Transcribed from The Guardian newspaper, 4th March , 2006
Depeche Mode try a new style: en dough cheeky-a-vunch
"Deh dah do. Misbalah. Que-moh-nuzhnee? Esta booka-dee schvallow en dough cheeky-a-vunch."*
Don't quite recognise it? It's Simlish, allegedly a combination of fractured Ukrainian and Tagalog, the language of the Philippines, and it could help 80s icons Depeche Mode appeal to a new audience.
The Mode, as they are known to fans, have re-recorded one of their singles in the so-called language used by characters in the hugely popular computer game series The Sims, which allows people to build their own cities and worlds.
Although no dictionary seems available, the online encyclopaedia Wikipedia has a stab. "Moarsh doove" appears to mean "howdy, neighbour". "Kavaala! Midoo!" has been roughly translated as "Over here! I'm desperate". The phrase "Oh flark" probably needs no translation.
Depeche Mode, pioneers of synthesiser pop are now attempting to take a lead in Simlish, with a re-recording of Suffer Well from the album Playing the Angel.
"Depeche Mode has always been open to new ways of sharing our music," said lead singer David Gahan. "But re-recording a Simlish-language version of Suffer Well just sounded bizarre. Of course, that's why we couldn't resist doing it."
Steve Schnur, an executive at EA, the company behind The Sims, described Simlish as "an emotion-filled language that defies translation. It's a great fit for the music of Depeche Mode which is so focused on creating a mood and appeals to people on an emotional level."
A video of the song can be downloaded from the game's website and features a cartoon version of the band. The film's rollercoaster story, a seemingly tragic one, revolves around a robot who falls in love with a human woman who spurns his advances. The robot gets drunk, fights and then tries to burn the woman alive. It fails but it does get a painting of the woman exhibited at a fancy gallery.
Depeche Mode are following in the footsteps of fellow 80s synthesiser pop act Howard Jones who re-recorded his 1985 hit Things Can Only Get Better in Simlish. In an interview with a cartoon chimpanzee on the game's website, Jones dedicates the reworking to his 11-year-old son Jasper, a big Sims fan. "I did find it very, very challenging. It took me a long time to get my tongue around the words," he said.
*According to Wikipedia, this could mean: "Hello. I'm frustrated. Are you joking? I know exactly where that's going and I couldn't agree more". Alternatively, since it is made up, it could mean anything you want it to mean.
Write a comment. What do you think about this? Do you feel it is right to listen to a song without understanding a word?
I don't understand this video of the Sims. The song was strange and a little bit humorous. I have understood only that I've seen during the images.
ReplyDeleteI think it was about feelings of the robot that he felt in love on her creator and she doesn't match for his feelings.
It isn't right to listen to a song without understanding a word because you can't follow the video song and transmit his emotions.
That's interesting! I didn't know that simlish has also been used in songs and it's really curious! Translating a song into simlish or any other language must be hard because the sound and the accent of the words it's different and you want it to sound good, that must be a big challenge:)
ReplyDeletePD:However, I can't imagine myself singing or talking in such a odd language.
Zoe Fowler
ReplyDeleteI don't think that language should impede the possibility of music, but in this case the song is really bad so maybe it should.
I think that the British band Depeche Mode, had a great idea to translate their song to the Simlish artificial language. In my opinion, this is a original and creative way to create a song.
ReplyDeleteIt's a little bit difficult to listen a song without understanding it. But the rhythm and the music video are fantastic!
Well, in my opinion this song is not bad, the only problem is that I didn’t know about this language since now, I thougt simlish is a beautiful language and in the songs it sounds quite good.
ReplyDeleteMaybe listen a song without understanding a word is not the best option, but in this time you can focus in his rhythm and the music. However, in this case you can follow the letter with the video because it also tell the story. The story of the relationship with the woman and the robot is so strange, but isn’t bad.
I think I want to listen more songs of this band.
This video is a little strange and sometimes I didn't understand what was happening, but I think that Depeche Mode have been so original at re-write one of their songs in Simlish. At first I felt sad for the robot because of his unrequited love but then I was like: What the ....? Because it's like, well she don't love let's burn her local. Are he insane? We can't just burn up things. But after all the dude is a robot, and aren't robots supposed no to have feelings? Anyway the video is quite cool.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that is that bad to listen songs without understanding anything. It's true that you enjoy more the songs if you know what they're saying but you can also enjoy a song because of the melody and the rhythm.
