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My teacher in the Advanced 1 level loved to use songs in his lessons, and this is the song he used in the lesson about weather. He looked for the Youtube video in class, and I remember that after watching it in class he said "I didn't know that the videoclip was...uh...like that." XD

And these are the lyrics

The Weather Girls

It's Raining Men Lyrics

Hi - Hi! We're your Weather Girls - Ah-huh -
And have we got news for you - You better listen!
Get ready, all you lonely girls
and leave those umbrellas at home. - Alright! -

Humidity is rising - Barometer's getting low
According to all sources, the street's the place to go
Cause tonight for the first time
Just about half-past ten
For the first time in history
It's gonna start raining men.

It's Raining Men! Hallelujah! - It's Raining Men! Amen!
I'm gonna go out to run and let myself get
Absolutely soaking wet!
It's Raining Men! Hallelujah!
It's Raining Men! Every Specimen!
Tall, blonde, dark and lean
Rough and tough and strong and mean

God bless Mother Nature, she's a single woman too
She took off to heaven and she did what she had to do
She taught every angel to rearrange the sky
So that each and every woman could find her perfect guy
It's Raining Men! Hallelujah! - It's Raining Men! Amen!
It's Raining Men! Hallelujah!
It's Raining Men! Ame---------nnnn!

I feel stormy weather / Moving in about to begin
Hear the thunder / Don't you lose your head
Rip off the roof and stay in bed

God bless Mother Nature, she's a single woman too
She took off to heaven and she did what she had to do
She taught every angel to rearrange the sky
So that each and every woman could find her perfect guy
It's Raining Men! Yeah!

Humidity is rising - Barometer's getting low
According to all sources, the street's the place to go
Cause tonight for the first time
Just about half-past ten
For the first time in history
It's gonna start raining men.

It's Raining Men! Hallelujah! - It's Raining Men! Amen!
It's Raining Men! Hallelujah! - It's Raining Men!

Writer: JABARA, PAUL / SHAFFER, PAUL

source: http://www.lyricsondemand.com/onehitwonders/itsrai...
 

Nice idea.

I am going to propose something for advanced level English speakers, mostly because of the archaic language that will be quite a mess to go through for the low-medium levels.

And it is a classic... Edgar Allan Poe's THE RAVEN

http://classicpoetryaloud.podomatic.com/entry/2008...

The Raven 
by Edgar Allan Poe (1809 – 1849)

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, 
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,— 
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, 
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door. 
"'T is some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door; 
Only this and nothing more." 

Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December 
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor. 
Eagerly I wished the morrow;—vainly I had sought to borrow 
From my books surcease of sorrow—sorrow for the lost Lenore, 
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore: 
Nameless here for evermore. 

And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain 
Thrilled me—filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before; 
So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating 
"'T is some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door, 
Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door: 
This it is and nothing more." 

Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer, 
"Sir," said I, "or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore; 
But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping, 
And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door, 
That I scarce was sure I heard you"—here I opened wide the door:— 
Darkness there and nothing more. 

Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing, 
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortals ever dared to dream before; 
But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token, 
And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, "Lenore?" 
This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, "Lenore:" 
Merely this and nothing more. 

Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning, 
Soon again I heard a tapping somewhat louder than before. 
"Surely," said I, "surely that is something at my window lattice; 
Let me see, then, what thereat is, and this mystery explore; 
Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore: 
'T is the wind and nothing more." 

Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter, 
In there stepped a stately Raven of the saintly days of yore. 
Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he; 
But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door, 
Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door: 
Perched, and sat, and nothing more. 

Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling 
By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore,— 
"Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou," I said, "art sure no craven, 
Ghastly grim and ancient Raven wandering from the Nightly shore: 
Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night's Plutonian shore!" 
Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore." 

Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly, 
Though its answer little meaning—little relevancy bore; 
For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being 
Ever yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber door, 
Bird or beast upon the sculptured bust above his chamber door, 
With such name as "Nevermore." 

But the Raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only 
That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour. 
Nothing further then he uttered, not a feather then he fluttered, 
Till I scarcely more than muttered,—"Other friends have flown before; 
On the morrow he will leave me, as my Hopes have flown before." 
Then the bird said, "Nevermore." 

Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken, 
"Doubtless," said I, "what it utters is its only stock and store, 
Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful Disaster 
Followed fast and followed faster till his songs one burden bore: 
Till the dirges of his Hope that melancholy burden bore 
Of 'Never—nevermore.' 

But the Raven still beguiling all my fancy into smiling, 
Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird and bust and door; 
Then, upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linking 
Fancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of yore, 
What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous bird of yore 
Meant in croaking "Nevermore." 

This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing 
To the fowl whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom's core; 
This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease reclining 
On the cushion's velvet lining that the lamplight gloated o'er, 
But whose velvet violet lining with the lamp-light gloating o'er 
She shall press, ah, nevermore! 

Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer 
Swung by seraphim whose foot-falls tinkled on the tufted floor. 
"Wretch," I cried, "thy God hath lent thee—by these angels he hath sent thee 
Respite—respite and nepenthe from thy memories of Lenore!" 
Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe, and forget this lost Lenore." 
Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore." 

"Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil! prophet still, if bird or devil! 
Whether Tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore, 
Desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted— 
On this home by Horror haunted—tell me truly, I implore: 
Is there—is there balm in Gilead?—tell me—tell me, I implore!" 
Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore." 

"Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil—prophet still, if bird or devil! 
By that Heaven that bends above us, by that God we both adore, 
Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn, 
It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore: 
Clasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore!" 
Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore." 

"Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!" I shrieked, upstarting: 
"Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore! 
Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken! 
Leave my loneliness unbroken! quit the bust above my door! 
Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!" 
Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore." 

And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting 
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door; 
And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming, 
And the lamp-light o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor: 
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor 
Shall be lifted—nevermore!

If you understand everything, congratulations, you have an amazing level of English.

Next challenge, say it out loud and try to get the pronunciations right. It's really difficult and I know lots of native speakers who can't! Good practice :P

Done!

It's really amazing this Allan Poe's text. I confess I've looked for some expressions and so, but then I tried to speak out loud and was catastrophic xD I have to try and try to improve.

Aaaaah, The Raven. I did actually read it aloud once, as dare made by a teacher when I was in college. It was pretty hard, especially getting the rhythm and cadence right. And that was even though I did have previous experience with public reading. Certainly, if you can read this, you have quite respectable skills.

So, I'm going to share something as well. I'd say it's my favourite poem in English: The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock, by T.S. Elliot. In general, Elliot is not an easy read. He has a very peculiar cosmogony- a mishmash of occultism, literature, eastern mysticism and things he flat out makes up, and he's fond of throwing lines in other languages he also spoke- and she spoke quite a bit of them. "The Prufrock" (as it's sometimes known) is, however, one of his most accesible ones.

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/detail/44212

S’io credesse che mia risposta fosse 
A persona che mai tornasse al mondo, 
Questa fiamma staria senza piu scosse. 
Ma percioche giammai di questo fondo 
Non torno vivo alcun, s’i’odo il vero, 
Senza tema d’infamia ti rispondo. *

Let us go then, you and I, 
when the evening is spread out against the sky 
like a patient etherized upon a table; 
let us go, through certain half-deserted streets, 
the muttering retreats 
of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels 
and sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells: 
Streets that follow like a tedious argument 
of insidious intent, 
to lead you to an overwhelming question ... 
Oh, do not ask, “What is it?”,
let us go and make our visit. 

In the room the women come and go 
talking of Michelangelo. 

The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes, 
the yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes, 
licked its tongue into the corners of the evening, 
lingered upon the pools that stand in drains, 
let fall upon its back the soot that falls from chimneys, 
slipped by the terrace, made a sudden leap, 
and seeing that it was a soft October night, 
curled once about the house, and fell asleep. 

And indeed there will be time 
for the yellow smoke that slides along the street, 
rubbing its back upon the window-panes. 
There will be time, there will be time, 
to prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet; 
there will be time to murder and create, 
and time for all the works and days of hands 
that lift and drop a question on your plate; 
time for you and time for me, 
and time yet for a hundred indecisions, 
and for a hundred visions and revisions 
before the taking of a toast and tea. 

In the room the women come and go 
Talking of Michelangelo. 

And indeed there will be time 
to wonder, “Do I dare?” and, “Do I dare?” 
time to turn back and descend the stair, 
with a bald spot in the middle of my hair — 
(They will say: “How his hair is growing thin!”) 
My morning coat, my collar mounting firmly to the chin, 
my necktie rich and modest, but asserted by a simple pin — 
(They will say: “But how his arms and legs are thin!”) 
Do I dare 
disturb the universe? 
In a minute there is time 
for decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse. 

For I have known them all already, known them all: 
Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons, 
I have measured out my life with coffee spoons; 
I know the voices dying with a dying fall 
beneath the music from a farther room. 
So how should I presume? 

And I have known the eyes already, known them all— 
the eyes that fix you in a formulated phrase, 
and when I am formulated, sprawling on a pin, 
when I am pinned and wriggling on the wall, 
then how should I begin 
to spit out all the butt-ends of my days and ways? 
And how should I presume? 

And I have known the arms already, known them all— 
arms that are braceleted and white and bare 
(but in the lamplight, downed with light brown hair!) 
Is it perfume from a dress 
that makes me so digress? 
Arms that lie along a table, or wrap about a shawl. 
And should I then presume? 
And how should I begin? 

Shall I say, I have gone at dusk through narrow streets 
and watched the smoke that rises from the pipes 
of lonely men in shirt-sleeves, leaning out of windows? ... 

I should have been a pair of ragged claws 
scuttling across the floors of silent seas. 

