Need some help from a French-speaking mandolin player...

[Caleb]

My family dabbles in French and our French teacher is throwing a musical Christmas party. She has asked my wife and I to perform this song in French:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVAK5ILc9zQ

I know I can work up something nice with mandolin and guitar, but I'm having just a bit of trouble with a few of the words. I found lyrics but these ladies are straying a bit from the traditional text it seems.

I wonder if someone would be kind enough to type out this beautiful song exactly as these ladies are singing it? I think I could come very close by ear, but I've learned the hard way how tricky it can be!

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Charlie Nugent]

Here is what I think the lyrics are:
Noël c'est l'amour
Viens chanter toi mon frère
Noël c'est l'amour
C'est un coeur éternel

Du temps de ma mère
Ça voix familière
Chantais douce et claire
Un enfant est né

La voix de ma mère
Amour et prières
La voix de ma mère
Qui m'a tant donné

Des lumières dans la neige
Milles étoiles illuminées
Et les hommes en cortège
Vont chanter la joie d'aimer

Noël c'est l'amour
Dans les yeux de l'enfance
Noël c'est l'amour
Le plus beau le plus grand

Un monde s'avance
D'un peu d'espérance
D'un ange qui danse
Auprès d'un enfant

Et moi sur la terre
J'entends douce et claire
La voix de ma mère
Qui chante Noël.

[Caleb]

Thanks. I’ll work from this and see how it goes. Much appreciated.

[Simon DS]

It doesn’t change the pronunciation, but line 7 could equally be ‘sa voix’, meaning her voice, rather than ‘ça voix’, meaning this voice.
It’s a Quebecois accent which might explain the different usage.

(Ça voix could also be a play on words meaning the mother’s way of doing things)

[Charlie Nugent]

Simon is right..it should be "sa voix"!

[Caleb]

Thanks, all, for the help. Before posting my request I looked up the lyrics online, and it seems like with a lot of old songs, there are several variations. So thanks for saving me lots of time and frustration. I chose this particular performance as a starting point because it's very folksy and can be built upon.

I do have a question though: On line 16 where it reads "la joie d'aimer," it really sounds like she is saying something else. It almost sounds like she is singing "la joie de lui" here, which would mean "from him," ne'st ce pas? It also seems like this would fit more if the meaning of Christmas is considered.

What say you?

[mojocaster]

I may be wrong about this, but I don't think they sing "un monde s'avance" - I think they sing "un monde qui commence"

ça voix is grammatically incorrect and devoid of meaning in French. Sa voix should be the proper spelling. This said, I speak French, not Canadian French. So maybe up there they have that variation for some reason...

And I definitely hear "la joie d'aimer". I hope this helps.

[Simon DS]

‘Un monde qui s’avance’
‘L’amour et prières’ or better ‘L’amour, des prières’
‘Font chanter “La joie d’aimer”’
...are other possibilities.

-could even be la joie de vie!

[Simon DS]

Here are the chords.

[Caleb]

And I definitely hear "la joie d'aimer". I hope this helps.

Wow, must be my American ears because I can’t hear it.

[mojocaster]

Wow, must be my American ears because I can’t hear it.

Oh, that's funny. I don't have American ears, so I don't know how to answer that I have French ears. I was born and raised in France. My entire family was, come to think of it, I'm the only one who lives here. So I'm a native speaker, English is my third language. I do have a BA in French and one in English, and an MA in Comparative Linguistics, with another MA in Education. Which allowed me to teach French at MIT, among other places. For which I am grateful. (Note to self: nobody likes a one-upper!)

This said, I may well be wrong. As I stated earlier, Canadian French is different. Different intonation and accent, for starters. I live in Maine so I go to Canada often and still have the occasional difficulty in person.

[Caleb]

Oh, that's funny. I don't have American ears, so I don't know how to answer that I have French ears. I was born and raised in France. My entire family was, come to think of it, I'm the only one who lives here. So I'm a native speaker, English is my third language. I do have a BA in French and one in English, and an MA in Comparative Linguistics, with another MA in Education. Which allowed me to teach French at MIT, among other places. For which I am grateful. (Note to self: nobody likes a one-upper!)

This said, I may well be wrong. As I stated earlier, Canadian French is different. Different intonation and accent, for starters. I live in Maine so I go to Canada often and still have the occasional difficulty in person.

