|
 |
Singing in a target language | ||
Tags: Singing | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies |  | |
| shk00design Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 4449 days ago 747 posts - 1123 votes  Speaks: Cantonese*, English, Mandarin Studies: French | Message 1 of 9 12 February 2013 at 11:55pm | IP Logged | |||||
|
I just want to know how people feel about singing as a way to learn a language?
Recently the Chinese celebrated the New Year of the Snake 2013. A video came out of China featuring the French Canadian singer Celine Dion. She started her singing career only in French (once in front of Pope JP-II) and later in English starting with a hit song written by Barry Gibb of the "Bee Gees" band for her. During the New Year celebration she sang the song "Molihua" or "Jasmine" with another Chinese singer. Although not being able to communicate in Chinese, just listening to her sing you would have mistaken her for a native speaker. On the other side of the world you have the Australian Gregory Rivers who became a TVB actor in Hong Kong. He started learning Cantonese singing pop songs with some Chinese friends while in university in Australia. Edited by shk00design on 13 February 2013 at 6:38am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 5014 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 2 of 9 13 February 2013 at 12:14am | IP Logged | |||||
|
I sing in my target languages (actually in all my languages, even tried Slovak once) but preferably when noone is near. I don't want to torture them as I can't keep the melody for long. It is a good exercise because I usually listen to songs repeatedly (can't say about movies) and I sing with the song and imitate the pronunciation. Much easier than shadowing anything else.
I find it awesome that some bands used to or still do make lyrics in more languages. Some make it separately (like Nightwish. Most songs are in English, some in Finnish), some make the same songs in more languages (Abba had a lot of songs both in English and Swedish, a few even in German or Spanish; The Rhapsody of Fire made for example the Magic of the Wizard's dream in several languages), some switch languages during the songs (like Manu Chao). And opera singers often sing in languages they don't actually speak or all they know of it is what they sing about. You probably can't be an opera singer without singing in Italian, German or French (some even sing in Czech :-) ) So, Celine Dion is far from being the first. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Phantom Kat Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5068 days ago 160 posts - 253 votes Speaks: Spanish*, English Studies: Finnish | Message 3 of 9 13 February 2013 at 4:57am | IP Logged | |||||
|
I first read this as "Signing in the target language". Haha.
I love singing, but in private with no one around. Whenever I sing something in Finnish I find that it reinforces any vocabulary that I didn't know before. For Finnish, it's especially useful for picking up colloquial Finnish. A guilty pleasure of mine is "Frontside Ollie" by Robin, actually. - Kat 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| tastyonions Triglot Senior Member United States goo.gl/UIdChYRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4670 days ago 1044 posts - 1823 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish Studies: Italian | Message 4 of 9 13 February 2013 at 2:05pm | IP Logged | |||||
|
I rarely enjoy singing, so I don't use it in my language learning. But one thing I have found is that certain phrases and words stick in my mind really firmly if I've heard them in a French song I like. Perhaps it is just because I listen to them many times, but I suspect that the melody itself enhances the memory a bit.
1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Josquin Heptaglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4849 days ago 2266 posts - 3992 votes Speaks: German*, English, French, Latin, Italian, Russian, Swedish Studies: Japanese, Irish, Portuguese, Persian | Message 5 of 9 13 February 2013 at 6:04pm | IP Logged | |||||
|
Actually, music is kind of a reason why I'm learning Scottish Gaelic. There are so many absolutely beautiful Gaelic folk songs (Scottish and Irish) that I simply had to study the language. I'm looking for new Gaelic songs on YouTube every day and I enjoy singing them as well. To me, music is such an important part of culture that I couldn't imagine learning a language without getting to know the music that is written in that language. I sing pretty often and sometimes pretty loudly in all the languages I know. Edited by Josquin on 14 February 2013 at 12:57pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| PeteP Newbie United States Joined 5042 days ago 27 posts - 48 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Romanian | Message 6 of 9 13 February 2013 at 11:18pm | IP Logged | |||||
|
Here is a link to a Gaelic song you might enjoy :-)
Gaelic Song 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 5014 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 7 of 9 13 February 2013 at 11:30pm | IP Logged | |||||
|
Very good point, Josquin
1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Josquin Heptaglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4849 days ago 2266 posts - 3992 votes Speaks: German*, English, French, Latin, Italian, Russian, Swedish Studies: Japanese, Irish, Portuguese, Persian | Message 8 of 9 14 February 2013 at 1:09pm | IP Logged | |||||
A timeless classic of Gaelic musical culture! ;)
Thank you! :) 1 person has voted this message useful |
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
