LEARN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE WITH MUSIC

These tips on how to learn a foreign language using music are excerpted from the book, Language is Music: Over 70 Fun & Easy Tips to Learn Foreign Languages (www.languageismusic.com), by Susanna Zaraysky rnLanguage is Music has been featured on MTV as a resource to use to learn foreign languages. The author has given presentations about her book at the State and Defense Departments, to audiences in Qutar and Thailand and at Stanford, the University of California at Berkeley, the University of San Francisco and San Jose State University. Susanna speaks seven languages (English, Russian, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and Serbo-Croatian.) Some neuroscientists and neurologists believe that music engages more parts of the brain than language does. Every language has its own rhythm and beat, just like music. It is much easier to learn foreign languages if we use music in the target language to learn the correct way of pronouncing the language. You are also more likely to remember words and grammatical formations from songs than you will from solely memorizing a grammar chart. Language instructors often only teach students to memorize words, rules and conjugation tables and don't incorporate the language into the daily lives of their students. Language learners still have to learn grammar, spelling and vocabulary, but having it force fed at the beginning of the language learning experience is counterproductive because students get bored and frustrated and can give up. I recall that while working as a high school ESL teacher, my students responded to their vocabulary and pronunciation lessons quite well when singing tunes from the Beatles, Frank Sinatra and other contemporary musicians. These tips are to help you get the feel of your target language and learn grammar and vocabulary in a fun and effective way. Use the tips to relax yourself and build your excitement about learning the target language. You can also listen to music at home and follow these guidelines. 1. Relax and listen to music in the language you are learning Find music in your target language that you like. It doesn’t matter if, at first, you don’t understand the lyrics. Pick music you like. You may start singing along without even knowing what you are singing. That’s fine. You are not only learning the rhythm of the language, you are learning new vocabulary. Relax and close your eyes. Turn off the lights. Lay down or sit in a comfortable position. Close your eyes and listen to the music. Don’t try to understand the words; just listen. You might fall asleep or day dream. Give yourself the time to simply listen and not do anything else. Your mind needs to be calm in order to absorb the sounds. Your ears need no other distractions to let them properly hear all the high, medium and low frequencies of the language. Do this regularly. 2. Listen to the music in the background Turn on the music while driving, doing household chores, cooking, gardening, etc. Even if you are just passively listening to the music, the rhythms of the language will become more familiar to you. Exposure is key. Personal Story When I worked in post-war Sarajevo, I lived in an apartment that had no television. I always listened to the radio on my small stereo. Even though most of the music was techno-pop music or Bosnian folk music which I didn’t care for, I listened to it anyway to hear the language. I took a few Serbo-Croatian language lessons, but I got bored and wasn’t motivated to continue. Since I already spoke Russian, another Slavic language, the Serbo-Croatian language lessons were slow and boring. To the surprise of my landlords and Bosnian friends, I was able to hold conversations and understand the language at an intermediate level without much effort on my part. I credit this in large part to listening to music. While I was preparing food or cleaning my apartment, I was singing along to music. The rhythm of the language got into me. My native fluency in Russian was a big help in being able to understand the basics of Serb Croatian and to pick up its sounds. However, despite the common roots of the languages, they are not similar. Many words are different, and there are sounds that are particular to each tongue. The music on the Sarajevo radio stations helped me get on the local wavelength. 3. Write down the lyrics as you listen Listen to music with the lights on, your eyes open and a pencil in hand. Write the lyrics of the songs while listening. You will have to pause the music and rewind or repeat many times to get the words down. Some words will be hard to write because they may be idioms or slang that you haven’t learned yet, but just write as much as you can understand. Remember that songwriters sometimes employ rarely used words just to make the song rhyme. They often play word games and compose their lyrics with words that sound alike or may even be spelled the same way, but have different meanings. Don’t be frustrated with obscure words. Compare the lyrics you noted with the original song and see how well you were able to understand the song. Some CDs come with the lyrics inside the CD case. If you don’t have them, look for them online on lyrics websites. Once you have your version of the lyrics and the original, you can see how much you were able to understand from listening to the song. Use your dictionary to translate the words you don’t know. ? RESOURCES www.lyrics.com www.azlyrics.com www.smartlyrics.com www.elyricsworld.com http://music.yahoo.com/lyrics If you can’t locate the lyrics on the lyrics websites, just type in the name of the song in quotes in a web search. For example, type “New York, New York” and “lyrics” in the search. 4. Recognize grammatical patterns and conjugations in the lyrics By paying attention not only to the content of the songs, but also the structure of the sentences, you will begin to recognize grammatical patterns. Is the song in the present tense, future tense, or the past tense? Is the singer speaking in the subjunctive? Irregular verb patterns are easier to understand when you can hear them in context. If you don’t recognize some of the conjugations, look up the root verb in a verb conjugation chart to figure out which tense the verb is in. Keep in mind that when irregular verbs are conjugated, they may not at all look like their root. rn5. Make a vocabulary list with words from the songs To visually reinforce what you are learning from listening to music, write vocabulary words from the songs you are learning on flash cards or pieces of paper. On one side, write the word in your language and then write the word in the other language on the opposite side. When you are waiting in line in the grocery store, you can pull out the flash cards and study your new words. If you study one song a week and reinforce your learning by practicing your vocabulary with flash cards, you will quickly learn new words and have fun along the way. rn6. Imagine the lyrics in your head If the song is a story, then close your eyes as you hear the music and think of what the songwriter is talking about. Create the story in your mind as you listen. You’ll retain the words from the songs better than by just memorizing them from a vocabulary chart. You will be more apt to use the words when you need to communicate. For example, the famous New York, New York song speaks of someone coming to New York and seeing the city is alive, even at night. Imagine someone arriving in New York city, or another big city, and seeing the city full of bright lights and action. People are walking around, eating in restaurants, and drinking in cafes. The streets are full of cars and buses. Do this type of a visualization exercise to make the music come alive for you. Utilize your imagination. rn7. Draw pictures of the story After imagining the story described in the song, draw the story. By utilizing your drawing skills, you will be fortifying the song in your mind. Visual reinforcement is important in making the words of the song be real to you. rn8. Listen to the music in your head When you hear songs in your head, you usually hear the music in its original form, without your accent. Relax, close your eyes, and play the song in your mind. Be your own stereo. You are letting your brain get used to the sounds of the language and recreating it in your mind before you try to sing it yourself. Singers hear the notes in their brains before they open their mouths and sing.