The A to Z English Podcast (Open Vault) Topic Talk | How to learn English with music
In this exclusive episode of The A to Z English Podcast, Xochitl and Jack talk about how music can help you improve your English.
Transcript:
00:00:00
Jack
Hey A-Z listeners, this is Jack here.
00:00:03
Jack
And if you would like to become a an exclusive subscriber to the show, you can hit the link in the description and that will take you to our Red Circle page, where for $1.99 a month you will get access to an extra two or three episodes each week.
00:00:23
Jack
And be careful, don't hit that donation button if you want to become an exclusive subscriber because the donation button is just a one time donation. However, the exclusive subscriber button will give you access to the extra two or three episodes.
00:00:42
Jack
Each week.
00:00:44
Jack
So make sure you hit that exclusive subscriber button if you want access to the extra episodes.
00:00:52
Jack
Now let's get on with the show.
00:00:55
Jack
Welcome to the Ados English podcast. My name is Jack and I'm here with my co-host social. And today we're doing another topic talk episode, and this one is how to use music in language learning.
00:01:09
Jack
And because I think music can be a real, UM, interesting way to, you know, improve your English. So the first one I have here is listen actively.
00:01:21
Jack
And what that means is start by listening to songs and trying to understand the lyrics. Uh, look up the lyrics online, read along while listening and translate unfamiliar words and phrases. And then you can repeat and even sing along with the song. And I've.
00:01:42
Jack
Seeing Korean students.
00:01:45
Jack
Seeing English songs in like almost perfect intonation just because they practiced so much and they can actually sing a song in English and it sounds wonderful. It just sounds wonderful. So what do you think about that? Listen, listening actively.
00:01:53
Xochitl
Looks great.
00:02:07
Xochitl
I think it really helps because you're doing a lot of things there. When you're memorizing lyrics. Another thing that you're doing is that you're perfecting your accent and your pronunciation. You're working on your listening skills, and you are retaining information about the meaning of the lyrics, and you're doing all of these things at the same time, which obviously is a huge.
00:02:28
Xochitl
Stupid.
00:02:29
Jack
Absolutely. Absolutely. OK. Now, #2 is kind of related to #1, uh, this one is analyzed the lyrics. And so it's like breakdown the song line by line and try to identify patterns of like grammar, verb tense, idiomatic expressions and things like that.
00:02:50
Jack
Do you do I think that could be actually?
00:02:52
Jack
It enjoyable because you're you'll get even more out of the song. You know, you might like the the melody of the song but but not understand the lyrics. But if you sit down and just break down the lyrics and try to understand exactly what they mean and you know there's going to be a lot of idiom.
00:03:14
Jack
A lot of poetry, a lot of rhyme in there, and I think that might open some some doors. I don't know. What do you think?
00:03:23
Xochitl
Yeah, I I think it really helps because lyrics are fairly poetic in their language. We use a lot of figurative language and lyrics, and I think that it really gets your gears working on decoding language and working through some of those idioms that you might have heard.
00:03:43
Xochitl
I'm working through some just figurative language. In general, things like comparisons or symbols inside lyrics. All of those things really help you think about English and language on a higher level.
00:03:54
Jack
Yes.
00:03:59
Jack
OK. Yeah, I totally.
00:04:02
Jack
And #3, we've got four. So there's two more #3 is use music videos because being able to see the the video. And I think part of it just looking at their lips, you know, as they're speaking that you're seeing the mouth and the art articulation is good.
00:04:20
Xochitl
Yes.
00:04:21
Jack
But also the context.
00:04:24
Jack
Because, you know, many music videos are often storytelling. You know it's it's, it's video, it's visual storytelling with a musical.
00:04:34
Jack
Soundtrack to go with it and how? How do you feel about that like and and using subtitles as well with the with the music videos?
00:04:46
Xochitl
Uhm, I think that's really interesting. I think you can also try doing it without subtitles at first and just seeing how much you understand what's going on and just switch you back and forth. Don't be afraid to jump into something without subtitles and just try to see how much of it you can gather on your own just through contacts and through what you are already.
00:04:53
발표자
Mm-hmm.
00:05:04
Xochitl
You know, and yeah, I think watching music videos, I I really like your point about looking at the lips and the Annunciation and the pronunciation and everything. That's one of my biggest tips for language learning. And when people ask me how I like mimic pronunciation, I've always made a key point of looking at people's mouths.
00:05:25
Xochitl
They talk another language and you see the.
00:05:26
Jack
Mm-hmm.
00:05:28
발표자
Difference.
