Recently, I told someone that I rarely listen to music in English. This came as a surprise to them — how could I possibly listen to music not in English? It really made me think though… how are there so many people that are missing out on good music, just because they only listen to music in the language they know? I’m not going to tell you to go out there and love obscure Icelandic music (although why not?), but here are some of the reasons that I personally listen to music in other languages, and why you should consider it.
It can help you learn a language.
When I first started listening to music in other languages, I started off with Spanish. As someone studying Spanish, it’s great practice. However, after a while, I found myself listening to songs because I wanted to listen to them. I can’t even explain how much listening to music in Spanish has helped me; my listening skills and pronunciation have improved rapidly. Plus, you can ditch the books and tell yourself you’re studying by simply listening to music!
Not learning a language? English translations exist!
Other than Spanish, I also listen to a lot of music in Chinese, French, German and Korean. Do I know these languages? No. If I wanted to know what they were saying could I find out? Yes! I often hear people say they wouldn’t listen to music in other languages because they care about the lyrics. That’s totally understandable, but not exactly a legitimate excuse in the 21st century.
You can enjoy music without understanding what they’re saying.
To expand on the last point, sometimes lyrics aren’t the only thing about music that matters. Who cares if you have no idea what they’re saying? Learn to just listen and appreciate the music! Also, slight hack for students: If you like to listen to music while studying but feel like you can’t focus, music in other languages will distract you less because you aren’t paying attention to the lyrics.
There is SO much more music out there if you open your eyes.
Think about how many songs in English exist; now just think about how many more songs there are that aren’t in English! It almost seems like there are endless songs in our world. Online streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music make it super easy to discover new music.
Who knows? Maybe your favorite song of all time is out there somewhere being sung in a language you’ve never even heard of before! I would have never thought about listening to music in Korean, but I can undoubtedly say that some of my favorite artists are Korean. If you’re stuck on where to start, we have a couple articles about music from around the world (such as this one about Afrobeat), and you can always go to Spotify and see what songs are popular in each country — you never know what you’ll find.