This may seem like common sense, but it’s good practice to take note of words you’re not familiar with in order to focus on committing those to memory.
You can also paste the Chinese lyrics into Google translator and it’ll automatically give you the pinyin, as well as the translation. For Chinese songs, try to find a version that has both the characters and pinyin available. When learning the lyrics to any song, it’s helpful to listen to the song a few times with the lyrics in front of you. Listen with the lyrics in front of you.You can even bust out your new language skills during karaoke night! Strategies for Learning Chinese with Chinese Cover Songs
Since these songs come on the radio in English-speaking countries, you can sing along and review the Chinese words you learned from the Chinese cover every time they do. Pop songs also make for an excellent form of at-home language immersion. This makes it easier to practice speaking (or in this case, singing) Chinese on a daily basis. This means that the words you learn from song lyrics are words you’re likely to encounter again in Chinese conversation. It’s also important to note that these songs are typically comprised of simple, everyday language. Learning the lyrics is a great way to increase your vocabulary, get familiar with Chinese sentence structure and reinforce previous knowledge. Therefore, learning Chinese words to a memorable tune can help you remember new words or phrases.Īlso, since there are usually various Chinese versions of the same English song, you can choose which version you like the best. Studies have shown that pairing new information with the familiar helps with information retention. You’re likely to already be familiar with the tune of the song as well as some basic words. No matter which version you choose, there are still lots of benefits of committing these tunes to memory.įor one thing, top-of–the-charts pop songs are fairly catchy. Sometimes these lyrics aren’t an exact translation of the English lyrics, but most of the time they convey the same general sentiment. Many Chinese YouTubers have taken the melody of popular English songs and created Chinese lyrics to accompany them. (Download) Why Are Cover Songs a Valuable Language Learning Tool?
This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that youĬlick here to get a copy.
Here are five Chinese covers of popular English songs to help you learn Chinese with music. If you’d like to love radio again and you’re a Chinese-language learner, this post is for you. Over years of browsing YouTube, I’ve discovered several covers of popular songs in foreign languages and I wholeheartedly recommend them as a language-learning tool. What if you could practice a foreign language every time a top 100 billboard song came on? This is the reason they say they no longer listen to the radio.īut what if there was a way to break up the monotony? “I’ll hear the same song three times during a 30-minute drive!” my friends complain.