QuickCheck: Can music help you learn a second language faster?


Learning a new language can be hard, but things might get easier if you happen to like the music from that culture.

HAVE you ever wondered how you could actually sing along to saucy Spanish songs effortlessly without having to refer to the lyrics after you’ve done so the first time?

Although Spanish isn't your first-language, is it true that music can help you learn a second language faster?

Verdict:

TRUE

According to scientific studies, music and language are intimately connected at the sensory and intellectual levels and share many of the same resources.

Neuroscientists like Robert Zatorre have made amazing advancements in neurological theory by employing scans to map blood flow across the brain, supporting the idea that music and language are the two cognitive abilities that closely interact with one another.

Additionally, studies have shown that the emotions evoked by music can improve language memory. This in turn activates our memory processes making it a more powerful tool for memorisation and offering an explanation for earworms.

Music also helps us refine our pronunciation while learning the language, apparently the sounds and tones that we produce while listening to foreign music makes it simpler for us to assimilate the respective accent.

Another study published in the journal Memory & Cognition found that melodies can aid in remembering and learning new words and phrases in a foreign language.

This is due to the fact that language and music employ similar neurological pathways in the brain, particularly in regions involved in memory and auditory processing. When words are associated with a rhythmic pattern or melody, memory recall of those words is strengthened.

References:

1. https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1301228110

2. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26417442

3. https://www.classcardapp.com/blog/6-ways-music-can-help-you-learn-a-foreign-language

4. https://howdoyou.do/can-music-help-you-learn-a-foreign-language/

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