Do You Really Know All The Words of Your National Anthem?
By tjades
@tjades (3591)
Jamaica
May 8, 2008 3:12pm CST
Recently at a national football match a well loved young artiste failed to deliver on the rendition of the national anthem.
I guess he took the task a bit too slight and did not do adquate rehearsals. Boy were the spectors mad. The opposing team was visiting from another country too.
I recently watched one of America's funniest videos where the woman given the task of singing the national anthem messed up so badly that she had to leave the area. She then returned to do her thing only to slip and fall.
Some times I may mess up on a line myself especially if I have not song the anthem for a while and I do note that many persons just move their lips to the words but never really sing it.
Are you sure you know your country's anthem by heart?
Would you be able to sit and write it from memory without making a mistake at one go?
1 person likes this
19 responses
@szechow_ong (149)
• Malaysia
9 May 08
of course i do know my national anthem. i love my country though it has its good and bad. By the way i'm a Malaysian. we're trained to sing our national anthem and state anthem from primary school up to secondary school. we have to sing it during school assembly, and assemblies are like once every week. i still remembered that for my school, the students keep getting some of the words wrong, and we're forced to sing again and again until we get the words right. And if we're fooling around or laughing when we're tired of singing it over and over, the assistant principal will make us sing again -.-
1 person likes this
@meiteoh (416)
• Switzerland
8 May 08
Yes I do. We were made to sing it since primary school, that is from the age 6 onwards all the way up till you hit 17. So imagine, every Monday for at least seven to eight months over the next 11 years.
^.^
I find it a little surprising that one can forget their national anthem, especially the person given the task to lead it. Aiiiiiii!
@tigertang (1749)
• Singapore
9 May 08
Meiteoh, I'm from across the causeway and like you, we had to learn the National Anthem during primary school. Even though I spent most of my formative years outside Singapore, the National Anthem was so drilled into me, I found that I could sing it even though I had not been living in Singapore for several years and the funny thing is the Singapore National Anthem is in Malay, a language which I don't even speak.
@SHINY_STAR (219)
• India
9 May 08
hi tjades, i belong to india.. n yes i do know my national anthem by heart, it is something that is the base of our rich culture and is taught to us right from childhood.
@katisaurus (1038)
• Canada
9 May 08
Yep, I know it word for word... In French.
I took Extended French and we weren't allowed to sing it in English, so after learning it and singing it in French for 10 months I pretty much forgot the english version.
I know the English one pretty well if I have the music in the background, but I'm better in French.
(Not that the Canadian anthem is really hard. ha)
@katisaurus (1038)
• Canada
11 May 08
Except unfortunately I don't know it in English without the music in the background. :) So I technically only know it perfectly in one language. 
@tjades (3591)
• Jamaica
9 May 08
Ah. I have a cousin who is a french teacher there in Montreal. He left a french novel here when he visited last August. I bought a book and cassette to teach myself french so long ago but really havent done much.
Its nice I think to be able to sing your anthem in more than one language. Thanks for sharing Katisaurus. (lol)
@carolscash (9492)
• United States
8 May 08
Yes, I do know the national anthem and I could write it down from memory if I needed too. I home school my children and we sing it at least once a week and we always try to say the pledge to the flag every day. I think that the schools should do this every day too. God is what this country was founded on and anyone who lives here and makes this their home should have to learn both too.
I know the US has a lot of other religions here and I know that it might not be their religion to believe in God,but it is what our country was built upon and we need to show that.
@palonghorn (5479)
• United States
8 May 08
Very well said, I agree with you totally. We all have freedom of religion, however, if you live in this country then show respect for it.
@tjades (3591)
• Jamaica
8 May 08
It is amazing how much the US as diverted fromn its origins which made it a famous place that other coutries looked up to.
I gather you would expect the same of US citizens residing in other countries as well. (Learning their national anthem I mean. )
Thanks for sharing and keep up the good work with your kids. 
I do believe someone once said show me a people without a history and I will show a people going nowhere or something to that effect. I have two persons in mind who may have said it but I'd have to check. (lol)
I do believe someone once said show me a people without a history and I will show a people going nowhere or something to that effect. I have two persons in mind who may have said it but I'd have to check. (lol) @eagle_f15 (1827)
• Malaysia
11 May 08
Oh yes do know all the words to my country's national anthem. It's engraved and permanantly stuck in my brain - had to learn it and sing it for 15 years of my school life since pre school and played the piano for school assembly every monday for2 years. And what more now married working from home , I still hear the national anthem being sung every monday morning cos the place where I live is near a deaf school and when they have assembly the music will be blasting away in from the speakers. I think they jazz up our national anthem a few years ago.