And the afternoon, the evening, sleeps so peacefully! 
Smoothed by long fingers, 
Asleep ... tired ... or it malingers, 
stretched on the floor, here beside you and me. 
Should I, after tea and cakes and ices, 
have the strength to force the moment to its crisis? 
But though I have wept and fasted, wept and prayed, 
though I have seen my head (grown slightly bald) brought in upon a platter, 
I am no prophet — and here’s no great matter; 
I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker, 
and I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker, 
and in short, I was afraid. 

And would it have been worth it, after all, 
after the cups, the marmalade, the tea, 
among the porcelain, among some talk of you and me, 
Would it have been worth while, 
to have bitten off the matter with a smile, 
to have squeezed the universe into a ball 
to roll it towards some overwhelming question, 
to say: “I am Lazarus, come from the dead, 
come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all”— 
If one, settling a pillow by her head  

should say: “That is not what I meant at all; 
that is not it, at all.” 

And would it have been worth it, after all, 
would it have been worthwhile, 
after the sunsets and the dooryards and the sprinkled streets, 
after the novels, after the teacups, after the skirts that trail along the floor— 
And this, and so much more?— 
It is impossible to say just what I mean! 
But as if a magic lantern threw the nerves in patterns on a screen: 
Would it have been worthwhile 
if one, settling a pillow or throwing off a shawl, 
and turning toward the window, should say: 

“That is not it at all, 
 That is not what I meant, at all.” 

No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be; 
am an attendant lord, one that will do 
to swell a progress, start a scene or two, 
advise the prince; no doubt, an easy tool, 
deferential, glad to be of use, 
politic, cautious, and meticulous; 
full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse; 
at times, indeed, almost ridiculous— 
Almost, at times, the Fool. 

I grow old ... I grow old ... 
I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled. 

Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach? 
I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach. 
I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each. 

I do not think that they will sing to me. 

I have seen them riding seaward on the waves 
combing the white hair of the waves blown back 
when the wind blows the water white and black. 
We have lingered in the chambers of the sea 
by sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown 
till human voices wake us, and we drown.

* It´s a fragment of the Canto 27 of Dante Alighieri´s Inferno. It translates as:

If I believed that my answer would be 
To someone who would ever return to earth, 
This flame would move no more, 
But because no one from this gulf 
Has ever returned alive, if what I hear is true, 
I can reply with no fear of infamy.

I must confess, I really like this section and the contributions so far :)

Here my two cents: I'm moving away from literature and jumping into public speeches, since the language and expressions employed there might differ slightly from the well structured literary texts.

In this case, I present you with JFK speech on the decision to go the moon. September 12th, 1962:

President Pitzer, Mr. Vice President, Governor, Congressman Thomas, Senator Wiley, and Congressman Miller, Mr. Webb, Mr. Bell, scientists, distinguished guests, and ladies and gentlemen:

I appreciate your president having made me an honorary visiting professor, and I will assure you that my first lecture will be very brief.

I am delighted to be here, and I'm particularly delighted to be here on this occasion.

We meet at a college noted for knowledge, in a city noted for progress, in a State noted for strength, and we stand in need of all three, for we meet in an hour of change and challenge, in a decade of hope and fear, in an age of both knowledge and ignorance. The greater our knowledge increases, the greater our ignorance unfolds.

Despite the striking fact that most of the scientists that the world has ever known are alive and working today, despite the fact that this Nation's own scientific manpower is doubling every 12 years in a rate of growth more than three times that of our population as a whole, despite that, the vast stretches of the unknown and the unanswered and the unfinished still far outstrip our collective comprehension.

No man can fully grasp how far and how fast we have come, but condense, if you will, the 50,000 years of man¹s recorded history in a time span of but a half-century. Stated in these terms, we know very little about the first 40 years, except at the end of them advanced man had learned to use the skins of animals to cover them. Then about 10 years ago, under this standard, man emerged from his caves to construct other kinds of shelter. Only five years ago man learned to write and use a cart with wheels. Christianity began less than two years ago. The printing press came this year, and then less than two months ago, during this whole 50-year span of human history, the steam engine provided a new source of power.

Newton explored the meaning of gravity. Last month electric lights and telephones and automobiles and airplanes became available. Only last week did we develop penicillin and television and nuclear power, and now if America's new spacecraft succeeds in reaching Venus, we will have literally reached the stars before midnight tonight.

This is a breathtaking pace, and such a pace cannot help but create new ills as it dispels old, new ignorance, new problems, new dangers. Surely the opening vistas of space promise high costs and hardships, as well as high reward.

So it is not surprising that some would have us stay where we are a little longer to rest, to wait. But this city of Houston, this State of Texas, this country of the United States was not built by those who waited and rested and wished to look behind them. This country was conquered by those who moved forward--and so will space.

William Bradford, speaking in 1630 of the founding of the Plymouth Bay Colony, said that all great and honorable actions are accompanied with great difficulties, and both must be enterprised and overcome with answerable courage.

