Learn Languages through FIFA songs

 We continue with World Cup fever. Did you watch the opening ceremony?

The World Cup is a global event, which means that millions of people watch it around the world. The opening ceremony becomes important because it promotes international unity and builds anticipation for the audience. The songs performed there must connect with people’s emotions and reflect the global passion for the game. If the songs are energetic, and emotionally uplifting, people tend to listen to them repeatedly and sing along. As a result, this repetition can help people improve pronunciation, listening comprehension, and vocabulary retention. 

Why does it happen? Repeated exposure makes new sounds and words easier to remember. Why do you remember song lyrics?

Although many people may not be actively trying to learn a language, through music, they begin developing language skills naturally.

I have seen many videos of the opening ceremony performance on social media, and I cannot help singing: “It’s more than just a game, it’s our DNA.” Many people around the world are probably doing the same. They enjoy the music and may have already learned some of the lyrics, even if they have different reasons for listening to the song. 

The FIFA song “DNA” by EJAE and Andrea Bocelli, is a great example of how music can influence language learning. The song combines Italian, Korean, and English, reflecting the international spirit of the World cup. You can see a little bit of the lyric below: 

And I say, "Hey, anche se cadiamo poi noi ci rialziamo

It's more than just a game, it's our DNA"

Yeah, 또 넘어져도, 난 또 다시 일어나

This is more than just a game, it's our DNA. Read full lyrics

The same thing happened with previous FIFA songs. For example, many people sang along to Shakira’s World Cup songs without fully understanding every word. Years ago, “Waka Waka” introduced many listeners to words from African languages. 

FIFA songs are more than entertainment, they expose people to different languages and cultures. Even when people are not intentionally studying a language, singing and listening to those songs can help them to learn new words and develop an interest in other languages. If want to know more information about how music helps us to learn language, the next video is for you:

Which FIFA song are you enjoying this year? 

Is Tetris useful to learn vocabulary? 🎮

 I think you know what Tetris is, right?

It is a puzzle game where a variety of geometric pieces fall from the top, and you have to move and rotate them so that they fit correctly in the playing area. It is a classic and very entertaining game for many people.

Now, I was thinking about how games influence the learning process and asked myself if Tetris could be used to learn words in any language. In English, for example, each geometric piece could contain a word, and you would have to match it with another similar word or something like that.

I searched the internet for some information, and I found that there is actually a game related to this idea. However, it looks like a beta version because I didn't know how to play it. The blocks fell, and some words were unfamiliar to me, although ocassionally a bomb block appeared and helped eliminate a word. Here is the link if you want to try: Language Tetris game

The idea is basically to fit the blocks with similar words or colors, and you can move them with the arrow keys from left to right and so on. If you discover how it works, tell me in the comments.

 The idea is really interesting, but could it work for learning languages?

As an English student, I understand that the use of games for learning is a useful tool for people from children to adults. However, as a future teacher, I need to know how it can be applied properly in the classroom and what the objectives are. For example, in the Irregular Verbs Tetris, you can observe the topics to learn: infinitive, simple past and past participle. Here you have to move the word to the correct basket, and it is evident what content we are working on. Maybe it is not exactly tetris, but it is inspired by it and follows a clear concept.

Tetris can be useful as long as the game has clear instructions and, as teachers, we have a specif purpose. Games are useful tools for motivating students to learn without pressure while they develop other skills. We must to take advantage of the influence that games have on learners, both inside and outside the classroom.

In the next video you can see how Tetris can help people learn Chinese characters: 

Is there a classic game that you think could be used for language learning? Let me know.

Footballers and languages⚽

We are in World Cup fever. Have you ever heard your favorite soccer player speaking another language during an interview?

A few days ago, I watched something interesting. During a World Cup interview, moderators didn't allow a reporter to ask questions in Spanish, which caused controversy. A fragment of the situation stated:

"...a Mexican journalist attempted to ask Moroccan defender Achraf Hakimi a question in Spanish. The player understood the question perfectly. He speaks fluent Spanish. He was born and raised in Spain. Yet the question was interrupted by a moderator." 

