Comments on: 7 reasons why you should sing to learn languages

By: Cinnamongirl2

Cinnamongirl2 — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 16:11:00 +0000

I know this is an old post, butI just found this blog and wanted to say how much I like it (and your post on why it’s easy to learn Hungarian was very heartening).

This particular post really resonated with me; I struggle with languages, sometimes due to a thick accent (depending on the language) and poor vocab recall, although I do enjoy speaking other languages and don’t fear making mistakes. But I find it much easier to learn foreign language songs. A lot of my favourite music is French, and I initially looked up the lyrics out of interest, and then to gain a connect between my reasonable understanding of written French and appalling spoken French. In English I have phenomenal recall for lyrics and generally sing in the song’s accent rather than my own, so I decided to learn my favourite French songs. This has been great for all the reasons you describe, and has helped me with my French a lot. It’s nice to see someone else come to the same conclusions as myself about the benefits of learning songs in other languages.

I’ve read through a bunch of your posts tonight and your tips are really helpful. Merci beaucoup, köszönöm szépen and thanks!

By: Cinnamongirl2

Cinnamongirl2 — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 16:11:00 +0000

I know this is an old post, butI just found this blog and wanted to say how much I like it (and your post on why it’s easy to learn Hungarian was very heartening).

I’ve read through a bunch of your posts tonight and your tips are really helpful. Merci beaucoup, köszönöm szépen and thanks!

By: Cinnamongirl2

Cinnamongirl2 — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 16:11:00 +0000

I know this is an old post, butI just found this blog and wanted to say how much I like it (and your post on why it’s easy to learn Hungarian was very heartening).

I’ve read through a bunch of your posts tonight and your tips are really helpful. Merci beaucoup, köszönöm szépen and thanks!

By: Benny the Irish polyglot

Benny the Irish polyglot — Wed, 11 May 2011 12:55:00 +0000

Well, if it’s a few hours of being interested then it hasn’t quite been “wasted” has it Hope you continue to enjoy the blog.

By: Tim Anderson

Tim Anderson — Wed, 11 May 2011 12:03:00 +0000

I found this really interesting. For a while my sister wanted to get into music therapy, and my mum is a piano teacher who has read a bit about how music can be a aid for learning.

I can still remember some of the lyrics to a few songs I learnt in my high school choir, probably between five and eight years ago, in various foreign languages which I have never learnt. I have sung and still sing in foreign languages in choirs, which I think should give me a great advantage when I learn a second language; I’ve tried a few times to learn various languages (High school French for a year, Quenya, Esperanto, a few phrases of Dutch) and have given up through lack of motivation. Hopefully one day I will find the motivation, or be placed in a situation where it is necessary.

Anyway, I found your blog today, and you will be satisfied in knowing that I have wasted probably four or five hours on it; I’ve found it to be very interesting.

By: Benny the Irish polyglot

Benny the Irish polyglot — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 10:48:00 +0000

Yes! Go to my about page, I’ve added it recently It’s only a couple of seconds of Portuguese at the end though, and since it was switching immediately from another language I wouldn’t have the flow I usually have to maintain a nicer accent, sorry about that!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 19:46:00 +0000

You’re right on the mark. The essence of every language is its musicality. Once you tap into that, it’s much more fun and natural to learn. Language is music. Language learners need to find music they like in their target language to get in the groove. Any videos of you singing in Portuguese?

By: Brian Gerald

Brian Gerald — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 04:55:00 +0000

HAHA one of the first things I did when I decided to start learning Danish was download lots of Danish music. I’m still in the singing along phase.

By: Benny the language hacker

Benny the language hacker — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 15:23:00 +0000

Cheers!

By: Melanie

Melanie — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 11:56:00 +0000

Benny, you are the David Brent of the polyglot community-the video is class!!

By: Benny the language hacker

Benny the language hacker — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 06:16:00 +0000

“when the language is all about the tones”
I don’t know any Mandarin, but I seriously doubt it’s “all about tones”. There are definitely words in there. Look up songs in Mandarin in Youtube and try to sing along, even if you don’t get it perfectly. And try to see the language in that context rather than “just tones”.

By: Junk

Junk — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 05:47:00 +0000

I’ve only taken one lesson so far, so in all seriousness — how do you sing Mandarin when the language is all about the tones?

By: Harsha Fra

Harsha Fra — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 16:30:00 +0000

I can completely relate to this. I am a multilingual person, but I never touched a European language before. When I first started out, I had a lot of trouble with french pronunciations.
That’s when I accidentally stumbled onto a very catchy french song on youtube. I listened to them so much that I could sing the lyrics without ever understanding a word of it.At a later stage I used lyrics to aid my singing. Soon, I was able to recognise words and sounds that usually goes above my head during a conversation with a native.
If anyone is willing to try sones and if you’re lucky you might even like their songs!
gs as an aid to help you learn, I suggest you pick a teen popstar of the respective country/language. They tend to have lyrics that are not too verbose and deal with simple themes, and if you’re lucky you might even like their music! For french, I would suggest Alizée, if anyone is interested.
Children storybooks and rhymes can be great for newbies. They are both extremely simple and offer an insight to the culture of the language/country.

By: Maria

Maria — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 00:01:00 +0000

jaja, very funny, you sing better than Britney Spears, jaja I love Britney Spears, but you’re right, it’s a good way to speak with fluency, and come to Mexico to learn their history and see its natural landscapes, i’m from Mexicali, but here is very hot, we are not the finest people in the world but the “Mexican Macho” is jut a rumor =] Bye, adios, au revoir, ciao.

By: Idrankthekoolaid

Idrankthekoolaid — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 16:37:25 +0000

Didn't you have a link to a site that had foreign language video singing lessons for free? I can't find it in this post, but I thought it was here, or perhaps the newsletter?

By: My name

My name — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 04:14:00 +0000

Are you sure you’re Irish, and not American? You litter your English with loads of Americanisms. What for?

By: My name

My name — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 04:14:00 +0000

Are you sure you’re Irish, and not American? You litter your English with loads of Americanisms. What for?

By: William

William — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 21:20:06 +0000

Listening to songs is an fun way of practicing your listening skills, although it's sometimes difficult with tonal languages to get the right tone during the song.

By: Briesauce

Briesauce — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 11:42:15 +0000

From the time I was a wee little lad, my mom would have me sing our phone number and address so that I would remember them. It worked, to this day I remember all of our phone numbers and relatives numbers too.

The problem is... Not singing someone my phone-number when they ask me for it.

Thanks,

Brian M. Connole | i-Blogger

By: Carl Gene Fordham

Carl Gene Fordham — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 05:54:54 +0000

Singing is great fun but it's never really helped me much with Mandarin probably because a) the language has so many homophones and b) most Chinese music is of doubtful quality.