If this capsule history of our progress teaches us anything, it is that man, in his quest for knowledge and progress, is determined and cannot be deterred. The exploration of space will go ahead, whether we join in it or not, and it is one of the great adventures of all time, and no nation which expects to be the leader of other nations can expect to stay behind in the race for space.

Those who came before us made certain that this country rode the first waves of the industrial revolutions, the first waves of modern invention, and the first wave of nuclear power, and this generation does not intend to founder in the backwash of the coming age of space. We mean to be a part of it--we mean to lead it. For the eyes of the world now look into space, to the moon and to the planets beyond, and we have vowed that we shall not see it governed by a hostile flag of conquest, but by a banner of freedom and peace. We have vowed that we shall not see space filled with weapons of mass destruction, but with instruments of knowledge and understanding.

Yet the vows of this Nation can only be fulfilled if we in this Nation are first, and, therefore, we intend to be first. In short, our leadership in science and in industry, our hopes for peace and security, our obligations to ourselves as well as others, all require us to make this effort, to solve these mysteries, to solve them for the good of all men, and to become the world's leading space-faring nation.

We set sail on this new sea because there is new knowledge to be gained, and new rights to be won, and they must be won and used for the progress of all people. For space science, like nuclear science and all technology, has no conscience of its own. Whether it will become a force for good or ill depends on man, and only if the United States occupies a position of pre-eminence can we help decide whether this new ocean will be a sea of peace or a new terrifying theater of war. I do not say the we should or will go unprotected against the hostile misuse of space any more than we go unprotected against the hostile use of land or sea, but I do say that space can be explored and mastered without feeding the fires of war, without repeating the mistakes that man has made in extending his writ around this globe of ours.

There is no strife, no prejudice, no national conflict in outer space as yet. Its hazards are hostile to us all. Its conquest deserves the best of all mankind, and its opportunity for peaceful cooperation many never come again. But why, some say, the moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic? Why does Rice play Texas?

We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.

It is for these reasons that I regard the decision last year to shift our efforts in space from low to high gear as among the most important decisions that will be made during my incumbency in the office of the Presidency.

In the last 24 hours we have seen facilities now being created for the greatest and most complex exploration in man's history. We have felt the ground shake and the air shattered by the testing of a Saturn C-1 booster rocket, many times as powerful as the Atlas which launched John Glenn, generating power equivalent to 10,000 automobiles with their accelerators on the floor. We have seen the site where the F-1 rocket engines, each one as powerful as all eight engines of the Saturn combined, will be clustered together to make the advanced Saturn missile, assembled in a new building to be built at Cape Canaveral as tall as a 48 story structure, as wide as a city block, and as long as two lengths of this field.

Within these last 19 months at least 45 satellites have circled the earth. Some 40 of them were "made in the United States of America" and they were far more sophisticated and supplied far more knowledge to the people of the world than those of the Soviet Union.

The Mariner spacecraft now on its way to Venus is the most intricate instrument in the history of space science. The accuracy of that shot is comparable to firing a missile from Cape Canaveral and dropping it in this stadium between the the 40-yard lines.

Transit satellites are helping our ships at sea to steer a safer course. Tiros satellites have given us unprecedented warnings of hurricanes and storms, and will do the same for forest fires and icebergs.

We have had our failures, but so have others, even if they do not admit them. And they may be less public.

To be sure, we are behind, and will be behind for some time in manned flight. But we do not intend to stay behind, and in this decade, we shall make up and move ahead.

The growth of our science and education will be enriched by new knowledge of our universe and environment, by new techniques of learning and mapping and observation, by new tools and computers for industry, medicine, the home as well as the school. Technical institutions, such as Rice, will reap the harvest of these gains.

And finally, the space effort itself, while still in its infancy, has already created a great number of new companies, and tens of thousands of new jobs. Space and related industries are generating new demands in investment and skilled personnel, and this city and this State, and this region, will share greatly in this growth. What was once the furthest outpost on the old frontier of the West will be the furthest outpost on the new frontier of science and space. Houston, your City of Houston, with its Manned Spacecraft Center, will become the heart of a large scientific and engineering community. During the next 5 years the National Aeronautics and Space Administration expects to double the number of scientists and engineers in this area, to increase its outlays for salaries and expenses to $60 million a year; to invest some $200 million in plant and laboratory facilities; and to direct or contract for new space efforts over $1 billion from this Center in this City.

To be sure, all this costs us all a good deal of money. This year¹s space budget is three times what it was in January 1961, and it is greater than the space budget of the previous eight years combined. That budget now stands at $5,400 million a year--a staggering sum, though somewhat less than we pay for cigarettes and cigars every year. Space expenditures will soon rise some more, from 40 cents per person per week to more than 50 cents a week for every man, woman and child in the United Stated, for we have given this program a high national priority--even though I realize that this is in some measure an act of faith and vision, for we do not now know what benefits await us.

