It’s a well-known fact that music can be an effective tool for learning a foreign language. Like original-version films, song lyrics are a good source of vocabulary and expressions that you can memorize—and have fun doing so. Furthermore, listening to or humming foreign songs helps you improve your pronunciation. This article will give you some ideas to help you learn a language with music. Personally, I really enjoy this method of learning and hope that, after you’ve tried it, you feel the same.

　　众所周知，音乐是学习一门外语的一种有效的工具。就如同原版电影一样，歌词是你可以记忆的词汇和各种表达的非常好的来源——并且能让你乐在其中。不仅如此，听或者哼唱外语歌曲能够完善你的发音。本文将会向你提供一些帮助你通过音乐来学习一门语言的方法。就我而言，我真的非常享受这个学习方法并且希望你在试过之后也能这么觉得。

　　Learning a language while listening to music: How to get better results?

　　在听音乐的同时学习一门语言：如何能够得得到更好的结果呢?

　　When listening to a foreign-language song, we too often don’t pay enough attention to the lyrics (passive listening). Consequently, this doesn’t help us improve our level of language.

　　当我们在听一首外语歌曲的时候，我们对于歌词常常不会太注意(被动倾听)。所以这样的听歌方式并不能提升我们的语言水平。

　　To learn a language with music, we must try to process the linguistic information in the song while still enjoying the activity.

　　若想要通过音乐来学习一门语言，我们必须在享受这项活动的同时尽力去处理歌曲中的语言信息。

　　A passion for music can become the key to improving your language skills (whether you’re learning English, French, Spanish, German, Arabic, etc.). I have lots of friends who learned English while strumming a guitar and humming at the same time!

　　对于音乐的热爱能够成为提升你的语言技能的关键(无论你正在学习英语、法语、西班牙语、德语、阿拉伯语等等。)我有许多学习英语的朋友能在弹奏吉他的时候轻轻哼唱。

　　Here are 5 steps to optimizing your learning with music and enjoying yourself at the same time:

　　以下是能够让你在享受音乐的同时优化对于外语的学习的五个步骤：

　　1 – Choose a song that you like

　　1-选择一首你喜欢的歌曲

　　You don’t have to go out of your wayto find music to listen to. Instead, you should start with songs that you already listen to. Then, look up the lyrics to the songs you like.

　　你不必花费额外的精力去寻找音乐来听，而是应该从你已经听过的歌曲开始，然后开始查阅你所喜欢的歌曲的歌词。

　　You could listen to your favourite foreign-language song dozens of times per day without actually paying attention to the content or the meaning of the lyrics. I think by now you’re aware that repetition is one of the most important factors to learning a foreign language.

　　你可以每天把你最喜爱的外语歌曲在毫不注意歌词内容和意义的情况下听上几十次。写道这里，我觉得你应该已经意识到了重复是学习一门外语的最重要的因素之一。

　　2 – Try to sing or hum the song without looking

　　2-尽力试着在不看歌词的情况下去唱出或者哼出这首歌

　　If you want to improve your pronunciation, you should sing the song—trying your best to pronounce the words properly—without reading the lyrics. In fact, as soon as you try to sing the song by reading the lyrics, you’ll pick back up your bad pronunciation habits. It’s O.K. if you don’t understand the meaning of what you’re singing: The point of this step is to pronounce the words well.

　　如果你想要完善你的发音，你应该去唱出这首歌曲——竭尽所能去正确地发出每个单词的读音，你将会改掉你错误的发音习惯。即使你不明白你所唱的歌词内容也无所谓：这一步骤的关键是正确的发音。

　　A user pointed out to me in a comment that an extra step could be to try to write down the lyrics while you’re listening to the song. This is a great exercise and should fit into this process as Step 2B! (However, this step likely requires you to have reached an intermediate level of language.)

　　一个用过这种方法的人告诉我说必须要再加一个步骤那就是在你听过的同时写下歌词。这的确是一种很棒的练习方法，可以作为步骤2.5!(然而，这个步骤可能需要你的语言水平已达到中等。)

　　3 – Look up the lyrics

　　3-查阅歌词

　　Next, you can look up the lyrics on the Internet. To do this, google “lyrics Name of Song” (or letras = “lyrics” in Spanish, or paroles in French). If you need a translation, search “translation lyrics Name of Song” to find what you’re looking for in just a few clicks.

　　接下来你就可以在网上查阅歌词了。你可以在谷歌中搜索“歌词歌曲的名字”(或者用西班牙语的歌词“letras”，又或者法语的歌词“paroles”)。如果你需要歌词的译文，你可以搜索“歌词翻译歌曲名称”，这样仅仅点击几下鼠标你便可找到你所要的。

　　Personally, I prefer sites that show the original song lyrics and the translation on the same page. I often use http://www.paroles-musique.com/eng/, which has over 8,728 artists, 112,935 lyrics, and 20,000 translations into French (but there are also lots of others). Its repertoire also includes music in a number of different languages.