Here is the link where you will find more details about this controversy. The Language FIFA didn't Hear 

Despite this uncomfortable scenario, what caught my attention was the phrase "he speaks fluent Spanish," so this led me to ask myself how many languages the soccer players speak. Doing a bit of research, I found that this particular player is a polyglot; he speaks five languages fluently: Spanish, French, Arabic, English, and Italian. Hakimi's native language is Spanish because he was born and raised in Spain, but French and Arabic were refined through his time playing for Paris-Saint-Germain and the Moroccan national team.

We can see how language immersion influences the acquisition of a foreign language. As footballers, they have constant interaction with others (coaches and teammates) in a target language (local).

Other soccer players who speak multiple languages are: 

Romelu Lukaku (SSC Napoli): Speaks 8 languages, including French, Dutch, Lingala, English, Portuguese, Spanish, German, and Italian.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan (Inter Milan): Fluent in 8 languages, including Armenian, Russian, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Ukrainian.

Miralem Pjanić (retired professional footballer): Speaks 7 languages, including Bosnian, Luxembourgish, German, French, English, Italian, and Spanish.

Zlatan Ibrahimović (AC Milan): Speaks 5 languages, including Swedish, Bosnian, English, Spanish, and Italian

Petr Čech (retired professional footballer): Speaks up to 7 languages, including Czech, Slovak, English, French, German, Spanish, and Italian.

After knowing these polyglot players, do you feel motivated to learn a language now?

If you are curious about how soccer players learn languages, you should watch the next video:

How many languages does your favorite player know? Google it. You might be surprised.

Learning Languages keeps you young and boost your brain power

💪

In our daily lives, if we want to live longer, we need to have healthy habits. We eat well and exercise to strengthen our bodies, in the hope that we can ward off the effects of ageing, but what happens to our brains?

Does our brain age as well?

It is known that our brain can learn anything we want, and it doesn't matter whether we are adults or children; the brain is always acquiring new knowledge and adapting to new experiences. This process is known as neuroplasticity, but we need to nurture it properly. 

In this digital era, our brains are constantly exposed to social media, and that affects our brains, but we can avoid this when we learn something new. We need to create new neuronal connections, which are really important for our health because they influence the way we adapt, learn, and also help us avoid cognitive decline. By doing so, research suggests that language learning could even reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease and dementia. You can read more in detail about this in the next link: A Healthy Brain: Use it or Lose it 

You may be thinking: "It is not necessary to learn a language; I can learn another skill instead."

yes, but....

 When you decide to learn a foreign language, you are not only improving your brain health, but you are giving yourself the chance to improve your CV and obtain more job opportunities, which is really great.

Learning languages acts as training for your brain. You keep your brain active by learning new structures, memorizing new words, and comprehending new contexts, etc. For that reason, it helps keep your brain younger and healthier because you build cognitive reserve. Also, abilities such as decision- making, problem-solving, help keep your mind quick and flexible because of the new neuronal connections developed through the learning process.

You don't need to be fluent in a language to have benefits for your brain; you need to start to learn. 

Why not begin today? 🎉

In the next video, you can learn more about how learning a language rewires your brain:

The hardest language is easy

 When we talk about languages, and we think about which is the hardest for us, the answer will vary depending on the person's perception. If a language has similarities to our native language, this will be easier to learn, whereas if it is completely different, it will be difficult. For that reason, many people give their opinion based on grammar or pronunciation, or even the written system. 

Considering the writing system, learners usually think of  Mandarin Chinese as the most difficult; the characters seem really difficult to learn and write, at least for Spanish and English speakers. However, despite the complexity of writing and the pronunciation of the vowels, this language is surprisingly easier than you think.

Why?

I'd heard that verbs are not conjugated in Chinese, and after quickly researching, I found that it is true and other interesting characteristics of the language. While in other languages the verb needs to change based on tense (in Spanish, we have a lot of conjugations), in Mandarin, verbs do not change based on tense, gender, or pronouns. For me, this sounds really good; I wouldn't be worried about what the correct form of the verb is in the different tenses. Additionally, Chinese follows an SVO pattern, which, as a Spanish speaker, I used to. Learning a language that uses the same sentence structure as your native language is easier than familiarize with a new structure.

I would like to learn Mandarin, but I'm still working on my English skills. If you want to learn Mandarin but think it's really hard, you can watch the next video from Quimei Mandarin. Maybe you will find motivation:

Perhaps in another post, I'll go into more detail about the reasons why Chinese is an easy language to learn. 😉

 What language is the most difficult for you?