While it may feel like you’re not learning anything when you hear a Japanese 曲 (kyoku, song), it turns out that listening to music in a foreign language does have a positive impact on language learning. Research shows that listening to music can improve familiarity, pronunciation, syntax, memorization and more.
Some might claim that listening to Japanese music without a specific study focus is 役に立たない (yaku ni tatanai, not useful), but this isn’t necessarily true. The benefits to passive listening may be subtle, but they can build up over the years. The more time you spend exposed to the Japanese language, the better, so even casual listening can help. For a 初心者 (shoshinsha, beginner), exposure to music can help you familiarize yourself with the 音 (oto, sounds), リズム (rizumu, rhythm) and 発音 (hatsuon, pronunciation) of the Japanese language.
Although listening to your favorite Japanese song, no matter the genre, can passively build familiarity with the language, Japanese still takes a long time to learn. Accordingly, more focused studying will have a more pronounced impact. Fortunately, there are three great ways to use music to learn Japanese: 暗記 (anki, memorization), カラオケ (karaoke) and 筆写 (hissha, transcribing). Let’s dive into how each of these study activities work, and then discuss potential songs to use for 初心者, 中級者 (chūkyūsha, intermediate learners) and 上級者 (jōkyūsha, advanced learners).