But this is really fun, and it is totally based on my real life experience with both language learning and teaching.
Píšničky! Songs!
The idea is this: why not supplement my learning with songs that are somehow relevant/have some sort of connection to some grammar/vocabulary thing I am learning? Since I've been organizing my weeks around the idea of focusing on ten basic, frequent vocab words, why not find ten songs with them and listen to them over and over and over?
Here are the most obvious cons to songs-for-learning that I can think of:
- Songs are not always grammatically correct, or grammatically predictable. Sometimes they are "creative." In fact, it is possible that more often they break the rules than they follow them. By the way that is a problem that could totally be measured by using the right corpus of song lyrics and corpus linguistics methods :-) ahhhh!! But I digress.
- Song lyrics are not always easy to understand. I guess the most meaningful songs have multiple layers of meaning and these might not be apparent to second language learners. There are often cultural barriers to understanding, as well.
- Songs are not organized by sentences but more like phrases, verses, and rhymes. If you want to learn how to talk, I guess you should definitely not limit yourself to songs.
But I really think that the pros of using songs-for-learning outweigh the cons, at least for a non-novice:
- Songs are FUN! Fun matters in language learning. It affects motivation.
- Songs are extremely easy to memorize. For example, it has been about 24 hours, and I have most of these songs almost totally memorized. That is...really saying something about memorization.
- Songs do give language in context, most often by things like small phrases. This is extremely helpful when it comes to trying to sort out and quickly access pády. If you have a phrase playing over and over and over in your head, like "čeho se bát" then it really sticks much better than any other way.
- It is very fun to talk about with my collaborators. Today I texted and skyped with three people, and talked about this with all of them. All of them just lit up with excitement to hear me take an interest in their music, though this music is not especially anybody's favorite. Including mine, by the way.
- These songs are playing over and over in my head involuntarily. That is a good thing!
- There are cultural things that can be learned from exposure to both the music, music videos, sound of the voice, the comments in the youtube section, etc. It is very authentic.
- ...and in the future, if I hear these songs somewhere, I will be able to sing along.
This isn't my first exposure to Czech music, but I guess it's the first time I've tried to make a playlist and listen to it over and over. I have experienced being in the Czech republic and hearing a song on the radio in a store that I knew, and it was a really great feeling that can't really be explained. Like, "Hey! I am on the inside of this thing."
So now the fun part!
Co jsme měli jako slova?
Polovina, běžný, ohled, osud, prosadit, prozradit, shoda, bok, uplatnit, hraní
Ty písničky
Polovina
Je chlapec, a nemá rad svou manželku/partnerku (ale zní, že musí sní stát, tak pravděpodobně je jeho manželka?). Nevíme přesně proč nemá ji rád, ale víme, že ona není statečná pro ně, že chce víc. On je smutný, beze naděje. Ale nic nedělá, jenom si stěžuje. Připomíná mi tohle písničku od Dashboard Confessional:
Tak, dvě hvězdičky maximálně pro každou kategorii:
(this is judging the song on how good it is *for learning*. I really hope that you do not extrapolate my actual cumulative feelings about these songs from this judgment - 'cuz I really don't actually personally know how I feel for most of 'em! But I'd love to talk about it with you!)
Je to pochopitelné : asi jo *
Je to památné? : ano **
Je to hloupé? (čím hloupější, tím lépe) : ** rozhodně
Líbí se mi melodie a hlas? * jo, a asi ne, kňučí!
Líbí se mi, co to znamená? Vůbec ne. To je jenom já potřebuju já potřebuju já potřebuju...bolí mě srdce. Nejsi dost. A podobně.
Nejlepší texty: "pomalu otevírám oči" is a good example of this verb aspect, except I kinda think the correct spelling is "otvírám". I will have to think about this some more.
total score: 6/10
Běžný
Je žena. Nemá ráda jeho manžel/partner, asi on ji porazí nebo jenom není dost laskavý (ona je s Markem Ztraceným? haha). Stěžuje si o tom, ale nakonec nechce nic změnit. Tak zůstává s ním. Je hloupá, nebo co?
Je to pochopitelné : jo, ale má hodně slov *
Je to památné? : asi příliš **
Je to hloupé? (čím hloupější, tím lépe) : Velmi velmi hloupé **
Líbí se mi melodie a hlas? Velmi 80's. Mám ráda melodie * Nemám moc ráda hlas.
Líbí se mi, co to znamená? Asi ne. She is totally spineless. Just like the previous guy. Haha.
Nejlepší texty: Hledat jdeš snad svoje předvčerejší léta. <-- I really like this word, "předvčerejší". There is not one word that encapsulates that in English. You smack it together with léta and it is pretty sad and romantic.
Total score: 6/10
Ohled
Je žena. Nemám ráda, že jeho manžel chrápe, a si na to stěžuje. Je to legrační.
Je to pochopitelné : **
Je to památné? : velmi, haha **
Je to hloupé? (čím hloupější, tím lépe) : veeeelmi **
Líbí se mi melodie a hlas? ano, it is surprisingly country! Like, huh? Czech has country music? :-) **
Líbí se mi, co to znamená? Asi jo, * but I guess some of the lyrics are pretty rude. Like, "vystřelit" is probably pretty rude to say about a person. Also, I do not know what is supposed to come after "Takže je to s námi dvěma v..." Is it a rude word? Is it just v postelí? I dunno.
Nejlepší texty: Lots of great things going on here in terms of memorization. "Kdo má pořád poslouchat to tvý chrápání" - this form, this to tvý thing, that is great.
I also like "pak konečně snad najdu zasloužený klid." a "A doufám, že mám nárok sama chvíli být. Tak bys měl ke mně ohled mít." Pretty nice to have the idea of mít ohled ke někomu encapsulated in a super memorable, catchy tune.
Total score: 9/10
hraní
Well, this fails to have the word hraní. But it does have hrát. A LOT OF TIMES.
Je to pochopitelné : actually, I dunno. For the words? Yes. For the meaning? ehhhh...**
Je to památné? : **
Je to hloupé? (čím hloupější, tím lépe) : **!
Líbí se mi melodie a hlas? ** jo, je to zábavné
Líbí se mi, co to znamená? Nevím. I am just really unclear what the exact attitude is that these guys have about the US army and my culture's obsession with military involvement around the world. It is, frankly, really fascinating to me that this song could be written and sung in Czech. They are either making fun of the USA, or not. It kinda seems like...they aren't. I will have to explore this further before making a judgment call.
Nejlepší texty: "hrát hrát hrát, budou se nám smát, my si budem jako kluci na vojáky hrát." It just sounds so Czech in the word order. I love it. It has the form "budem" also.
Total score: tentative 8/10, subject to change
osud
Je to pochopitelné : ano, zpívá jásně **
Je to památné : ano **
Je to hloupé : (čím hloupější, tím lépe) asi normální, but I guess it is stupid in the same way that this song is stupid (they both sound really similar to me):
Líbí se mi, co to znamená? Eh, not really.
Nejlepší texty: "Osud mi tě přál a náhodou jsi blízko stál." "Jsi klaun a jsi kouzelník..."
Well, that is only half of this week's songs, and my time for writing has quickly expired. Danny's been hard at work on his master's stuff, but now he's done for the evening, and it is pretty late. More tomorrow. Because I have opinions about the current song which is totally stuck like superglue in my head, "mám boky jako skříň..." ugggh :-D It's like...well I guess you will have to wait until tomorrow.
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