“Music is the universal language of mankind.” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Scientists have long been aware of the cognitive benefits of music. Likewise, using music to assist learning is nothing new. I’d be willing to bet that you probably learned the alphabet using the alphabet song. Or that you learned songs like “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” to learn body parts. And anyone in Generation X will likely never forget “I’m Just a Bill” and “Conjunction Junction” from Schoolhouse Rocks. But music isn’t just useful for teaching children. Music is a powerful tool to learn and practice another language and connect with another culture. Let’s look at some of the reasons why.

Words you learn to music stick with you

There’s a reason why catchy songs are referred to as ‘earworms’. Music has a way of crawling through your ear and lodging itself in your brain. Who hasn’t had the experience of getting a song stuck in their head, replaying itself over and over again? Or think about how you can go years without hearing a song you know, but when it comes on you still remember every word. To this day, if I hear “Hélène” by Roch Voisine or “Un cadeau du ciel” by La Compagnie Créole, both songs I learned in my high school French class, I can still sing along. And I won’t tell you just how many years it’s been since then! Music can help you retain vocabulary and even grammatical concepts like verb conjugation or pronoun placement.

Music improves your pronunciation

Music gets you vocalizing. A key part of learning a language is speaking it. Singing gives you some of the same benefits as speaking; it gets you pronouncing words in your target language. And let’s face it, if you pick music you enjoy, you probably can’t help but sing along. Listen closely to the singer’s pronunciation and try to match it. I also recommend using music that is sung by native speakers of the language you are learning.

You learn words in context

It takes more than learning a collection of single words to learn a language. You also have to learn how to put those words together to create coherent thoughts. In learning song lyrics, you aren’t just learning single words, you’re learning whole chunks of language. You’re learning words along with their real-world context. This is especially important for words that have different meanings depending on the context. It is also helpful for phrases that carry their own, non-literal meanings. Music helps you learn and retain the meaning of the phrase as a whole.

Music provides real world language connections

Another great reason to use music to learn a language is that you see the language in real, everyday use. True, songs are usually more poetic and don’t fully represent how people speak in the real world, but they do give us exposure to currently used idioms, slang and cultural references. And while the language used in lyrics doesn’t always follow all the grammatical rules of the language, often the syntax seen is common to colloquial language. Yes, you won’t be learning textbook language, but is that a bad thing? I mean, how many native English speakers do you know who speak the same way to their friends as they would in writing a term paper? You’ll be learning the language as it is used by native speakers. And, since it isn’t textbook language, you’ll learn words, phrases, idioms and slang that you wouldn’t learn through more formal learning resources.

Music provides a cultural connection

Learning a language isn’t just about learning vocabulary and grammar, or at least it shouldn’t be. Languages don’t exist in a void; they are an integral part of a culture. Songs are artifacts of that culture, a glimpse into the lives of its people. In learning popular songs from a country that speaks the language you are learning, you are sharing a cultural experience with native speakers. And shared experiences help build connections. For example, when my now-husband and I were first dating, we were listening to the radio one day when the song “Ça (C’est Vraiment Toi)” by Téléphone came on, and I began to sing along. My husband was shocked that an American knew a song that was popular in France when he was a kid. Shared experiences like this helped us form a bond that would later lead to marriage. In addition, being familiar with foreign music shows members of a culture that you are truly interested in learning about them and their way of life, which can also be a powerful tool for breaking the ice and building connections. Don’t underestimate the connections that can be made from shared interests and experiences.

Music is easy to fit into your daily activities

Another great thing about music is how easy it is to make it a part of your day. Frequent interactions with a language are critical to the learning process. I would hazard a guess that most of us listen to music at some point almost every day. So why not take an activity you are doing anyway and make it a learning opportunity? Just swap out some of your normal music for a few songs in the language you’re learning. In addition, music is portable. Just download the song you’re learning and take it with you! Listen on your commute, while exercising or during other activities and sing along. Actively listen for the new vocabulary or grammatical structures you are focusing on. And voila, you’ve just built extra learning time into your day!

It’s just fun!

Lastly, music is just fun! Let’s face it, language learning isn’t easy. Using activities you enjoy can help keep you motivated to continue learning. So set down the grammar book and pick up a song. With all the varieties of music out there, most of us can find music we enjoy listening to. Why not use that enjoyable activity to learn a bit too?