Rap your way to English Fluency

A good friend of mine, Zoran Lekovic, has earned himself a language prize for teaching Danish with Danish rap music. He’s originally from Bosnia and moved to Denmark in his early school years. For a short time, he was the only kid that didn’t speak the language, but he was soon given some music that would change his life forever. Danish rap. 

Now he teaches the language through rap music with fun and free weekly classes. So, where am I going with this? Well, his classes really inspired me. Firstly, because I could see how fun this method was, and secondly, because it actually works. 

Now, you may not be a fan of rap music, and that’s fine, but if you’re looking for a new way to gain confidence, improve pronunciation, and move a step closer to fluency, I recommend you give it a chance. Of course, we’re going to focus on English, not Danish, but this could translate to virtually any language. 

You see, the reason rap music is so good for pronunciation, is because rappers, in general, talk when they “rap”. They don’t stretch the vowel sounds half as much as singers, and quite often, they say the words exactly as you would say them when buying groceries in the supermarket. 

Don’t get me wrong, you have to choose your songs wisely, and your songs choice will also be influenced by the accent you’re interested in, but if you use good clean songs with a good amount of vocabulary, you’ll get a lot of benefits. 

Rappers tend to be word geeks. They love to play with words and use a lot of vocabulary in each song. So not only will you improve pronunciation, but you’ll also get a lot of new words. Still not convinced? Rapping will also give you a lot of confidence because if you can rap for three-five minutes none stop, hitting every word perfectly, hell, shopping will be easy. 

Try changing the speed of songs. You can easily adjust speed on YouTube or other music programs such as VLC Player. Try at super slow speed, and speed the song up until you can rap it at a higher speed than the original. When you’re hitting the words quickly, you know you’re getting it. 

If you’re not sure where to start, try songs such as Will Smith’s Just the Two of Us and Wild Wild West or Atmosphere – The Best Day. One of my personal favourites is Outkast – I Like the Way You Move.

Do you have any favourite songs you use for learning English? Share them below! 

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