Learning a language is something all of us had to at least once in our lives – whether it is the language you speak now, which you learnt as a young child or a foreign language later in life. You might be surprised to find out just how beneficial singing can be in assisting you with mastering the art of speaking a language.
Sing to your baby!
In these instances, being a considered “good” singer is not even a pre-requisite. Simply hearing your voice enables a baby to learn a language. Infants like the patterns and rhythms of songs and will be able to identify specific melodies after hearing them for awhile. This is activity is a key factor in the process of developing your new-born’s ability to learn its mother tongue.
Sing with your child!
When children are growing up, they are especially fond of singing with their parents. A child’s brain is much like a sponge at a young age - soaking up as much information as it can - so singing songs with them that include specific words actually helps their brain to learn and remember them, thus extending their vocabulary considerably. Experiences collected during this stage in life tend to stick, that’s why we tend to remember the lyrics of songs we sang as a child even if we haven’t heard them in a very long time.
Sing to learn a foreign language!
We tend to sing songs in our mother-tongue; however, learning to sing songs in a foreign language can make the difference in being a novice or becoming a master at speaking it. There are is an abundance of great German, Italian, Spanish and French songs out there, ready to be learnt! The age of the singer doesn’t really matter either as both adults and children tend to learn a language mostly by ear. However, the earlier in life we start, the quicker we get a hold of it (remember the sponge)!
There are at least two important steps involved in learning to sing in a different and unfamiliar language:
- Initially both the pronunciation and speaking-flow of a new language need to be explained, where the flow of each language tends to require a little more attention but it’s worth the introduction. Children also tend to have a knack at singing back the foreign phrases sung by the teacher.
- Repetition is a key element when undertaking to learn a new language, be it through singing or learning to speak it. Once a student has learnt to perform the first song they learnt the next song will be much easier for the student to sing.
Finally, whether a student is currently attending a language course or looking to do so in the future, being able to sing a few songs in their chosen language will definitely enable them to recall words and phrases much more easily, which will make for a great advantage at becoming multi-lingual talent!
AM4U Singing Studio’s “The Benefits of Singing” is a collection of a total of articles which each outline a core reason for taking up singing as a hobby or musical activity. Click here to see all articles in this series.
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