But if I were to say, my fellow citizens, that we shall send to the moon, 240,000 miles away from the control station in Houston, a giant rocket more than 300 feet tall, the length of this football field, made of new metal alloys, some of which have not yet been invented, capable of standing heat and stresses several times more than have ever been experienced, fitted together with a precision better than the finest watch, carrying all the equipment needed for propulsion, guidance, control, communications, food and survival, on an untried mission, to an unknown celestial body, and then return it safely to earth, re-entering the atmosphere at speeds of over 25,000 miles per hour, causing heat about half that of the temperature of the sun--almost as hot as it is here today--and do all this, and do it right, and do it first before this decade is out--then we must be bold.

I'm the one who is doing all the work, so we just want you to stay cool for a minute. [laughter]

However, I think we're going to do it, and I think that we must pay what needs to be paid. I don't think we ought to waste any money, but I think we ought to do the job. And this will be done in the decade of the sixties. It may be done while some of you are still here at school at this college and university. It will be done during the term of office of some of the people who sit here on this platform. But it will be done. And it will be done before the end of this decade.

I am delighted that this university is playing a part in putting a man on the moon as part of a great national effort of the United States of America.

Many years ago the great British explorer George Mallory, who was to die on Mount Everest, was asked why did he want to climb it. He said, "Because it is there."

Well, space is there, and we're going to climb it, and the moon and the planets are there, and new hopes for knowledge and peace are there. And, therefore, as we set sail we ask God's blessing on the most hazardous and dangerous and greatest adventure on which man has ever embarked.

Thank you.

I find it so inspiring and touching... particularly being a scientist who firmly believes in human progress, and in a future world where science and technology will lead to all humans happiness. 

Really, really nice contribution there, saecel. I've heard the analogy of Man´s progress over time several times before, but this one has a feeling to it that it's missing from most others. I find the underlying blatant patriotism a bit grating but we all know that, for better or worse, that´s how politics are done in the US, and it doesn´t diminish the actual message. We sure have come a long way... and we sure do still have a way just as long before us.

Speaking about men on the moon, this also brings me to one of my favourite songs, aptly called "Man on the Moon". Notable for its lyrics and also for being in the soundtrack of a movie where Jim Carey actually showed his acting skills:

http://lyricstranslate.com/en/man-moon-hombre-en-la-luna.html

Man On The Moon

Mott the Hoople and the Game of Life,
Andy Kaufman in the wrestling match,
Monopoly, Twenty-one, Checkers, and Chess,
Mister Fred Blassie in a breakfast mess.

Let's play Twister, let's play Risk
See you heaven if you make the list
 
Now, Andy did you hear about this one...
Tell me, are you locked in the punch?
Andy, are you goofing on Elvis? Hey, baby
Are we losing touch?

If you believed they put a man on the Moon,
man on the Moon.
If you believe there's nothing up his sleeve,
then nothing is cool.
 
Moses went walking with the staff of wood,
Newton got beaned by the apple good,
Egypt was troubled by the horrible asp,
Mister Charles Darwin had the gall to ask.
 
Now Andy, did you hear about this one...
Tell me, are you locked in the punch?
Hey Andy, are you goofing on Elvis? Hey, baby.
Are you having fun?

If you believed they put a man on the Moon,
man on the Moon.
If you believe there's nothing up his sleeve,
then nothing is cool.
 
Here's a little agit for the never-believer
Here's a little ghost for the offering
Here's a truck stop instead of Saint Peter'
Mister Andy Kaufman's gone wrestling
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
 
Now Andy, did you hear about this one...
Tell me, are you locked in the punch?
Hey Andy are you goofing on Elvis?
hey baby, are we losing touch?

If you believed they put a man on the Moon,
man on the Moon.
If you believe there's nothing up his sleeve,
then nothing is cool.

The page it's hosted on is a free online community dedicated to translating song lyrics, for fun or upon requests. There's a bit of everything there, from the terrible to really, really good translators that also offer comment explaining idioms, expressions and context. I've been using it a lot, and I can say that there's a lot you can learn from some people there. It even has a forum devoted to explaining idioms.

Also, shameless plug, the user that did this one is actually me. Can hardly believe no one had translated this jewel before.

Thank you for all your contributions :D I did not know The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock nor the the speech, and I found them very interesting ^^

I’ve just remembered a song to practice the second conditional: “If I had a million dollars”, by The Barenaked Ladies ^^

Some of my favourite webcomics:

Order of the Stick

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0001.html

Comic of humour and adventure in a D&D world. At first, just strips with jokes about the rules of D&D and the game, but later, it develops in a interesting story without losing the humour. The dwarf speaks with an accent and the wizard uses a lot of cult and long words, and I think that those are the main difficulties. That, and a lot of gaming vocabulary, that you haven't learned in class.

It's the first webcomic that I read in English, and it shouldn't be too difficult at medium level.

Spacetrawler

http://spacetrawler.com/2010/01/01/spacetrawler-4/

A comedy Sci-fi story, that is already completed. A story about a group of humans kidnapped from Earth to help a slaved specie. I said comedy, but you should know that you will love the characters and care for them, you'll see them change and grow, become a family, overcome challenges...and then, you will see those characters physically and emotionally tortured, because the author is a monster and doesn't care about your feelings.

