Céline Dion Admitted Singing in French Required More ‘Effort’ Than in English

Céline Dion has sung in many different languages. She shared why she has to approach singing differently with various languages.

Céline Dion’s first language is French, but she also speaks English fluently. While she has recorded in other languages, she primarily sings her songs in English and French. She knows both well, but she said that singing in her first language requires more effort on her part. Dion shared why this is the case.

Céline Dion said it took more effort to sing in French than in English

Dion frequently worked with the French songwriter and record producer Jean-Jacques Goldman over the years. He wrote and produced two albums for her. She said he also taught her to “unsing.”

“He taught me how to let the music and the lyrics breathe,” she told Vogue France in 2024. “You can’t sing in French with English words, and you can’t sing in English with French words. So he showed me how to let the words accentuate the music in order to imagine the story.”

She said that Goldman taught her she could not sing the same way in English and French. They require different approaches, and singing in French takes more effort.

“For example, when I wear a short skirt, I won’t sit down in the same way as I will if I’m wearing jeans,” she explained. “Singing in English can get flowery, it takes everything to impress, and I love that. Singing in French requires a lot of effort because you want to bring more subtlety. Sobriety.”

Céline Dion has sung in more languages than French and English

Though she primarily sings in French and English, Dion has taken on other languages over the years.

“I started performing when I was 5. Did I want to be a singer? I never had time to ask myself that question,” she said. “Did people come to see me to hear me tell jokes or to hear me sing? I am a singer. I sing in English, in French, I’ve sung in Mandarin, I’ve sung in Japanese, in Spanish, and in Italian and people have come, they’ve always come.”

She said that this proves to her that being a singer is part of her identity as a person.

“That, for me, was the proof that I was, and that I am, truly a singer,” she said. “One thing’s for sure, I’ll love that feeling until the day I die.”

She shared how she feels about her national identity

Dion grew up in Quebec and currently lives in the United States. When asked if she feels more Québécoise, American, or French, she said she feels other traits define her identity more than a nationality does.

“‘Today, I feel like a woman. I feel like a mother. I am a singer, a dreamer, before being Québécoise, American or French,’” she said. “I speak to my children in French or English. They think that I speak every language there is. I was born in Québec, my children were born in America. I have French blood, I have Québécois blood, and American blood. And wherever I go, I sing in a different language, I learn something, I steal a part of the culture that impresses me.”