Monday, March 01, 2010

Lyrics Training Improves Your Foreign Language Skills Through Music [Learning]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/tIwcvi-B2_g/lyrics-training-improves-your-foreign-language-skills-through-music

Learning a foreign language doesn't have to be dry and boring rote memorization. Clever web site Lyrics Training sharpens your skills through music and song lyrics.

Lyrics Training is a really fun approach to helping you pick up a foreign language. Choose a YouTube-hosted music video and select one of three mastery levels; Beginner, Intermediate, and Expert. As the video begins to play, the song's lyrics appear underneath with several words missing. Your job is to fill in the missing words as they're sung.

If you get stumped, the video stops playing until you can come up with the word, but don't take too long because the app keeps track of the time it takes you to fill in the blanks. Click the "Give Up!" button to see the words that elude you.

Lyrics Training sorts videos by fluency level or language. Currently the site only offers videos in six languages (English, Spanish, French, Italian, German, and Dutch), and it doesn't have a ton of videos for every language, but the number of videos should only grow. However, an optional translation feature powered by Google automatically translates a song's lyrics into one of dozens of different languages while you're busy filling in missing words.

The site is free to use and doesn't require registration, though if you do set up an account, you can save the results of your efforts. While Lyrics Training alone won't make you fluent in another language, it's great for improving your skills or dabbling in a new language. Plus, it's just a lot of fun.