I would not like to bother you with the scientific reasons why singing is such an important
method for learning languages, but rather the emotional ones.
You all know that during our childhood, we learn lots of nursery rhymes and are able to sing
them throughout our whole lives, passing them down from one generation to the next. Music is
what envelopes a language and gives it a certain melody. I would even say that every language is
a long, long song, reflecting the history and way of life people have in their countries. Each has
its own melody and is also well known for it. How often do we imitate the sound of a language
that we don’t know? We do it jokingly, but don’t realize that in that moment we might be using a
very good pronunciation saying words which probably don’t exist, but giving them the right
sound. That happens because we don’t even think about it and let our musical memory flow. We
can all memorise thousands of different melodies and sounds during our lives and many of them
will always remind us of different life situations we have had that are related to those songs.
Music always attracts people. Remember how in former times the news was announced from
town to town. How many declarations of love have been sung under balconies and windows?
Why can stutterers sing fluently, but not speak? Music is magic and expresses all our feelings.
Depending on our state of mind, we listen to different types of music and sing out loud or whistle
with it. Music makes us pass over that inhibition threshold and lets us forget our fear of
speaking, because everything comes out much easier when we sing it. How fun was it to learn
the ABCs, numbers, days of the week or names of the months by a song?!
So, go on with it! If you are learning a foreign language, just feel it and sing it! Have a look at
the lyrics of songs you like, and translate them to find out their meaning or message. Get into it
and sing it, without worrying about your pronunciation. Let yourself be taken away by the music
and how the words sound. Give words or phrases which seem difficult to you a rhythm, and say
them while clapping your hands, for example. Percussion is also very useful, because it gives
your expression a certain swing, which helps you to remember all you learn much better.
Try to understand what the people whose language you are learning are like. Feel like them, and
you will speak like them!
– Doris