Judith López
ReplyDeleteI don't mind if I listen a song without understanding a word, I usually like music because of the rhythm. This song is too bad to exist
Guillem Tarrés
ReplyDeleteIn this video we can see a new form that groups can use to make publicity of their albums, using a new lenguage called Simlish that it would be used in a game as the Sims, instead of talk in english or spanish, in the game at least the songs will be in Simlish, and the group Depeche Mode is the first group to trty this type of publicity.
The song tells us a story about a women that creates a robot and there is a love story between this two personages, but it have not a good end.
Pau Torramilans
ReplyDeleteI think that the idea to promote a game with a song is good, althought you don't understand any word. The game in particularly is called The Sims and consists in manage the characters with theirs feelings and emotions. The video explains the story about a women who create a robot to control her shop. After a few days the robot starts to express feelings with the women until he falls in love with her. The robot wants to marry with the women, but she refuses. The robot stays alone and she is being happy with a men. One day, this man dies and she goes to search the robot to recupere their friendship, but the robot doesn't want. It's an impressive story that happends with animations characters.
Sergi José
ReplyDeleteThe video explains the lenguage of the sims a game of social simulation and strategy too famous in 2000. For explain the lenguage the video recreate a love history between a women and a robot. The women create a robot for help her in the shop. With the time the robot experiment feelings and fall in love with the women. The robot ask to marriage with the women and the women says no. The women repent and miss the robot but and go to look for him. The robot starts in the world of art and say no to the women. This is the typical love history but without a man. I like it because this promote a game without any word only with expressions and thinks of the sims. Maybe it's an indirect to the speakers that the words are not important in the persons comunication.
That video is extremely difficult to understand if is without the images and I just understood thanks to the pictures. Maybe it is because there is a lot of noise and we don't listen well the words, but I think that is a bad music although it has a good rhythm.
ReplyDeleteI think that you should to know what about is talking the music because maybe it can happen that you have believed that it has a mean but it has another and this is really disappointing.
In that miles of frames show us an advertising storyline by the company EA which tries to sell us their product, The Sims game. I think this video tells us by visual what we can do and build in that game letting us doing things to an extremely level and maybe experience a near real simulation instead that's a curious and rare way to promote a product.
ReplyDeleteAbout the lyrics of the song I believe that is not really important to undertand the vocals because switching off the sound we understand anyway the situation. The soundtrack that is played in the background can give us a little more feeling of it.
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I don't think the fact you don't understand the lyrics of a song should imply you can't or shouldn’t listen to it, as there is more to a song than the lyrics.
ReplyDeleteEven though I can't understand the lyrics, the video helps you grasp the concept and understand the story it's trying to tell.
Personally, I don't like the song, it's not the type of music I normally listen to, but I suppose whether you like it or not it depends on your musical taste.
Depeche Mode is a really strange group, so I'm not surprised about that they did this video. I think that if they want to do it, we aren't anybody to tell them what they can and can't do, so they have the liberty of doing what they want.
ReplyDeleteI think that listening to a song without understanding a word is funny because you can imagine what they are saying. Also, the video can help you understand what the group of Depeche Mode want to tell.
Is impossible understand something just listening the song. However, if we pay attention at the images maybe is possible understand a little bit that the song wants transmit to all of us.
ReplyDeleteUsing a simlish language is strange but I think that can be interesting. Sometimes the lenguage can be confusing and the images speak for themselves. So I think that using this lenguage we could avoid confusions to language and it allow us to see things from other point of view.
I'm not understand the song and it's bad. It's necessary see the video firstly. It's strange because the robot is falling love the woman. I think, the Sims video is to attract attention and let people know that they have new updates and you can create new histories. If they like it, they can buy it.
ReplyDeleteI think the song could be better, but the originality of singing it in simlish adds an interesting view. I don't really mind listening to a song without understanding it, but if I could have a translated lyrics in the video, that would really help.
ReplyDeleteGenís Plaja
ReplyDeleteTo my mind, I think that Suffer Well is a great song but I am against the use of songs like this one to promote videogames whose are already very popular, and I think that is an error to sell your artistic creations to a videogame. In addition, can someone explain me the meaning of this video? I think that the meaning of the song's lyrics don't match even a little to the video. I don't want to criticise Will Wright, but I think that if I were Depeche Mode's singer, I wouldn't have sold my song to this company
You can consider Simlish as a normal language, the only difference between this one and the other "normal" languages is that Simlish is no commonly used, only the Sims and a very few people are fluid talkers. So you could say it isn't very useful to know how it works, but for some people seem to be interesting. The only negative fact of talking or in this case singing a song with another language you don't really understand is that you could be saying something that you meant to be something nice but in fact that wasn't. It must be dangerous depending the situation.
