving town to get away from her cheating husband. She left a "message in rouge" for him to find in the bathroom, that she won't be back until he changes his ways. She's actually going to his mother's house, and she'll have his mother call him to scold him in the morning.
If you're familiar with the song as the opening theme to Kiki's Delivery Service, it really really fits Kiki's character as she listens to the song while leaving home for the first time. You might get the feeling that the themes of the song are things relates to herself: independence, anxiety, maturity, and female solidarity. And of course, if you watch the movie, those are all things she experiences in her new town.
Basically it's a REALLY REALLY good song and absolutely perfect choice for the movie it's in. I also love the singer's other Ghibli movie song you mention, Contrails/Hikoukigumo.
absolutely perfect choice for the movie it's in.
I'm aware of the meaning, but I actually found it strange that they put a song about cheating in a film aimed at children.
I think it's in part because the song is slightly too mature for her that it appeals to Kiki, and maybe to the younger audience who relates to her.
Ah, that makes sense.
Not individual songs, but Kraftwerk and Rammstein come to mind.
Alien weaponry have a track called Kai Tengata that includes Maori vocals
Although I listen to quite a lot of music from countries where English is not the native language, most bands just sing in English anyway
Kraftwerk is such a gem. They sound exactly like a 80s computer in music form, and I love it.
Liu Yuning - Unintentional Big Dream (Fangs of Fortune OST)
刘宇宁 - 无心生大梦
This song is a departure from LY’s usual genre. It goes hard and is so exciting. All my friends know this song and can sing the chorus because I made them listen to it many times.
As a younger millenial I can't help it – Gangnam Style was and still is great
I believe the appropriate response is Yellow Ledbetter by Pearl Jam. No but seriously. Band Maid, Die Antwoord, The Hu, all great bands that sing on different languages. Oh also The Warning.
I married an Indian woman and have been getting into Bollywood music, and honestly there’s so many good songs!
Two of my favorites are:
Qaafirana
Khuda Jaane
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBTNyJ33LWI I like rammstein's zick zack, I know they are lambasting plastic surgery but as a trans person I love enthusiastically shouting CUT IT OFF when the chorus happens in a sort of ironic way
I don't speak any Irish, but I am obsessed with Kneecap at the moment. Some of their lyrics include English of course, some tracks are fully in Irish. Either way, they are great!
The Pillows - because of FLCL
Pentagram - Bir (Turkish metal) Arkona - Yarilo (Russian folk metal)
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this post was submitted on 20 Feb 2026
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