French/Texts/National anthems/La Marseillaise

Introduction
The song was written and composed in 1792 by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle in Strastburg during the French Revolution, and was originally titled "Chant de guerre pour l'Armée du Rhin". It was adopted as the national anthem in 1795. It acquired its nickname after being sung in Paris by people marching on the capital.

How To Read The Anthem
You will not get much out of the anthem if you skim through it or only know the meanings of half the words. There are two ways you can read it. The first is to read the French text and English translation below. The second way will lead to a greater understanding of the anthem, but is more time consuming. Read a line, look up words you don't know, then continue on to the next line. When you finish reading a verse, you should reread both in French and English to make sure you understand both the overall picture and each line. It may be necessary to repeat this several times. After reading the entire anthem once, quickly read it a second time. You should be able to reread it in no time at all. If you find yourself having trouble rereading the anthem, read it a third time until you are comfortable reading it.

The Anthem
(1) The sentence (in French) is inverted, the non-literal translation is : "The bloody banner of tyranny is raised against/before us" but it may be also "Protect us against tyranny, The bloody banner is raised" (2) Here and in the next line, this is often sung as "nos" ("our") rather than "vos" ("your"); "vos" remains official. (3) "la carrière" ("the career"), that is, of being in the army.