Author Susanna Zaraysky Teaches Language Through Music

By Michael Lopez

In today’s world, being multilingual is a huge asset. It can help increase your employment opportunities, open the lines of communication and save you from having to read subtitles for such amazing films as Biutiful. Although learning a new language can be difficult, Susanna Zaraysky’s book Language Is Music makes it a lot less painful and a lot more fun! Susanna sat down with Blogamole for an exclusive interview to discuss her unique process.

“My philosophy is that you first have to listen to a language before you start speaking it,” Zaraysky said. And she’s definitely one to know. So far Susanna’s mastered seven languages, including French, Russian, Spanish and Italian.

And if you think you’ll need to bury your face in boring textbooks or overpriced Rosetta Stone software to get to her level, think again. Susanna’s approach relies more on pop culture than pop quizzes.

“To learn a language, I wouldn’t want to be on a computer,” she explained.

“There are a lot of English speakers who are listening to Shakira, who are listening to Juanes, who are listening to music in Spanish. If they were to listen to it with the purpose of later on learning Spanish, it would help them a lot because they’ll pick up words without even realizing it.”

Language Is Music offers more than 70 different tips on how music, TV and film could help you stretch beyond your native tongue, including switching your iPad menu to a different language or listening to a foreign news broadcast.

Which music artists make the best idioma instructors?

“I try not to recommend artists too much because different people have different styles," Susanna said. "Although I really love Marc Anthony because he has really good elocution.”

We got plenty of other interesting techniques out of Susanna, but we’d hate to spoil the fun of reading the entire book. Visit her website for more tidbits on how to expand your worldwide vocabulary, and don't forget to add Language Is Music to your cart while you’re there.

What’s the next language that you’d like to learn? Sound off in the comments or @MTV3.

Tags Books, Cultura, Education, Exclusive Entrevistas, Language Is Music, Languages, Susanna Zaraysky