ReplyDeleteThe fact of listening a song without understand the lyrics isn't an impediment of singing it. Maybe you won't say exactly what it really but you'll sing something similar. Don't be afraid of listening and singing the music you like!
In my opinion, the song is not as good as I expected, but I find really interesting that you can understand the main meaning of the song eventhough it's in an invented lenguage. You can understand perfectly the song without knowing any word in Simlish, but with the video and the similar words, your comprehension about the meaning of the song is good. I found it interesting and peculiar. I think that they could have choosen another song, and this would be more amazing than now.
ReplyDeleteSometimes, when you listen for the first time a song, you don't understand the lyrics or it's hard to know what they are saying. But you catch the essence of the song even you like it or not. This can happen to you in your own language too!
Miquel Pasqual
ReplyDeleteThe song of this video and the relationship with the robot and the girl is strange, because the girl is a person and she have feelings and the robot is a machine and he don't have a feelings. I don't understand this video .
Ferran Vila
ReplyDeleteI think that if you like a song is not needly to understand what it means because you could like the melody or the rythm.
we use to listen songs in foregein lenguages so we're really used to do this.
So it's not a real problem because this happens every day
Ània Valero
ReplyDeleteI don't understand the video. The video use simlish language, but is difficult to understant. The images help to understand a litter bit the story and I don' t like the song, but transmit the concep of the video. In my opinion, when we use a strange language but we are listening all the day, finally we understant the words
After listening this song in Simlish I realized that there's not always the need to understand what a song is saying. The Mode, the band who translated their song into Simlish, used the musicality of this invented language to create music and the video helps understand, basically because it is the only thing we can understand.
ReplyDeleteIn these types of song the concept or story you want to transmit has to be very basic and simple, so you can illustrate it with the video. Also, it is so important the melody and the rhythm, people will notice that more than in the called "normal" and usual songs, where people also notice what the singer is saying.
The song narrates a beautifully tragic story: a robot falls in love with it's creator, but she doesn't love him back. The story goes into a phsycologic studio of the main character's minds, exploring the darkest corners of the conscience, bringing the polemic question: is it okay to burn down the house of the woman you're in love with? Song's robot seems to consider that yes, it is. Breathtaking.
ReplyDeleteNow seriously, I think that this song is curious, because of the fact that is sang in Simlish, but apart of that... well.
In my opinion, there's no problem on listening to a song without understanding the lyrics, even though I prefer to know them. I happen to consider that the words are very important, as much as the music itself; sometimes is written poetry and everything, some lyrics are amazingly good, and you may be missing something big if you don't understand them. But, then again, is perfectly okay to listen to a song without understanding a word, it may even be funny (such as Gangnam Style, until you serach for the translated lyrics and... ew).
What an amazing language! I really like how it sounds but I can't understand anything.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I like it, some times it's better to don't know what says the song and only enjoy the rythm of the song.
In my opinion it isn't a problem to don't understand the meaning of the lyrics.
This video is quite strange. They had just made a vidio with Simlish language, which I don't understand nothing. Also is interesting because I never thought about simlish could be a real language and not just strange sounds. Without the help of the video I couldn't understand nothing of it, because I didn't understand nothing of the song, too.
ReplyDeleteWhen I start to see this video it was a little difficult to understand it. But then, Teresa tells me that the group were singing in the Sim's language and I understand the meaning.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, you can follow the song with the video clip perfectly, because it's so representative.
I Like this post! I think the Simlish should be the first lenguaje of the world and the most talked too. I didn't understand the sog but i like it. It's necessary see the video firstly for enjoy the song. I didn't know why the robot is falling love the woman. I thought, the Sims video was film to atract to attract people and increase public sales.
ReplyDeleteAt first I thought they were talking about a robot revolution but then I figured out they weren't. Images are always a good clue when you don't understand a language. Anyway, Simlish is not that difficult when you've been playing this game since 2002 more a less, I have got almost all the expansions and nowadays I'm able to catch a few words while playing.
ReplyDeleteFor me, listening music in lots of different languages is nice because you're learning at the same time some new vocabulary without noticing it. I used to do it with French and know it's easier for me to understand and also pronounce it. But in case you want to understand it at the same time you're listening, lyrics are always on the internet so you can look them up :)
Yes, its okey because the language its not important in a song. If you like a song its not necessary to understand what it means. In my opinion its more important the melody than the meaning. And a funny form to learn another language ore some words from this foreign language
ReplyDeleteI don't understand nothing in the video. I think that the song it would be change other song because is difficult to understand it. The story is very strange, is about a girl have feeling with a robot.
