Learn Chinese Through a Song Part II

Jay Chou Still Fantasy

Hi all!

This week, we’ll be going back a long time to continue our “Learn Chinese Through a Song” segment!

The song we’ll be learning today is ” 听妈妈的话” (tīng māmā dehuà) by Jay Chou. The title literally translates to “listen to your mom’s words!” It was released in 2006 in Chou’s album, “Still Fantasy.”

Jay Chou is famous for writing his own music, and you may know him for acting alongside Seth Rogen in The Green Hornet.

Here is the lyric video for the song (eng sub)

(Thank you to EvaDreaming for the video!)

 

The song appreciates every mother’s love and hard work for her child(ren). It seems to me that Jay Chou based this song on his own life because one line of the song translates to “everyone will sing the songs I write (when I grow up)” because of how hard his mother made him study and practice music as a child.

My favorite part of the song is the chorus; Chou starts off by explaining that every child will understand why his/her mom pushes him/her so hard when he/she grows up: it’s only because she wants the best for you. He shows his appreciation by describing how he runs faster and flies higher than everyone else. He used to complain that he had to study, learn how to draw, and practice the piano, while other kids read comics and played video games. However, after he grew up, the kids read the comics HE wrote and sang the songs HE composed, and realized that he would have never been so successful if it wasn’t for his mom.

Although this song is pretty old, it still is very relevant to today and has a timeless lesson to teach.

I hope you enjoyed today’s fun post, and hopefully it’ll teach you to appreciate your parents more! (Moms, show this song to your kids :))

There are 6 comments

    1. Jeff Chou

      Jay Chou actually wrote a song that’s called ‘listen to your dad’s words!’ in 2015.

  1. 茱蒂

    这是我早喜欢的一首歌曲,非常能够打动听众的心。由于歌手自己从小就是听妈妈的话长大,今天才会有这样的成就。陈同学把这首歌曲分析的非常透彻,只要努力向上,一定会迈向成功之路。

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