Learn A New Language By Singing it!

Sing Your Way To Fluency: Learning Languages Through Music

Singing in a second language: why it’s good for children and everyone else?

Singing is a fun way to help your child learn and remember words and sentence structure in a second language. When your child sings songs with repeated words or choruses, they get a lot of practice with new words and sentence structures. This helps your child remember these new words. Songs with a cultural or personal significance – for example, songs passed down in your family – can have extra meaning for your child. Adapting this activity for children of different ages or children with diverse abilities. Children can also learn 2 or more languages at the same time! 

Human voice is multi-faceted, contains key essences of our musical development and fosters our earliest abilities to communicate musically. When you sing in a new language, you also become better at speaking it: Multiple research studies conducted in music universities showed that participants who learnt to sing in a particular language were able to recall phrases more accurately. They were also able to identify words from these languages correctly in the long term. One reason why this happens is because melody and memory are strongly linked. 

This also explains why being able to sing in a range of different languages is a crucial part of developing your own identity as a singer. The best way to improve as a singer and musician is by constantly trying new things and new repertoire. 

Here’s some tips!

• Pronunciation and accent

  One of the most obvious challenges of singing in a different language is pronouncing the words correctly and authentically. Depending on the language, you may encounter unfamiliar sounds, patterns, intonation, and rhythm.

• Vocal technique and health

  Some languages may require more or less tension, airflow, resonance, or articulation than your native language. You want to be able to confidently and authentically perform your piece without any worry about whether or not you are pronouncing words correctly by learning the right technique that does not jeopardise your vocal health.

• Musical style and genre

  Know where the song originated from and the context of the lyrics.You need to study the history and culture of the language and the song and listen to examples of singers who perform in that style and genre. You can also seek feedback from a vocal coach or a native speaker to improve your musicality.

• Practice, Practice, Practice!

           This can be the words that we always hear from our Vocal Coach or Singing Teacher but it’s the way to keep                     improving! Most importantly, don’t forget to have fun while you explore and learn a new language by Singing it!               Enjoy!