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This would be a good test for English fluency.... - Printable Version

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This would be a good test for English fluency.... - john555 - 2014-10-19

(Assume you are a "non-native speaker of English"): listen to this song and transcribe the lyrics accurately and completely:




This would be a good test for English fluency.... - Inny Jan - 2014-10-19

So here is me - that's what I got for the first lines:

the indian sends from the signals from the rags above the past
the cowboys take position in a bushes and the grass
the score is with the cowpush
(?) is tied against the tree
she doesn't mind the language
as though she die
(?) (?) (?)
he's cool for cats


(Most likely, I would get more if listened to that song a bit more)

And that's what I found on the net:

The Indians send signals
From the rocks above the pass
The cowboys take positions
In the bushes and the grass
The squaw is with the Corporal
She is tied against the tree
She doesn't mind the language
It's the beating she don't need
She lets loose all the horses
When the Corporal is asleep
And he wakes to find the fire's dead
And arrows in his hats
And Davy Crockett rides around
And says it's cool for cats
It's cool for cats - Cool for cats

Now, do I care? Not in particular. It's actually much better than trying to understand "rural Australian" or Jeff Bridges in True Grit...

Neither those lyrics, nor rural Australian, nor Jeff Bridges's mumbling is what you meet in everyday situations, or when you are watching regular programs on TV.

I still claim that I'm fluent in English - you proved nothing.

EDIT:
Besides that, your OP is silly - it wouldn't be if this was an English learning forum...

This would be a good test for English fluency.... - gaiaslastlaugh - 2014-10-19

Songs are a bad choice for testing fluency. The pronunciation and intonations are often quite different from what you encounter in the spoken language. Exhibit A: http://www.uh.edu/~mbarber/mondegreens.html

This would be a good test for English fluency.... - Stansfield123 - 2014-10-19

Really? Following along with 1970s British slang is a good test of English fluency in 2014?

This would be a good test for English fluency.... - yudantaiteki - 2014-10-19

Inny Jan Wrote:So here is me - that's what I got for the first lines:

EDIT:
Besides that, your OP is silly - it wouldn't be if this was an English learning forum...
I didn't want to respond because I'm convinced he's trolling at this point, but I'm a native English speaker and I couldn't understand all the words of the song, so don't worry.

This would be a good test for English fluency.... - TsugiAshi - 2014-10-20

john555 Wrote:(Assume you are a "non-native speaker of English"): listen to this song and transcribe the lyrics accurately and completely:


I can't follow the lyrics to music very well, despite being fluent in English. However, I can read and understand your post, read and understand someone's transcription of the lyrics, and read, write, and speak the lyrics of the song at a fluent pace.

Basically, there are some things that not even someone who is fluent can do. But at the same time, a person does legitimately know when they are in fact fluent.

This would be a good test for English fluency.... - Zgarbas - 2014-10-20

Aside from squaw I got all the words, which makes sense given the fact that I listen to so much British music ... it has nothing to do with English fluency so much as with familiarity with that bloke's accent.

This would be a good test for English fluency.... - john555 - 2014-10-28

Zgarbas Wrote:Aside from squaw I got all the words, which makes sense given the fact that I listen to so much British music ... it has nothing to do with English fluency so much as with familiarity with that bloke's accent.
"Cool For Cats" is an awesome song...I remember when the song was first released (I was in high school at the time). I remember going to a friend's house and we listened to it on his stereo. I don't remember either of us having trouble understanding the lyrics.

As a side note, from Wikipedia: "There is a persistent rumour that one of the two women dancing and singing the distinctive "Cool for Cats" chorus in the video to the song is Michelle Collins, who later found fame as Cindy Beale in BBC TV's EastEnders. However, during a radio interview in 2009,[1] Collins said this was untrue (contradicting a 2002 interview[2]).