How to Learn English with Songs

Do you love listening to music all the time? Are you interested in developing your English? If you have answered both questions positively, you can’t miss the tips we have listed in this article. Here’s the best way to learn English with songs!

Why Should I Learn English with Songs?

When you are an English as an additional language learner, you usually study this language through a lot of different resources. The most common one is a textbook. While this may be a valuable means to help you develop your English language skills, studying through textbooks only has a number of limitations.

Among these limitations, one can find:

the artificial, decontextualized language used in the recordings accompanying the textbook;
the use of formal language only (or at least most of the time);
the use of a limited range of vocabulary;
the lack of slang terms and expressions used in everyday, real-life interactions;
the use of standard grammar only (which you should know, indeed; but which can’t prevent you from learning other real-life variations of grammatical structures);
the lack of real-life rhythm of the language, as it is used on a daily basis;
and many more.

Songs give you not only the opportunity to go beyond all of the limitations of textbooks listed above but also to experience some relevant aspects that will definitely help you boost your English.

Some of these positive aspects are:

you get in contact with cultural aspects from other parts of the world through music;
you get in contact with many different accents if you listen to varied artists singing in English;
you get in contact with informal language, including slang terms and expressions, idioms, and non-standardized (but often used) grammatical structures you wouldn’t find in textbooks;
you get used to listening to the natural rhythm of the language;
you improve your pronunciation in a fun way, just by singing along and without the mechanical task of having to look up words in a dictionary all the time;
you can maximize the time you study because you can listen to music when it’s not possible to study through other resources;
you can remember the words, expressions, and structures you’ve learned through songs more easily since when you learn the lyrics of a song, you usually imagine the (contextualized!) story told by it and this helps you create more connections in your brain;
and many more.

Along with movies, tv shows, podcasts (check out the best podcasts to learn English), and other more dynamic resources, music is great to help you not only develop your English language skills but also have fun while doing it.

Take a look at some of the best practices you can do to develop your English language skills through music.

Find songs that you love and that fit your English proficiency level

This step may be the hardest one.

This happens because songs in English are (obviously almost) never recorded for English learners. So there will naturally be songs that are easier to understand and songs that are more difficult to understand.

The most important thing, however, is listening to the songs you love! Why is that? Because even if it’s a little bit difficult for you, if you love the song you will make some effort to learn it. You will step out of your comfort zone and this is what makes you take your English to the next level.

Of course, the song can’t be extremely hard in this sense. You have to feel that you can understand at least half of it when you first listen to it. If you can’t, continue listening to it and loving it, but choose an easier one to focus on for your learning.

Listen to it to get used to its rhythm

Listen to the song and enjoy it!

You are not supposed to understand it or sing along at this step.

You are supposed to get used to its rhythm. That’s all.

Listen to it again and now read its lyrics along

Once you are used to the rhythm of the song you have chosen, start listening to it again and again but now focus on reading its lyrics along.

Here the focus is for you to understand everything the singer is saying during the song.

At this point, look up words or expressions that are new to you. Also, if you don’t understand a certain grammatical structure, try to find out what it is and learn more about it.

Have you learned the lyrics yet? Move on to the next step.

Time to sing! Listen to it on repeat and sing along

Enjoy life and sing!

The focus here should be being able to sing along to the song in the same rhythm, with the same pronunciation as the artist you’re listening to.

It doesn’t matter whether you are alone at home doing nothing, taking a shower, cooking, cleaning the house, having fun with some friends, etc. Sing, sing, sing!

Don’t worry about perfection, have fun!

Last but not least, don’t worry if you can’t achieve the level of perfection you thought you would at this moment.

Learning and perfecting your language skills take time.

If you can’t do something today, tomorrow you may be able to.

So do what you can today. Be happy with it. Continue doing your best. Tomorrow is another day!

Don’t forget to have fun! Learning is much more pleasurable and effective when you have fun while doing it!

Extra tip

If you’re looking for a website or an app to help you learn English through music, we recommend that you try LyricsTraining. It is available as an app for your Android or iOS device and on the web.

LyricsTraining offers you the possibility of choosing whether you are a beginner, an intermediate, advanced, or expert English learner and personalizing the game to your level of proficiency.

In the game, you have to complete the missing words in gaps you will find along the lyrics presented while you watch the music video.

Beginners have 10% of the words in the lyrics missing, intermediate learners have 25%, advanced learners have 50%, and experts have all the words missing.

Try it out and check whether you like it or not!