Actually I would like to elaborate on this one - it's perceptually interesting to me- I work in Italian and English and while I do listen to both Italian and UK or US music while working (not always, but sometimes), what I really really cannot do is play a cd in French (which I understand but dont work with), or Spanish (ditto) - it drives me NUTS! Does this happen to you too?

I often listen to music whne I work but it has to be mostly instrumental music or I get distracted. I usually listen to electronica - ambient, drum-n-bass, breakbeat - but sometimes classical music, too. I find that listening to the right music, with an energetic tempo and an upbeat melody, actually helps me stay focused on the task at hand, and would even say that I work faster with it than without.

This might be completely OT, and then it might be not.

The nightingales and mockingbirds still not driven outa the suburbs sing... well, I`m not sure if that`s really "sing"... OK then, they imitate the howling of car alarm systems. For a decade, at least. But crows still croak the way they used to years ago.

You must have a rather unusual breed of nightingale in Lithuania. The ones we have here in Tuscany chirrup most becomingly...!

Originally written by Alison Varley on May 25, 2009 4:28 PM You must have a rather unusual breed of nightingale in Lithuania. The ones we have here in Tuscany chirrup most becomingly...!

Dunno about the breed, but they do... Lucky you, people and birds in Tuscany!

If only anyone could explain to me why I think this has something to do with the poll...

Originally written by Dodo Kaipdodo on May 25, 2009 3:25 PM This might be completely OT, and then it might be not. The nightingales and mockingbirds still not driven outa the suburbs sing... well, I`m not sure if that`s really "sing"... OK then, they imitate the howling of car alarm systems. For a decade, at least. But crows still croak the way they used to years ago.

Are you saying that those two species of birds have learned "car alarm"?    That's hilarious!  My parents' now defunct canary learned "microwave beep" which more than once sent a puzzled t.v. watcher out of his arm chair to retrieve a heated cup of coffee that wasn't there.  The roller canary in our household had a lovely song until it began inserting an ugly sqawk from  a nameless bird, "sing sing sing SQUAWK - hee haw! - sing sing sing..."

Maxi

Originally written by Maxi Schwarz-Bastami on May 26, 2009 7:22 AM Are you saying that those two species of birds have learned "car alarm"?

And some other warblers, too, I`m afraid. Of course, they only repeat the "tune", not the ugly pitch, thankfully. Anyway, with the suburb constantly developed there`s less and less space left for birds and other critters, so there will be just the real alarms, one day...

But I still can`t quite put my finger on why precisely I should think this has something in common with listening to music while translating.

Originally written by Dodo Kaipdodo on May 26, 2009 7:58 AM Originally written by Maxi Schwarz-Bastami on May 26, 2009 7:22 AM Are you saying that those two species of birds have learned "car alarm"?  And some other warblers, too, I`m afraid. Of course, they only repeat the "tune", not the ugly pitch, thankfully. Anyway, with the suburb constantly developed there`s less and less space left for birds and other critters, so there will be just the real alarms, one day... But I still can`t quite put my finger on why precisely I should think this has something in common with listening to music while translating.

I have birds singing around all the time when I am translating, but I somehow did not consider them while answering the poll. I probably do not hear them any more, because only after I had read your post, I started paying attention to them again. Yes, they are here, yet I do not know what they sound like or whom they imitate, if anybody, probably just the waves and maybe some people from time to time, who have some arguments, possibly car engines, but this needs more investigation.

Originally written by Liliana Boladz-Nekipelov on May 26, 2009 3:32 PM Yes, they are here, yet I do not know what they sound like or whom they imitate, if anybody, probably just the waves and maybe some people from time to time, who have some arguments, possibly car engines, but this needs more investigation.

Sounds like a dispersed background noise to me, which is less distracting than a focused one. I can also easily imagine why C-language songs from Post #176598 can be more absorbing/engaging/involving than music with lyrics in our A/B languages.

I would not call their singing a dispersed noise, they are pretty much to the point if you thought about it ...