The Power of Music: Unlocking Language Learning
Learning through music offers numerous academic, artistic, and cultural advantages. We encourage you to enhance your learning, or that of a loved one, through music. You will find that it is both fun and enriching!
Immersive Strategies for New Language Learners
When learning a new language, individuals of any age can benefit from fun and immersive strategies to make the journey easier. These include listening to educational podcasts, reading in the target language, participating in conversations—even if they seem simple—and enjoying music.
Although using music as a learning tool may seem obvious, this article will explore its benefits for language acquisition. As humans, we are naturally drawn to artistic expressions, and music is no exception. Whether it is the rhythm, the lyrics, or the vocalist's voice that captivates us, listening to music is inherently pleasurable. Incorporating this practice into language learning creates a more engaging and enjoyable experience for learners.
The theory suggests that listening to songs in a new language can be valuable for vocabulary learning, particularly in the long term. Many might remember words perfectly during class but struggle to recall them later. As learners we need at least eight repetitions of a word to have a 50% chance of remembering it three months later. Songs provide a fun way to achieve this repetition and an emotional connection to remember it more easily.
The significance of learning isolated words is evident as they help form mental representations that give meaning to objects, sensations, and emotions in a second language. This process of acquiring a new language is similar to how we learn to speak. We start with concrete nouns, naming the objects around us, and then we progress to more abstract concepts, such as sensations and emotions. Continuing with the similarities, enriching your vocabulary serves as a means to an end. By developing a more extensive "personal dictionary", you can enhance various skills such as listening, speaking, reading, and writing, which ultimately leads to greater fluency in the language. This improvement will contribute to a more fluid and creative personal expression.
Learning does not require a formal classroom setting; we can learn anywhere. At some point, the learning clicks, allowing us to recognize one or two isolated words. We might even find ourselves singing along without fully understanding the song, focusing instead on the words we comprehend.
Song Selection for Vocabulary Expansion
From a more academic perspective, selecting songs to improve vocabulary should take into account the listener's age and language skills. It is key to consider how clearly the words are expressed, the song's tempo, and the relationship between the lyrics' meaning and the musicality.
The key takeaway is not to let our concerns prevent us from implementing this strategy. The most important step is to take the leap and start, even if you do not fully understand the lyrics yet. It is essential to remember that learning is a process filled with enjoyable moments—which we aim to enhance through the use of songs.
In addition to being a fantastic source of vocabulary, songs also connect us to culture. As Roamé (2001) states “A large part of the culture associated with a language is expressed, represented, and transmitted through it: its prayers, songs, tales, literature, stories, hymns, proverbs, wisdom, greetings, and laws are all conveyed verbally”.
Furthermore, by listening to songs repeatedly, we can learn correct pronunciation. Although pronunciation can be challenging—because certain letter combinations produce different sounds, or our native language may lack specific sounds—exposure to music helps our brains adapt and reproduce these sounds with improved ease.
We can also discover idiomatic expressions that might not be familiar to us otherwise. Finding these expressions is always enjoyable, especially since they don’t often make sense when translated directly but are deeply rooted in the culture of a foreign language. For these reasons, it’s important to choose songs that we like. We should select artists whose music is suitable for the age and interests of the learners. For instance, songs from Disney movies work wonderfully for children and pre-teens, as they are already familiar with the stories and the songs in their native language, allowing them to learn the same songs in a new language.
Musical theater is another excellent source of songs available in multiple languages. Knowing the story beforehand helps listeners connect more deeply with the words they hear. Through consistent practice, we can gradually move beyond what we already know and start exploring various artists, musical genres, instruments, and even cultures related to the language we wish to learn. For instance, in Spanish, there are notable differences between the versions spoken in Mexico and Spain, and each Spanish-speaking country has unique characteristics.
Comprehension Exercises
Additionally, to make the learning experience more interactive, some websites offer listening comprehension exercises where you fill in the blanks with specific words. Many of these platforms also allow you to slow down the playback speed, making it easier to hear individual words (Edpuzzle, Lingoclip,Youtube, Lyricgaps).
