How To Learn Languages Through Music

December 5, 2019
language learning printables

Hello there! I hope you are having an amazing day. Today I wanted to share with you some strategies or activities you can do to learn and practice vocabulary and sentences patterns in your target language, using music.

I truly believe that the kind of input we receive in our target language can make a big difference in the way we learn. If you focus on using input and immersing yourself in things (music, movies, tv shows, books, podcasts, etc) that you find interesting and you enjoy, you will get BETTER results than if you only watch, listen or read what comes in your e-course or grammar book.

So in this post, I will tell you some activities I recommend you to do so that you make the best out of songs in your target language.

Let’s begin!

>> Picking Up Songs

Pick up the songs you like the most in the languages you are learning and create a playlist with them so that you can focus on those ones first. You can also find many playlists on Youtube, Spotify and other music platforms.

Choose the songs that YOU enjoy to listen, not the popular ones which you don’t really like. This is all about what you love.

>> Write Down The Lyrics

Even though it is easier to print the lyrics of the songs you chose, it is much better to write them by hand. This way you practice your writing skills, get used to the alphabet and immerse yourself a little bit more in the language you are trying to acquire.

Read my post about how to Organize Your Notebooks to Learn Languages

>> Translate What You Don’t Understand

If you still don’t know much about the language, you will probably have to translate the whole song, which is something I recently did for the song ‘Fermata’ by Girls Generation. If you are in a more intermediate or advanced level, you will probably already know some sentences, so in that case, just translate the ones you can’t understand.

You can search for translations online on websites or Youtube videos, or you can also translate with an online translator or dictionary. Choose what is better for you!

>> Analyze and Color Code Verbs, Pronouns, Nouns, etc

Give each part of speech a specific colour of highlighter or pen, and then search for each one of them in the lyrics of the song. After you have translated it, it will be easier to find the prepositions, nouns, verbs, conjunctions and any other important part of speech in your target language. You may also try to identify things that are exclusive to the ones you are learning. For example, in Korean that may be the topic markers or subject markers.

Read my post about how to use your Bullet Journal to Learn Languages

>> Look For The Sentences In Past, Present and Future

As you already know the translation and have identified the parts of speech, you can now easily recognize which sentences are in past, present and future. If you have problems with this, you can take your time to translate again.

In a notebook or piece of paper, divide the space in three and write Past, Present and Future (one in each). Then, write down all the sentences you found in the three of them. I recommend you to pay attention to the verbs! They will give you a clue about the time tense. After that, you can check them again using a translator. Analyze how each sentence was built according to the time tense it had.

>> Recognize The Topic Of The Song

After all the tasks you have done using the song, you will be able to identify or infer the topic of the song. Answer questions like ‘What emotions does the song transmit?’, ‘What does the singer want to communicate through the song?’. You can answer those questions in your head or by writing sentences.

What you can also do is to identify which words are used in that language to show sadness, happiness, love, etc.

Read my post about how to get motivated again to learn languages.

>> Listen and Repeat (singing or speaking)

This is super important to improve your pronunciation in your target language. When you listen carefully to the way the singer is pronouncing the words that you are reading at the same time, you are more likely to remember the correct pronunciation of those words.

As long as you keep practising the song by singing it yourself, or reading it out loud, you will gain more confidence to then speak in a natural and fluent way when communicating with people.

At first, it may be difficult, especially if your target language has a different alphabet, so what you can do is to read the lyrics slowly. Try singing the song in a slow way, and as you get confident you can do it a little faster each time.

Are you struggling to learn foreign languages? Check out my language study organization course!

I really hope you like these tips and strategies! Learning through music is a fun and effective way to learn and practice new and old vocabulary. You also get more used to the alphabet and sentences patterns, which is always good.

If you want more content for language learning, follow me on my Instagram account @blissogirl. Each week I upload new quotes, igtv videos and more!

Have an amazing day ahead,

  • […] wrote a full post on how to practice languages with music that you can read here. But in general terms, you can practice your reading skills by analyzing the lyrics of your […]

  • Ana December 16, 2019 at 9:47 AM

    Hello! Thank you for this 🙂 I’ve been doing it for a couple of days and my level of understanding has improved!

    • admin December 20, 2019 at 10:25 AM

      Hello Ana! Thank you so so much for your kind words. I am glad the exercises have been useful to you 🙂 Have an amazing end of 2019!

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