00:05:30
Xochitl
For example, in English our mouths are a lot more closed and we use a lot of kind of guttural sounds. Like all the way from the back of our.
00:05:36
발표자
Throat.
00:05:39
Xochitl
But in Spanish you open your mouth a lot more when you talk to make the vowels like bigger. And then in Korea and I noticed people using a lot of their nose when they spoke to make certain.
00:05:46
발표자
Again.
00:05:53
Jack
Ohh more nasal size. Yeah, yeah.
00:05:56
Xochitl
Kind of nasal like and.
00:05:58
Xochitl
Noises and kind of Gee noises with their nose. So.
00:06:01
Jack
Yeah.
00:06:02
Jack
That's interesting. That's interesting. Yeah. Yeah, I think I think music videos is a good way, especially if you've already analyzed the lyrics. And here's another thing I I that just kind of occurred to me.
00:06:15
Jack
Is, UM, you know, a lot of song music is a good a good way to do it, because a song is something you if you find a song that really kind of.
00:06:27
Jack
That you really that you really enjoy. Yeah. You can listen to it multiple times, like listening to a lecture, some kind of like audio recording from a book is is gonna get so boring after the third or fourth time. But a song you could listen to it 100 times. You know, you just you still enjoy it.
00:06:27
Xochitl
Right.
00:06:45
Xochitl
Wasn't really every day.
00:06:47
Xochitl
It's for per year, honestly.
00:06:49
Jack
Right, right, right. Well, I'm one of those people that when I find a song that I love, I just. I beat it into the ground, you know, I'll listen to it over and over and over again until the point where I basically can't listen to it anymore, which is, I don't know what that says about me. It's it's a a very odd thing.
00:07:09
Xochitl
A lot of people are like that. It's kind of like a hit of of good emotion.
00:07:15
Jack
Yeah. It's like a dopamine.
00:07:17
Xochitl
When you're listening to a drug, I mean, sorry, you're listening to a song.
00:07:21
Xochitl
Yeah. It's like a drug hit. Dopamine hit. Whatever. So I have no experience, I swear. But I I just remember when I was in in college, we were taking a course on music. And I remember that there was a study that said that it can be more powerful. The the what goes on in your brain chemically when you hear a song that you really like.
00:07:42
Xochitl
Can be more powerful than drugs, and I remember that really stuck with me. So yeah, it definitely keeps.
00:07:47
Jack
Yeah, sure, sure. Well, I mean, it makes sense, right? I mean, there's adrenaline, dopamine and things like that that occurs naturally.
00:07:56
Jack
Through like you go skydiving or bungee jumping that that has a a feel of like a like a drug feeling. So yeah, that you're you're not wrong. You're not wrong at all. Our last one is explore different genres listen to a wide variety of music genres to expose yourself to different vocabulary and expressions.
00:08:18
Jack
Each genre might have its own slang and cultural references.
00:08:23
Jack
I think that's interesting.
00:08:24
Xochitl
I like that. Yeah, it kind of went similar to what I talked about with the articles of what we talked about the articles earlier. Yeah, I think really diversifying the content that not only what you watch on YouTube and through YouTube channels or what you read in articles, but also the kind of genres of music you listen to and even the genres of things that you watch on Netflix, you could.
00:08:43
Xochitl
Watch a show like a horror movie comedy, A Stand up comedy, a documentary and it's very by night and you'll acquire a lot of information and new vocabulary that will really help you overcome those plateaus and keep you interested also.
00:08:46
Xochitl
OK.
00:08:57
Jack
Yeah, if.
00:08:58
Jack
Want to if?
00:08:59
Jack
You if you want to, you know, learn, learn a lot of vocabulary about heartbreak, listen to country music. You know, if you want to hear the romantic vocabulary, listen to a lot of R&B. You know, a lot of love songs. So yeah, it'll expose you to different things.
00:09:07
발표자
Right.
00:09:14
Xochitl
Right.
00:09:18
Jack
Well, that those are four are four big ones.
00:09:22
Xochitl
All right, listeners, if you like that, make sure to leave a comment down below letting us know which tips you're going to be using and shoot us an e-mail at A-Z with podcast@gmail.com. Leave us a comment@azenglishpodcast.com and make sure to join the WeChat and WhatsApp group so you can join Jack and I in conversation. And again if you have $1.99.
00:09:42
Xochitl
There, we really appreciate you guys joining our exclusive podcast content. We really, really appreciate the support so far from all our listeners. It's really helped us so far be able to make and think new content for.
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