Improve your ear for French with a snippet from a kids song. This clip is 41 words in 23 seconds. How many can you hear and understand? Quiz yourself and improve your French listening comprehension.
Learn French with a kids song snippet! This clip is from the Comptines et chansons Youtube channel. Listen and fill in what you hear below. Read more and find a translation below. Find the full song here.
The above audio sample and transcription is from Comptines et chansons Youtube channel. We do not own the content. Listen to the entire song here.
The first song
This song is the first in my daughter’s book of kids songs. While it’s not my favorite, or the happiest of songs, there’s got to be a reason it appears first.
As it appears first, I’m kicking off this series of posts with it. This is meant for beginners. I’ve only been taking French with l’alliance française for a few weeks, so it seems fitting to start here, as a child would.
I love to see my daughter get hooked on some of these French songs. I can’ thelp but hum along until I read the lyrics and get a feel for the words. The truth is, even for songs in English, it takes a couple of lessons for my ears to really hear the words, but that’s why I wanted to include some of these.
One, it’s good for improving the listening. I know intonation is important in French, and singing will change that. That said, songs still force us to hear and listen for the words in a new context.
Also, it’s great culturally. Some songs we sing in English – “Frère Jacques”, for example. Many are new to me. This one, I am not familiar with any English equivalent. That must mean something for French culture, right? Let in a new friend because the hunter is chasing them…? Bit of a stretch, but we’ll see after this series is done.
What did you think? What song should we do next?
The snippet in English
Find a translation of this snippet here, how much of this did you hear?
Dans sa maison un grand cerf
Regardait par la fenêtre
Un lapin venir à lui
Et frapper ainsi :
« Cerf, cerf, ouvre-moi !
Ou le chasseur me tuera !
– Lapin, lapin, entre et viens
Me serrer la main. »
In his house, a big deer
looking out the window
A rabbit coming to him
And knocks like this:
“Deer, deer, open to me!
Or the hunter will kill me!
– Rabbit, rabbit, come on in
Shake my hand. »
The text of the first two verses of “Dans sa maison un grand cerf”
It’s also called “Dans La Forêt Lointaine”?
“Dans sa maison un grand cerf” is a popular French children’s song that is also known as “Dans la forêt lointaine” or “In the distant forest.” The song tells the story of a deer who lives in a big house in the forest.
The song is simple and easy to sing and it’s often used to teach children about the animals and the nature. The lyrics talk about the deer living in his big house, with his wife, and his children. The song also talks about the animals that lives around the forest and the nature.
The melody of the song is upbeat and catchy, and it’s often accompanied by actions or gestures, such as miming the actions of the deer or the other animals mentioned in the song.
The song is popular among French-speaking children, and it’s often taught in French language classes and schools. It’s also a song that is often performed at children’s parties and other events.
It is not clear when and by whom the song was written, but it’s been passed down over time and is well known among French-speaking children and adults.
What words did you look up in this snippet?
cerf
la fenêtre
frapper
ainsi
tuera
me serrer
What did you love about this?
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