The accent and the tonality when learning languages

Music is a good ally when it comes to teaching our children to grasp the different sounds related to human language. The different tones offered by the musical pieces will help them to capture nuances, and this will be of great help when it comes to learning a language.

The classical music is the best to start in this task, given the richness we find in their melodies. Another useful method is the Tomatis, which offers a system of auditory stimulation specially designed to facilitate the integration of other languages through the Electronic Ear and special tapes of the language, so that educates the ear to correctly perceive the sounds of it, making them familiar. The program does not eliminate the need to study the desired language, but it allows you to listen to it, reproduce it and integrate it more quickly and naturally.

Although, in principle, it may seem like a sterile endeavor, in a few years, when the child really begins to study his second language, we can congratulate ourselves, as we will have greatly facilitated the way.

Do we accent the Spanish speakers?

The Spanish language is a language very rich in vocabulary and grammar, but poor in variety of sounds. This is because the richness of a language in sounds is measured by the number of vowels it contemplates. And, precisely, the Spanish language has only five vowels, although there are many consonants that accompany them.

Another factor that we must not forget is that it is a tongue full of bass tones, while it is scarce in treble. For this reason, Spaniards who learn a second language outside their sensitive period -between 1 and 4 years-, usually have a bad accent.

On the other hand, given that ours is a language with a particularly complex grammar, we do not find it especially difficult to learn others, and we can read and write them quite easily.

On the contrary, it is very normal to find foreigners who speak Spanish with a good accent but who use very poor constructions in their sentences, because it is very difficult for them to learn our grammar.

Tips for acquiring not accent in another language

- Classical music is a very effective auditory stimulus. Accustoming the child to listen to composers such as Mozart or Vivaldi will give him the opportunity to know a wide spectrum of sounds, some of which - for example, the highs - are rare in the Spanish language. Repeating this exercise regularly will prepare you to correctly capture the accents of the different languages.

- The songs in English, French, German ... are a perfect instrument to accustom our son to the correct pronunciation of each language. We will encourage you to sing with the album, but without doing it, so as not to distort that perception.

- Children's computer games and programs, especially those that are very interactive, can be good instruments for learning a second language.

- Visit a foreign country with our children it provides the opportunity to learn more about the language, but also new customs and cultures that will encourage them to learn. In some areas especially tourist, or when circumstances permit, the opportunity to interact with a foreign family that has children of the same age as ours may be presented.

- The videos in original version They can also be of great help and encouragement, provided they are not too long (so that the child does not get tired) and that consist of many more images than dialogues. The songs, when they exist, enrich their effect, but the most important thing is that the child does not have the chance to see the same videos also in Spanish. If he does, he will already know the meaning of what he hears and will not put an interest in understanding.

Conchita Requero