@josephjoshyjoy (113)
• India
9 May 08
im an indian. i know my national anthem line by line. but i dont think it is necessary to byheart NA. patriotism is not in learning NA byheart. offcource respect shud b given to national anthem. but in case of celebrities and people like u mentioned, since they r a public figure, they must learn to sing it correctly.
@Galena (9110)
•
9 May 08
I don't know mine.
and there's nothing wrong with that.
it's called God Save the Queen. and I do not beleive in the Christian God or in the Monarchy, so the song is meaningless to me.
I love my country. as in the land beneath my feet that sustains me. national anthems and flags and monarchs are not what makes me love my country.
@tjades (3591)
• Jamaica
9 May 08
Hi Kykidd. I remember a time in my country when we were taught to stop and show respect whenever the anthem was being played. It was said that the uniformed forces were to be trend setters in this principle but that certainly as not held true.
I dont stand at attention when Im at home and it is playing but I do remain quite or depending on the reason for it being played I might just get very chocked up.
Thanks for sharing. (lol)
@shenfei (187)
• China
9 May 08
I can't be more confident to tell you that I am able to sit and write my national anthem from memory without making a tiny mistake. Actually I can do that since I was very young, around 7 I think. Before I learned reading and writing I had been taught to sing our national anthem, recognize our national flag and tell what those five stars on it represent, why we choose red as the color of our national flag. Not just me, all pupils could do that. I just memorized them then, I didn't really understand. Now I've grown up and I have deeper feelings and respect for them. I truely love my country.
@llu012345 (18)
• China
9 May 08
of course,i can write it from memory. although everyone has the right of belief,but you should respect for it. when i was just a pupil, i can sing the national anthem.
so despise the people who donot remember the national anthem.
@jesbellaine (4139)
• Philippines
9 May 08
Yes, I know our national anthem. I still know it by heart until now because I always have to sing it in class when in school. :)
@athinapie (1150)
• Philippines
9 May 08
I do know the words to our national anthem but if I write them down I can't really write the exact words.
I remember my history teacher told us to write the national anthem down on a one fourth sheet of paper as a pop quiz for that day. I thought it was a piece of cake but then I couldn't write everything down. Bummer!
@tjades (3591)
• Jamaica
9 May 08
Yep. Thats what I was referring to.
Its one thing to sing it but when it comes to writing it the mind seems to go all over the place and then your not so sure that line or that line is so right and then you have to just sit there and sing it to make sure you have it right.
Thanks for sharing Athinapie. (lol)
@palonghorn (5479)
• United States
8 May 08
Yes, I do know my country's anthem by heart, and I sing along with it wherever it is played, and I have noticed a lot of people that obviously don't know the words to it. I cannot believe, the number of times they get some 'star' to sing the national anthem that is a disgrace to this great nation. Who here remembers Rosanne's 'wonderful' rendition, that was shameful.
@twallace (2675)
• United States
8 May 08
Yes i know the words to the anthem. The mad us learn it when i was in high school just like the pledge of allegance to the flag. That i remember learning in grade school. I wonder why those 2 pledges are like a broke record in my head. I didn't realize that i new the anthem still until i read you post. Thanks for the reminder.
@tjades (3591)
• Jamaica
8 May 08
I remember those days too. At our school we had to stand at attention and sing the anthem, recite the national pledge, motto and school creed. I used to love it because i thought the words held so much meaning.
I think it is important that certain customs be maintained in every country.
Thanks for sharing Twallace.
@luvstochat (6907)
• United States
8 May 08
Yes, I know the national athem we sang it in choir all the time and it was sang at every sporting game we had. It is not that hard to memorize it.
I do not have a good singing voice though and I would never sing it as a solo as I can't hit most of those notes!
@jellyjam74 (205)
• Canada
9 May 08
i know the words to my national anthem ("O Canada") in both official languages. I also know the English to French version, and the French to English version. The words have changed since I was a kid-but I still know them!
@roxanne271 (2034)
• Trinidad And Tobago
9 May 08
Hi tjades,
I do know my national anthem by heart and can sit and write it out word for word in one go. We always sang it in primary school and in high school as well. Although the older the students got the less they wanted to sing so they'd just stand at attention and let the younger ones (us at the time) sing it.
I find that if you are a citizen of that country you should know your national anthem and even if you weren't born there but might be a citizen of the country (no matter where it is) you should know your native land national anthem and your new country's one as well. Just my opinion.
.
I find that if you are a citizen of that country you should know your national anthem and even if you weren't born there but might be a citizen of the country (no matter where it is) you should know your native land national anthem and your new country's one as well. Just my opinion.