Empowered

http://www.empoweredcomic.com/comic/volume-1-page-...

A comedy about superheros, and one of my favourite comics EVER. Reaaaally not safe for work (It's not porn, I promise, but it has some fetishist imagery). Just short stories at first, with a more coherent story later. Don't get too attached to the characters, the author is a bad person and in most of his works most characters end dead.

For people with high level. And the speech of certain character can be difficult even for native speakers without a dictionary at hand.

Little Dee

http://www.littledee.net/?p=45

Very sweet and funny, and, I think, not very difficult. About a girl that get lost in the woods and has to live with talking animals. If you like Calvin and Hobbes, you'll probably like this one. From the same author that Spacecrawler, but without the death and misery.

And speaking about Calvin and Hobbes

Calvin and Hobbes

http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2007/01/01

You can find a lot of popular comic strips, legally and free in this page

http://www.gocomics.com/explore/comics

Including Grafield, Calvin and Hobbes, Dick Tracy...

An amusing anecdote about how to resolve a rules dispute:

Serious D&D Player Chugs Wine Underwater To Settle Rules Dispute

I think that the level is medium-high. It has gaming vocabulary (e.g. fudge it)  and some not-so-common in class vocabulary (vulgar expressions, mostly)

Empowered

http://www.empoweredcomic.com/comic/volume-1-page-...

A comedy about superheros, and one of my favourite comics EVER

Marry me.

Reading Empowered is about one of the best things you can do that does not involve being naked. Although you totally can do both. Just do it in the privacy of your home unless you want some stern blue-clad gentlemen to be summoned to the place to engage you in unpleasant conversation.

For people with high level. And the speech of certain character can be difficult even for native speakers without a dictionary at hand.

¡PAH!

The All-seeing Autarch will adroitly adjourn your allegedly annoying alacrity appertaining his audaciously ample alliterations.(11-combo word, oh female jackanapes!)

Yeah, one characters talks like that sometimes. And it can be really hard to follow without a Thesaurus when he does.

Ok. This has been quiet for some time, so let´s get out the heavy artillery, and do so with one of my favourite songs and composers. Leonard Cohen´s "Take this Waltz"

Take this waltz

Now in Vienna there's ten pretty women,
there's a shoulder where Death comes to cry,
there's a lobby with nine hundred windows
there's a tree where the doves go to die.
There's a piece that was torn from the morning
and it hangs in the Gallery of Frost.

Ay, Ay, Ay, Ay
Take this waltz, take this waltz.
Take this waltz with the clamp on its jaws.

Oh I want you, I want you, I want you
on a chair with a dead magazine,
in the cave at the tip of the lily,
in some hallways where love's never been.
On a bed where the moon has been sweating,
in a cry filled with footsteps and sand.

Ay, Ay, Ay, Ay
Take this waltz, take this waltz.
Take its broken waist in your hand.

This waltz, this waltz, this waltz, this waltz
with its very own breath of brandy and Death
dragging its tail in the sea.

There's a concert hall in Vienna
where your mouth had a thousand reviews,
there's a bar where the boys have stopped talking:
they've been sentenced to death by the blues.
Ah, but who is it that climbs to your picture
with a garland of freshly cut tears?

Ay, Ay, Ay, Ay
Take this waltz, take this waltz.
Take this waltz: it's been dying for years.

There's an attic where children are playing,
where I've got to lie down with you soon
in a dream of Hungarian lanterns,
in the mist of some sweet afternoon.
And I'll see that you've chained to your sorrow
all your sheep and your lilies of snow.

Ay, Ay, Ay, Ay
Take this waltz, take this waltz
With its "I'll never forget you, you know!"

This waltz, this waltz, this waltz, this waltz
with its very own breath of brandy and Death
dragging its tail in the sea.

And I'll dance with you in Vienna,
I'll be wearing a river's disguise.
The hyacinth wild on my shoulder,
my mouth on the dew of your thighs.
And I'll bury my soul in a scrapbook
with the photographs there, and the moss,
and I'll yield to the flood of your beauty
my cheap violin and my cross.
And you'll carry me down on your dancing
to the pools that you lift on your wrists.

Oh my love, 
Oh my love,

Take this waltz, take this waltz.
It's yours now. It's all that there is.

Not sure if this is the correct section to share this but since it's called "Sharing Section" I believe it is. 

I'd like to share with you the title of a TV series that I find quite interesting. It's called Orphan Black. The plot is basically about a girl who finds out that she has clones. This is a series that needs to be watched in English. The same actress plays the role of all the different clones (from different parts of the world and with different accents) and she is pretty good at it.

I think there are 4 seasons already (it's not finished yet) and it is definitely worth watching. 

"Let's Call The Whole Thing Off"

Things have come to a pretty pass
Our romance is growing flat,
For you like this and the other
While I go for this and that,

Goodness knows what the end will be
Oh I don't know where I'm at
It looks as if we two will never be one
Something must be done:

You say either and I say either,
You say neither and I say neither
Either, either Neither, neither
Let's call the whole thing off.

