Children who learn music from a young age find it easier to learn languages even in adulthood, research has found
Today’s economic environment demands that our children become the very best they can be. A lot of demands are placed upon us as parents, and whether we like it or not, we need to help our children navigate their way in today’s fast-paced world and build their skills for the future. But not all methods, from flashcards to baby signing, actually boost a child’s intelligence, language skills or other abilities for success. Reading through many research papers from peer-reviewed scientific journals, I discovered that music training is the only proven method to boost the full intellectual, linguistic and emotional capacity of a child.
Thankfully, for the sake of the stress levels of parents and children, for the whole-brain boost, there is no need to emulate Tiger Mother Amy Chua who pushed her children to play classical instruments for several hours a day, often prompting tearful tantrums from her daughters. According to the studies, just one hour a week of learning music is enough for the full brain benefits to take place – including an all-round boost in language skills and a significant increase in IQ.
In my birth country, Finland, the average person speaks three to five languages – after all, no one understands our obscure native tongue. But Finland’s peculiar custom of early music training where even babies and toddlers learn core music skills through songs and games, may also influence the fluency of foreign-language speaking Finns. As music training boosts all the language-related networks in the brain, we would expect it to be beneficial in the acquisition of foreign languages, and this is what the studies have found. More.
See: The Guardian
See these related Translation News articles on language, translation, and music:
- Study of jazz players shows common brain circuitry processes music and language
- Translators, interpreters, musicians: language professionals who make music
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United States
Local time: 01:00
Russian to English
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I would agree that the musically talented people are also usually good at languages-- especially as far as the pronunciation is concerned. I've known some people exposed to music from an early age who speak just one language and do not even have any interest in learning other languages.
Local time: 07:00
Member (2003)
French to Italian
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For English,(just as an example) yes (at least in my opinion) as it has a lot of rythm, but for French or German I am not sure it is true.
[Edited at 2014-03-01 14:36 GMT]
United States
Local time: 01:00
Russian to English
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There are more musical languages than English--tonal, or semi-tonal languages, like Swedish or Lithuanian. Not to mention Cantonese.
Each language has its own rhythm.
[Edited at 2014-03-01 14:14 GMT]
Local time: 07:00
Member (2003)
French to Italian
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There are more musical languages than English--tonal, or semi-tonal languages, like Swedish or Lithuanian. Not to mention Cantonese.
Each language has its own rhythm.
[Edited at 2014-03-01 14:14 GMT]
I just can judge languages that I know, this is why I mentioned English.
Local time: 00:00
German to English
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Both music and language work with patterns and communication through sound and rhythm. In fact, i... See more
Both music and language work with patterns and communication through sound and rhythm. In fact, in the Roman days somebody borrowed from how music was written in Greek times, to create markings to help with oration. Then around the Renaissance (?), the musicians borrowed from what was written in Rome for orators and their speeches, and applied it back to music. ▲ Collapse
Serbia
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English to Serbian
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I was an English language teacher in a grammar school that hosted the secondary music school, and to my surprise, too, those pupils were not very successful in English. As I am a singer myself, I thought till then that my talent for music and my talent for languages were one
United States
Local time: 01:00
Russian to English
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On the other hand, the people who do not have a good sense of hearing have problems correctly pronouncing words in a second language. So, you definitely need good hearing, which most musicians would have, to master a language. The mere fact that someone can c... See more
On the other hand, the people who do not have a good sense of hearing have problems correctly pronouncing words in a second language. So, you definitely need good hearing, which most musicians would have, to master a language. The mere fact that someone can correctly repeat words does not mean, however, that they will be able to learn the grammar, or memorize the vocabulary of a new language, easily. There is more to language learning than the correct pronunciation.
Well, my mother was musician and a music teacher-- and she was quite good with languages, but probably not so great with grammar right away. My father, on the other hand--who was more a science-oriented person and an industrial designer was excellent at languages--he spoke three of them at a "native level" and two other languages at a top level. He loved music though, as well. So, I think it all depends on the individual. You definitely cannot create Mozart just by exposing any child to music. Music exposure may have positive effects on children if you expose them to the kind of music each child naturally likes. Otherwise, I doubt it.
[Edited at 2014-03-02 15:26 GMT] ▲ Collapse
Hong Kong
Local time: 13:00
Member
Chinese to English
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I should say I'm pretty good at languages, although I'm at the stage where I don't particularly feel motivated to pick up a fourth language.
But then, I'm also pretty good at a lot of things. There are so many factors that you just cannot pin it on one of them; for example, many musicians come from fairly well-to-do families who can afford to give their children a good education.
[Edited at 2014-03-02 16:34 GMT]
Ireland
Local time: 06:00
German to English
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This has been studied…
https://www.cs.tcd.ie/disciplines/intelligent_systems/clg/clg_web/Theses/gilleece.phd.pdf
In short, there seems to be some correlation.
Italy
Local time: 07:00
Italian to English
Musical notations and second/third/nth languages are similar in that they involve assigning significance to sounds and sound systems that lie outwith the range of the subject's habitual modes of communication.
The sooner you are exposed to them the better. Young children have a greater ability to distinguish and reproduce sounds than adults.
United States
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Russian to English
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Musically talented people are most likely good at pronouncing various words in hundreds of languages. Don't forget about the grammar, though, which has not that much to do with music. (At least syntax, not phonology or phonetics--generally speaking)
If listening to music helps one to pronounce words--I really don't know, but not necessarily, I would think, if the person does not have a good sense of hearing.
[Edited at 2014-03-03 11:47 GMT]
United States
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Spanish to English
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So I will not venture a response to the original question, but rather tentatively suggest that the converse might be partially true. ▲ Collapse
Austria
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Denmark
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Danish to English
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I really have a poor sense of rhythm and coordination (from ball games to touch typing, and don't let me anywhere near playing a musical instrument!!!)
I don't even like poetry very much - with exceptions - though some blank verse and Shakespeare's pentameters are OK. My mother could never understand!
I like so-called classical music, but not thump... See more
I really have a poor sense of rhythm and coordination (from ball games to touch typing, and don't let me anywhere near playing a musical instrument!!!)
I don't even like poetry very much - with exceptions - though some blank verse and Shakespeare's pentameters are OK. My mother could never understand!
I like so-called classical music, but not thumping rhythms. And I have been exposed to all kinds of music most of my life... with the luxury of working in silence only when I started freelancing and to some extent in-house.
I learned languages with concentration, but not too much effort, right into my thirties and forties - French, Latin, German, Danish, more French and German, smatterings of Swedish and Norwegian.
Here the musical question does arise - written Norwegian especially, and to some extent Swedish, are close to Danish, so reading is not a big problem if you watch out for the false friends. The spoken languages are a challenge to me as to many Scandinavians, because the rhythm and the vowels sound very different. Some dialects are worse than others. Danes slur and mumble... but I am used to them!
Some Scandinavians find it much easier than others to 'tune in' and understand across the borders, and they could well be the more musical ones, I don't know. ▲ Collapse
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