ReplyDeleteJoel Soler
ReplyDeleteThis is the worst song that I've ever heard. Not only for the lyrics, because i think that this lenguage is more freak than Elvish. Otherwise for the music and composition. But I have to admit that the videoclip is really original. It would be interesting search the lyrics translation for check if it suits with the video
Sònia Parnau
ReplyDeleteI think this video is very strange because if you only listen it, you can't understand anything about it. This is because is not in English, is in Simlish, a language that I haven't heart it before. However, if I see it carefully I can understand the story in general, but if you want to know all about it you have to know the Simlish language. I also think that is very interesting that language because when I was younger I played The Sims and I though that what they said, it wasn't a language.
For me, this video is really interesting because it can explains the imposible relationship to the humans with the machines. This is an idea, but in the video we can listen a good song and we can see a lot of different characters too. Nevertheless, the video finishes bad because they ( the women and the robot) don't finishes together. Finally, I only say that I hope they will finish together.
ReplyDeleteBudo you are ugly
DeleteI think that's a perfect adversetiment because its original.
ReplyDeleteIts not a problem not to understand the song, because the music is an
universal language.
The story its pretty random but its funny.
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In my opinion, the lyrics of any song gets quite importance in music, as it is supposed to translate some feelings or ideas. Singers use their voices and songs to tell people about themselfs or about things that happens around.
ReplyDeleteSo if you don't understand the words of the song, probably won't feel the same as if you had understood the lyrics.
The fact of singing in a not well-known language, such as Simlish, gives you more difficulties on understanding the whole context, as the story is quite strange; a robot that falls in love with the woman who created it and when she doesn't give her love back, the robot gets crazy.
In this case, as there are a video representation, if you don't get the exactly meaning, you can understand the story feelings through the images of the video.
I think it's really interesting and original to translate a song into another language and make it work.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion it doesn't mind if you are listening a song without understanding the lyrics, but always is a plus to do it. Besides, is easy to understand the song watching the video.
So that's it, even though i found it specially curious and unusual, I would never listen to it again.
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DeleteIn my opinion I hate the video and I hate the song. First, I hate the song because I don't like this language and the voice of the singer. Second, I hate the video because I've never liked the Sims; in my opinion, It is a boring and silly game. I don't like virtual world games. Also the story doesn't give me anything and it doesn't make any sense to me. In conclusion this video and the Sims is a waste of time, I have honest but is my reality.
ReplyDeleteI think that it's not necessary understand the lenguage wich Depeche Mode sings to understand the meaning of the song. So, it's funny don't understand the Simlish because the imaginations can fly, however, the images can help you to know what tell the song. The stoy of this song is that one woman create a robot, the robot fell in love with her, but she refuse him. The robot is sad, and he try to burn the shop where he works with the woman. After this, the woman would be friends with the robot another time, but he don't wont.
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In my opinion I think that it's a bad idea to write a song in simlish lenguage, I didn't enjoy the song because it's impossible to understand and I prefer to understang the letter of the song that I'm listening.
ReplyDeleteDespite this, I have enjoyed the video because it's not very difficult to understand the story and I have liked the story that the video shows, between a robot and her creator.
The rhythm of the song is good, but I don't like it because I don't understand any word so I think that I would never listen to a song in simlish lenguage.
Marc Duaigües i Regàs:
ReplyDeleteI like this video, for me is not a problem that I'm not able to understand anything, because when I listen to english music I can't understand anything too.
I've always yhought that it's interesting to listen to a language you can't understand. It's an interesting way to get to know other languages and to learn new words. It's also interesting when the music is a traditional one of the region the language is used.
ReplyDeleteThis is the same for invented languages. They're great to learn and it's funny when you talk and other people can't understand you. Also I think learning languages is an interesting thing, and this way you can travel around the world and you'll be able to comunicate with more people!
Firstly, I thought that the group was singing in English, but after I realised that it wasn't English, it was Simlish.
ReplyDeleteI think that listening to music you don't understand could be interesting but it's also a waste of time because you don't know what the song is about.
The song without explanation or images is difficult to understand but we have the story told through images and so it is easier to follow the story and don't need to understand the lyrics of the song. Therefore, I think the original idea of creating a song with a language that few people understand that's interesting but not everyone will find the meaning of writing a song that nobody will understand and therefore can't follow the story without an images.
ReplyDeleteI also think that this video is a little strange. I think that listen a song without understand a word makes little sense, but in this case you can understand the story with only the images. However, we can't be sure that the meaning of the song is the same that the images, because is in Simlish, the language of The Sims. I would like to emphasize with the fact that the robot act like a human: fells in love, cry, goes to the bar...
ReplyDeleteFinally I think that in general it's a funny video and the song is not so bad.