Learning a foreign language is always challenging – more so the older we grow. If you’ve always struggled to learn a new language, preliminary research demonstrates that singing can help you learn that second language twice more easily. This is because of the strong link between music and memory.
From the journal “Memory & Cognition” (January 2014) – Singing can facilitate foreign language learning:
Sixty adult participants were randomly assigned to one of three “listen-and-repeat” learning conditions: speaking, rhythmic speaking, or singing. Participants in the singing condition showed superior overall performance on a collection of Hungarian language tests after a 15-min learning period, as compared with participants in the speaking and rhythmic speaking conditions.
It is still early days and the effect is not clearly understood, but these results suggest that a “listen-and-sing” learning method can facilitate verbatim memory for spoken foreign language phrases. Looks like there was a basis for all that Sing and Learn Music for Kids. Maybe they should start making them for adults, too, or perhaps we should just sing along with the kids…
Read more about the study:
- Singing helps students tune into a foreign language – Science Daily
- Singing can help when learning a foreign language – The Telegraph
Nurture for the Future 