The power of music

How songs can help you learn Engish

Photo by Michael Maasen on Unsplash

Hello everyone!

Have you ever tried singing or listening to music to learn or practise English?

Singing and vocabulary

If you follow me on LinkedIn or Facebook, you may have seen that I sing in a choir. (A choir is a group of people who sing together, either in religious services or public performances.)

We had a concert on Saturday. We sang pieces in French, German and Latin, all languages which I learnt at school!

I’m not going to tell you my age but school was a long time ago! I still remember some French and German although I wish I could remember more.

My French and German grammar is terrible now and I’ve forgotten a lot of vocabulary that I used to know but I still remember all the words to the songs I learnt years ago!

I can’t remember much Latin at all. The only Latin I know now is “church Latin”. By that, I mean the Latin used in church music.

So what does this tell us? Singing in another language is a really powerful way to memorise vocabulary.

Challenges

When we started learning the music for the concert, I was surprised at how difficult it was for me to sing in French. After all, I’d learnt French for many years at school.

I think the reason for this is the complicated pronunciation rules. German and Latin are easier. When you know what sound this or that letter makes, you can read and pronounce anything!

But French and English are different. As you know, one letter can be pronounced in several different ways. 

When I was trying to sing the French music, I was thinking about the notes and not about the meaning of the words. At first, I couldn’t think about the notes, the rhythm, the words and the meaning all at the same time! It was really difficult.

When I studied the words and what they meant, I found I could sing them much more easily. Perhaps I should have done that first.

You might experience this in English too. If you want to try singing in English, I recommend you make sure you study the words and understand the meaning first. Otherwise, you’ll struggle with the pronunciation and you won’t remember the vocabulary either. 

Listening

I know not everyone enjoys singing. Don’t worry! You can just listen to songs and this is another great way to develop your English skills.

Obviously, this is good for practising your listening skills. Having said that, some singers don’t pronounce the words very clearly so choose your songs carefully.

Listening to songs can also help you with your vocabulary, just the same as singing can. It can even help you with grammar. I know how to say “I’m going to dance” in Spanish because of a song I heard - I know the Spanish word for “dance” and how to talk about the future! 

If you’d like to read more about how to use songs to learn English or if you’d like some ideas on which songs to listen to, have a look at this blog post.

Conclusion

It’s always a good idea to find things that you enjoy to make learning English as enjoyable and motivating as possible. 

So, if you're learning English and you love music, try learning the lyrics to a song you enjoy. I bet you’ll find that the vocabulary sticks with you!

Do you have a favourite English-language song? Feel free to hit reply and let me know!

See you next week,

Katie

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