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Same Singer, Same Song, Different Languages
Finnish or Swedish? Rate these records.
Help me out, Rate-a-Record fans. I’m planning a review of the albums on which these songs appear, and I need your opinions.
Each song has the same melody and instrumental background, and each is sung by Anna Järvinen, one in Swedish and the other in Finnish. Järvinen is a Swede-Finn — resident of Sweden who is of Finnish descent. (Footnote: you may know that although both Swedish and Finnish are Indo-European languages, linguistically speaking Finnish is more akin to Hungarian than to any of the Scandinavian languages, which are from the Germanic branch. Disclosure: I don’t know either one.)
Järvinen has released her last two albums in both Swedish and Finnish (except for one track on the earlier pair that’s in German). Although I don’t speak either language, I find the albums in one of these languages to be more compelling and immediate than those in the other. Here’s where I need your help. If possible listen to each of these songs at least twice, and record your responses, including relative rankings. Do you hear any differences? If so, what kind?
By now you probably know the system for Rate a Record, but just in case, here it is: For each song, pick a number between 35 and 98 (thanks to the original post by Terry Barr).
