I’m always looking for new ways to make language learning enjoyable and compelling. That makes it easier and sustainable in the long term. As I enjoy listening to music in foreign languages, I create my own exercises using song lyrics. You can do the same in Spanish. I believe this is a terrific method to help you improve your Spanish spelling and listening skills.
These are the steps:
- Pick a song you really like in Spanish
- Get a pen and paper or open a text processor in your computer or phone
- Hit play and pause after one or two lines of voice/text
- Write down the lyrics of the fragment
- Go back to Step 3 and 4 until you finish transcribing the lyrics of the full song
- Search the lyrics of the song online and put it side by side with your transcription
- Rejoice in what you got right!
- Review any missing or misspelled words (Bonus: add these words to a notebook or flashcard system for later review!)
It’s important to choose songs you enjoy. I like doing my song dictations on Notepad, but Google Docs, Word, or any text app on your phone should work fine as well. You can listen to the bits of the song as many times as you need. If you are up for a real challenge, you can try doing the whole song limiting yourself to just one listen for each fragment (every 5 or 10 seconds). Try your best to guess the exact spelling for each word. There may be words you won’t be able to figure out now. It’s okay! Eventually, you’ll be able to do it 😉
Once you’ve completed the song’s transcription, search the lyrics online (you can type the song’s name and add the word letra, such as in ‘el día que me quieras letra’). Compare the text of the original with your copy and look for opportunities to learn and get better. And remember not to weigh you down for any mistakes or missing parts! Learning a language is a process. If you continue spending time with Spanish, getting feedback, and being intent on improving, you will get better and better 🙂