You like potato and I like potahto
You like tomato and I like tomahto
Potato, potahto, Tomato, tomahto.
Let's call the whole thing off

But oh, if we call the whole thing off
Then we must part
And oh, if we ever part, then that might break my heart

So if you like pyjamas and I like pyjahmas,
I'll wear pyjamas and give up pyajahmas
For we know we need each other so we
Better call the calling off off,
Let's call the whole thing off.

You say laughter and I say larfter
You say after and I say arfter
Laughter, larfter after arfter
Let's call the whole thing off,

You like vanilla and I like vanella
You saspiralla, and I saspirella
Vanilla vanella chocolate strawberry
Let's call the whole thing off

But oh if we call the whole thing of then we must part
And oh, if we ever part, then that might break my heart

So if you go for oysters and I go for ersters
I'll order oysters and cancel the ersters
For we know we need each other so we
Better call the calling off off,
Let's call the whole thing off.

You say either and you say either,
You say neither and you say neither
Either, either Neither, neither
Let's call the whole thing off.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let%27s_Call_the_Who...

"Let's Call the Whole Thing Off" is a song written by George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin for the 1937 film Shall We Dance, where it was introduced by Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers as part of a celebrated dance duet on roller skates.[1] The song is most famous for its “You like to-may-toes /təˈmeɪtoʊz/ and I like to-mah-toes /təˈmɑːtoʊz/” and other verses comparing their different regional dialects.[2]

The differences in pronunciation are not simply regional, however, but serve more specifically to identify class differences. At the time, typical American pronunciations were considered less "refined" by the upper-class, and there was a specific emphasis on the "broader" a sound.[3] This class distinction with respect to pronunciation has been retained in caricatures, especially in the theater, where the longer a pronunciation is most strongly associated with the word "darling."[4]

Probably my favorite song ever.

Which by the way, and this is why I am including it here, judging by its lyrics could easily be adapted for a Cthulhu Mythos setting ;)

Hello darkness, my old friend
I've come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence

In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone
‘Neath the halo of a streetlamp
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence

And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never share
No one dare
Disturb the sound of silence

“Fools” said I, “You do not know
Silence like a cancer grows
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you”
But my words like silent raindrops fell
And echoed in the wells of silence

And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made
And the sign flashed out its warning
In the words that it was forming
And the sign said “The words of the prophets
Are written on subway walls
And tenement halls
And whispered in the sounds of silence”

Recently versioned by Disturbed. Not too bad imho.

Original by Simon and Garfunkel (duh)

Well, since I already made my week 3 story about it, I might just post the song so I'm not the only one catching the joke:

Leonard Cohen- First we take Manhattan

They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom
for trying to change the system from within.
I'm coming now, I'm coming to reward them.
 
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin

 
I'm guided by a signal in the heavens,
I'm guided by this birthmark on my skin,
I'm guided by the beauty of our weapons.
 
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin.
 
Chorus:
        I'd really like to live beside you, baby,
        I love your body and your spirit and your clothes,
        but you see that line there moving through the station?
        I told you, I told you, told you: I was one of those.
 
Ah, you loved me as a loser,
but now you're worried that I just might win.
You know the way to stop me,
but you don't have the discipline.
How many nights I prayed for this,
to let my work begin.
 
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin.
 
I don't like your fashion business mister,
and I don't like these drugs that keep you thin.
I don't like what happened to my sister.
 
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin
 
        {Chorus}
 
And I thank you for those items that you sent me, ha ha,
the monkey and the plywood violin.
I practiced every night, now I'm ready.
 
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin
 
Ah, remember me, I used to live for music,
remember me, I brought your groceries in.
well, it's Father's Day and everybody's wounded
 
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin.
 

SOme interesting reflections about translation

http://unpretty.tumblr.com/post/150695803208/wilde...

For those of you who have a Nintendo DS, I recomend Scribblenauts and Super Scribblenauts (in English, of course). They are fun, you can practice reading and writing English and they are not too difficult even for people without a high level of English (with a dictionary at hand), but I'm sure that you'll learn some new words or, at least, reinforce some vocabulary.

There is a Scribblenauts Unlimited that you can play in other platforms, but I haven't played.

I really like that game, and I showed it to my 12-years-old niece  (in Spanish) and she loved it. Now my DS is confiscated by my niece on weekends ^^U
 

This is an interesting article about the word gaikokujin in japanese

https://futurealisreal.wordpress.com/2016/09/07/fo...

But, although it is an article about a japanese word, it makes some interesting observations about how sometimes an apparent straight "translation" of some words have different connotations in every language.

Conclusion

In choosing an English equivalent to a Japanese word, or really any equivalent word to any other word, we should keep in mind their neglected properties and dimensions – connotation, canonical or stereotypical referents, frequency, formality, political correctness, etc.  Substituting one word for another simply because in their most technical readings they refer to the same thing wrongly assumes that people use those words with lawyer-like precision and runs the risk of endorsing perspectives or opinions you don’t actually agree with.