Well, for someone whose third language is English, your use of it here (along with good punctuation) is flat out great. I wish I could do the same in French. I've messed with it off and on for a long time, but got a lot more serious about it in the past couple years. I read daily in French (a very modern version of the Bible in everyday language), listen to quite a bit of music in French, watch learning stuff on YouTube, and have Pimsleur's French on my phone. There is probably at least two hours of French in my day most days of the week. A friend of the family was a missionary in the Congo for over a decade and comes over once a week to teach my family. It's a lot of fun, but I'm still that guy who knows a lot of words but can be thrown off in actual conversation almost immediately. I had a few French conversations on a recent trip to New England, though, and it was a lot of fun.

But all said, learning a new language, in my experience, is about HEARING as much as anything else. Americans hear things differently than the French or French-Canadians, etc, because we grew up hearing different sounds as our foundation. Fascinating stuff to me, but I guess I'm straying pretty far from mandolin talk here...

[mojocaster]

Well, for someone whose third language is English, your use of it here (along with good punctuation) is flat out great. I wish I could do the same in French. I've messed with it off and on for a long time, but got a lot more serious about it in the past couple years. I read daily in French (a very modern version of the Bible in everyday language), listen to quite a bit of music in French, watch learning stuff on YouTube, and have Pimsleur's French on my phone. There is probably at least two hours of French in my day most days of the week. A friend of the family was a missionary in the Congo for over a decade and comes over once a week to teach my family. It's a lot of fun, but I'm still that guy who knows a lot of words but can be thrown off in actual conversation almost immediately. I had a few French conversations on a recent trip to New England, though, and it was a lot of fun.

But all said, learning a new language, in my experience, is about HEARING as much as anything else. Americans hear things differently than the French or French-Canadians, etc, because we grew up hearing different sounds as our foundation. Fascinating stuff to me, but I guess I'm straying pretty far from mandolin talk here...

Thank you for the kind words. I work at learning English every day. And I love it! I wish my accent were impeccable, but... it's not. The good side of that, of course, is I'm single, living in the US, and for some reason, the ladies seem to dig the accent. I mean, what could go right?

As for punctuation, and I believe the same is true about grammar in general, I consider both to be a gift one gives oneself. I've never been told, I was going to give you this job for which you applied, but your command of the language is too advanced. I have, however, withheld employment opportunities from people otherwise superbly qualified, because their understanding of the language - or lack thereof - meant they could not be customer-facing and representing my company.

I go to Quebec regularly, as they are wonderful people and it reminds me of home, especially the old city. Their version of French certainly is different from mine. Which is fully understandable. I love it and respect it, but there are definitely differences, from the vocabulary to the accent, and sometimes even the syntax.

[ollaimh]

Thank you for the kind words. I work at learning English every day. And I love it! I wish my accent were impeccable, but... it's not. The good side of that, of course, is I'm single, living in the US, and for some reason, the ladies seem to dig the accent. I mean, what could go right?

As for punctuation, and I believe the same is true about grammar in general, I consider both to be a gift one gives oneself. I've never been told, I was going to give you this job for which you applied, but your command of the language is too advanced. I have, however, withheld employment opportunities from people otherwise superbly qualified, because their understanding of the language - or lack thereof - meant they could not be customer-facing and representing my company.

I go to Quebec regularly, as they are wonderful people and it reminds me of home, especially the old city. Their version of French certainly is different from mine. Which is fully understandable. I love it and respect it, but there are definitely differences, from the vocabulary to the accent, and sometimes even the syntax.

you'd find acadien french really fun. around moncton they speak chiac, and franglais,(a lot of maoncton to shediac french write in english but not in french) but over in arichat and cheticamp there are significant medieval french survivals. me i just try to get by with basic conversation in french and gaelic(a lot of nova scotian gaels also write in english but only phoenitic gaelic). i grew up with anglais.

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lovely singers

[Caleb]

Just a follow-up on this... My wife, son, and I learned this song and performed it over the weekend. It went over great. We ended up just doing it with two guitars since singing in a foreign language is hard enough without trying to make some fancy arrangement with mandolin included. Thanks for all the help on this. Merry Christmas.

[mojocaster]

Thank you for your follow up! Means a lot. I love that it was a family endeavor. So cool!