　　就我个人而言，我更喜欢那些在同一个页面上显示原始歌词已经歌词翻译的网站。我经常使用http://www.paroles-musique.com/eng/ ，在这个网站上有超过8,728位艺术家，112,935首歌词以及20,000篇法语歌词的翻译(也有很多其他语言的)。不仅如此，这个网站上还要非常多的其他语言的音乐。

　　If you use iTunes, you should install a software program that scans your music library and automatically adds the lyrics to your MP3 files. If you have a PC, I recommend the software program called LyricsFetcher; if you have a Mac, I recommend Get Lyrical. These programs make it possible for you to see the song lyrics directly on your phone or iPod as you’re listening to the music.

　　如果你使用iTunes，那么你应该安装一款能够浏览你的音乐库然后自动将歌词添加到你的MP3文件中的软件。如果你有一台PC，那么我建议你安装一款叫作LyricsFetcher的软件;如果你有一台Mac，那么我建议你安装Get Lyrical软件。这些软件能够使你在你的手机或者iPod上听音乐的时候直接看到歌曲的歌词。

　　This way, even when you’re out and about, you can listen to your favourite music and read the lyrics at the same time!

　　这样的话，即使当你在外到处走动，你也可以在你听你最爱的音乐的同时阅读歌词。

　　4 – Listen to the song while reading the lyrics

　　4-在听歌的同时阅读歌词

　　When you actually listen to the music with the lyrics, you’ll be surprised at how many words and phrases you already knew, but just hadn’t realized until now. (It’s not always easy to understand the lyrics of a foreign-language song on your own.)

　　当你带着歌词听音乐的时候，你会惊讶地发现你已经知道那么多单词和词组，只是你还没有意识到罢了。(靠自己来理解一首歌曲的歌词往往并不容易。)

　　Focus on the phrases that you find most interesting, or perhaps just the refrain. Even if you only know the refrains of your favourite songs, that’s enough for you to learn hundreds of foreign-language words and phrases.

　　你可以把注意力放在你认为最有趣的词组上，或者仅仅是副歌部分也可以。即使你只知道你最爱的那些歌曲的副歌部分，那也足够让你学到上百个外语单词和词组了。

　　5 – Listen to the song again and sing along

　　5-反复听这首歌并跟着一起唱

　　Now that you know the words and have grasped the general meaning of the song, you can continue to listen to the song while singing along. Once you’re fixed on your favourite song, you’ll certainly want to sing it while driving or taking a shower, for example. (Personally, these are the only places where I do my catastrophic performances :-)) Before you know it, you’ll have memorized the song!

　　既然现在你已经认识了这些单词并且理解了这首歌曲的大意，你可以继续听歌并同时跟着一起唱起来了。一旦你将精神集中与你最爱的那首歌曲上时，你肯定会不由自主地在开车、洗澡或者其他时候想要唱出它的。(这两个例子是我唯一会开展我具有毁灭性的演唱的地方:-))在你还没意识到的时候，已经牢牢记住了这首歌!

　　Repetition is one of the fundamental pillars of memorization. If you follow these 5 steps, I can guarantee that you’ll significantly improve. Learning a language with music is fun and takes minimal effort. It’s a nice complement to MosaLingua’s spaced repetition system.

　　重复是记忆的基本支柱之一。如果你遵循这五个步骤，我可以向你保证你将会有显著的进步。跟着音乐学习语言是不仅一件趣事也是一件易事。这也是对于MosaLingua的间歇重复记忆法的很好的补充。

　　One tip I have for language learners is to alternate between “serious learning” (e.g. the MosaLingua application or grammar lessons) and fun activities (music, films, etc.). This will help you continue practising without losing your attention or concentration or getting tired. You may be really surprised at your results!

　　我对于语言学习者有一个建议，那就是在“严肃学习”(如：MosaLingua应用或者语法课程)和“娱乐学习”(如：电影，音乐等等)中交替变化。这将会帮助你在操练的同时不丧失注意力或变得厌倦。这样做的话你会对于你多收获的感到惊讶无比!

　　If you enjoyed this article, please share it by clicking below. Thank you in advance!

　　如果你喜欢这篇文章的话，请点击下方分享!先谢啦!

　　Has music already helped you learn a language? If yes, which song? (Please don’t hesitate to post a YouTube link in the comments.)

　　音乐是否已经在你学习语言的时候帮到了你?如果是的话，是哪首歌曲呢?(千万不要犹豫，尽情地在评论中分享YouTube链接吧。)

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