In language classes, it can be an interesting exercise to take apparent synonyms, accepted translations, and commonsense substitutions and investigate whether those words can really be called equivalent in any but a technical sense.  Most of the time when we communicate, we don’t labor over technical definitions but what our audience, interlocutor, or reader has in mind and what verbal or written tokens we can use to put into their heads roughly the same image that we have in ours.  It is a great help to language students to see that although the words for “dogs” in various languages all refer to the same species (probably), a Google or corpus search is likely to reveal different images and other words associated with them.

This is what you get for 犬 inu – Shibas and Sanrio characters.

The first song from the musical Hamilton, a musical about the story of Alexander Hamilton, one of the American founding fathers.

http://genius.com/Lin-manuel-miranda-alexander-ham...

(Lights up on Aaron Burr & the company.)

[AARON BURR]
How does a bastard, orphan, son of a whore and a
Scotsman, dropped in the middle of a forgotten
Spot in the Caribbean by providence, impoverished, in squalor
Grow up to be a hero and a scholar?

[JOHN LAURENS]
The ten-dollar Founding Father without a father
Got a lot farther by working a lot harder
By being a lot smarter
By being a self-starter
By fourteen, they placed him in charge of a trading charter

[THOMAS JEFFERSON]
And every day while slaves were being slaughtered and carted
Away across the waves, he struggled and kept his guard up
Inside, he was longing for something to be a part of
The brother was ready to beg, steal, borrow, or barter

[JAMES MADISON]
Then a hurricane came, and devastation reigned
Our man saw his future drip, dripping down the drain
Put a pencil to his temple, connected it to his brain
And he wrote his first refrain, a testament to his pain

[BURR]
Well, the word got around, they said, “This kid is insane, man”
Took up a collection just to send him to the mainland
“Get your education, don’t forget from whence you came, and
The world's gonna know your name. What’s your name, man?”

[ALEXANDER HAMILTON]
Alexander Hamilton
My name is Alexander Hamilton
And there’s a million things I haven’t done
But just you wait, just you wait...

[ELIZA HAMILTON]
When he was ten his father split, full of it, debt-ridden
Two years later, see Alex and his mother bed-ridden
Half-dead sittin' in their own sick, the scent thick

[FULL COMPANY EXCEPT HAMILTON (whispering)]
And Alex got better but his mother went quick

[GEORGE WASHINGTON]
Moved in with a cousin, the cousin committed suicide
Left him with nothin’ but ruined pride, something new inside
A voice saying

[WASHINGTON]
“You gotta fend for yourself.” [COMPANY]
“Alex, you gotta fend for yourself.”

[WASHINGTON]
He started retreatin’ and readin’ every treatise on the shelf

[BURR]
There would have been nothin’ left to do
For someone less astute
He woulda been dead or destitute
Without a cent of restitution
Started workin’, clerkin’ for his late mother’s landlord
Tradin’ sugar cane and rum and all the things he can’t afford
Scammin’ for every book he can get his hands on
Plannin’ for the future see him now as he stands on
The bow of a ship headed for a new land
In New York you can be a new man  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
[COMPANY]
Scammin’

Plannin’
Oooh...

[COMPANY]
In New York you can
Be a new man—
In New York you can
Be a new man— [HAMILTON]
Just you wait!

Just you wait!

[COMPANY]
In New York you can be a new man—

[WOMEN]
In New York—  
[MEN]
New York—

[HAMILTON]
Just you wait!

[COMPANY]
Alexander Hamilton

We are waiting in the wings for you

You could never back down
You never learned to take your time!

Oh, Alexander Hamilton

When America sings for you
Will they know what you overcame?
Will they know you rewrote the game?
The world will never be the same, oh

[BURR]
The ship is in the harbor now
See if you can spot him

Another immigrant
Comin’ up from the bottom

His enemies destroyed his rep
America forgot him  
[COMPANY]
Alexander Hamilton

Waiting in the wings for you

You never learned to take your time!

Oh, Alexander Hamilton
Alexander Hamilton…
America sings for you
Will they know what you overcame?
Will they know you rewrote the game?
The world will never be the same, oh

[MEN]
Just you wait

[COMPANY]
Just you wait
 
 

 
[MULLIGAN/MADISON & LAFAYETTE/JEFFERSON]
We fought with him

[LAURENS/PHILIP]
Me? I died for him

[WASHINGTON]
Me? I trusted him

[ELIZA & ANGELICA & PEGGY/MARIA]
Me? I loved him

[BURR]
And me? I’m the damn fool that shot him

[COMPANY]
There’s a million things I haven’t done
But just you wait!

[BURR]
What’s your name, man?

[COMPANY]
Alexander Hamilton!

A short article about a problem when trying to program games: the diffences between different cultures in the way they game.

http://www.p4rgaming.com/iwata-asks-miiverse-penis...