Language Learning & Music

However, when we are learning our second language, we rely more on declarative memory to learn grammar rules and structure rather than only by procedural memory. (In my words, we are like parrots than copy when we hear native speakers say.) This doesn’t mean that we can learn a language well without learning grammar and structure, but it shows that listening and repeating serve a real purpose in how we can learn the syntax and structure of a language. Listening to and repeating song lyrics CAN help us learn grammar!

This Daily Show clip is hilarious! There is controversy at Hacienda Middle School in California. Some adults are afraid that having kids learn Mandarin will indoctrinate them into being Communists. It's sad to see that people are actually scared about this. McCarthyism all over again? Thanks Aasif Mandvi of the Daily Show for pointing out their idiocy.

Is America Experiencing a Creativity Bust? This is a great article from Newsweek about how too much standardization and rote memorization in school is bringing down our ability to think creatively. Foreign languages classes are often...

For parents whose childrens' schools have cut foreign language education, it's imperative to use foreign language music, movies, TV and radio at home to keep their kids learning. A software program WON'T be enough. See...

New Haven schools get $1.3M for language studies; Chinese, Arabic to be expanded By the New Haven Register In Connecticut, the school systems is expanding its Chinese and Arabic language classes and including parents in the learning...

The Telegraph article, Foreign languages are 'elitist' subjects, came out earlier this year in the UK showing that state jobs require foreign language knowledge while fewer school offer language classes. This means that more people...

I just got Aniruddh Patel's book, Music, Language, and the Brain because I am keenly interested in learning more about the relationship between music, language and our complex neurological system. Patel is a neuroscientist and musician who...

I agree with Michael Hofmann, author, poet and translator who wrote in the British newspaper, The Guardian, about the importance of foreign language education. I am glad the US is not following the UK...

A super expensive Ivy League education at Harvard may still deprive students of the knowledge they need to get ahead in this world. According to the article, Colleges come up short on what students need to...

The New York Times reports in the article, Foreign Language Courses, Brushing Up or Immersion, that foreign language classes are in demand. People are looking for inexpensive ways to learn or brush up on languages while...