In case you missed it, A.I. text-to-speech leader ElevenLabs is the latest platform to join the generative music scene – so language learners and teachers have another choice for creating original learning songs.
ElevenLabs’ Creative Platform ElevenMusic takes a much more structured approach to music creation that other platforms I’ve tried. Enter your prompt (or full lyrics), and it will build a song from block components – verse, chorus, bridge – just as you might construct one as a human writer. It makes for a much more natural-sounding track.
ElevenLabs music creation
As you’d expect from voice experts ElevenLabs, the service copes with a wide range of languages and the diction is very convincing. A tad more so, I think, than the current iteration of the first big name on the block, Suno AI. No doubt the latter will have some tricks up its sleeve to keep up the pace – but for now, ElevenLabs is the place to go for quick and catchy learning song.
It’s definitely worth having a play on the site to see what you can come up with for you or your classes. ElevenLabs has a free tier, of course, so you can try it out straight away. [Note: that’s my wee affiliate link, so if you do sign up and hop on a higher tier later, you’re helping keep Polyglossic going!]
French was never one of my core language projects. It was always a bit of a distant, side interest – something I dipped into now and again. That was, until all sorts of fun stuff started happening in France (cough, Olympics and Paralympics 2024), and I realised how easy it was to flit there for some cultural immersion.
As a returner learner with a newfound love of France – it was my very first foreign language at school, after all – it was always about reactivation, rather than systematic learning from scratch. And one of the nicest ways back in has been music (and not just Eurovision, although that features quite high on my francophone pop playlists!).
Here are my top ten French tracks – and not a Eurovision track in sight, I promise. Track titles all link to Spotify, so you can add them to your own playlists!
Therapie Taxi spent just short of a decade spreading their edgy, alternative flavour of francopop. This existential, hypnotic ode to oblivious tipsiness is the best of a very good bunch.
I credit this one with teaching me a great colloquial phrase in French: j’ai la flemme de … (I can’t be bothered to…). It’s gloriously Gallic off-the-cuff, can’t-be-bothered apathy, wrapped in a catchy and infectious refrain I find myself humming for hours afterwards.
A feel-good French playlist couldn’t exist without some Matt Pokora, and you have two in my top ten. This track, a duet with TAL, featured on Génération Goldman, a homage to 80s superstar Jean-Jacques Goldman. Dare I say, the cover knocks the spots off the original.
Matt Pokora really spoils us in terms of solo tracks to add. I went for this cover of Frankie Valli’s Oh, What a Night!, as it’s just incredibly cheery – I defy you not to foot-tap along to this! It’s been covered by other French artists, but Matt’s takes the prize for happy-clappy production.
Malo almost breaks my non-Eurovision rule for this list – he was a contestant in Déstination Eurovision 2018, the show to select France’s entrant that year. He nearly made it, too, finishing in third, but it’s this follow-up song which is the standout for me. Quirky, cute and fun, it’s a always puts me in a good mood.
This one is pure club, and effortlessly cool. Released in 1994, it has a familiar hook, thanks to the George Benson Give Me The Night resample, but blends hip-hop and rap to produce one of the biggest French hits of the decade. It still sounds as fresh as it did the year of its release – some feat.
A French 80s classic, Voyage, voyage was given a huge public airing and second life as part of the Paris 2024 pre-event soundtrack. Absolutely timeless.
Arguably the French breakout hit of the early noughties, this one stormed the charts across Europe. Alizée’s debut single still holds up as sultry, slick French pop.
I’m old enough to remember Jimmy Somerville covering this evergreen. But Pomplamoose, a US alternative outfit with its heart (and now home) this side of the Atlantic, have turned it into something utterly dreamy. A warm, francophile hug of a track.
So there you have it – ten French bangers to bop (and learn) to. What would you put on your list? Feel free to share in the comments – always up for some extra choons!
If you’ve ever tried learning a new language, you’ll know the importance of immersion—hearing, reading, and speaking the language in real-life contexts. For learners of Irish, pop music offers an engaging and foot-tapping way to deepen your skills.
With a new generation of gaeilgeoirs, Irish-language pop music is flourishing, providing a soundtrack for learners that’s not only catchy but also incredibly useful for building vocabulary, understanding grammar, and developing a natural rhythm for the language.
The TG Lurgan Phenomenon
One of the most exciting movements in this fledgling Irish-language pop music comes from TG Lurgan, a YouTube channel that has captured the imagination of language learners and music lovers alike. TG Lurgan is part of Coláiste Lurgan, a summer school in Connemara that has taken an innovative approach to promoting Irish through music.
The channel is famous for its Irish-language covers of popular English songs, ranging from Ed Sheeran to Billie Eilish. By translating global hits into Irish, TG Lurgan creates an accessible bridge for learners familiar with the original versions. This familiarity helps you focus on understanding the Irish lyrics and comparing them to the English equivalents.
Take their rendition of “Someone You Loved” (“Duine ar Strae”) or their vibrant cover of Avicii’s “Wake Me Up” (which, dare I say, sounds even better than the original). These tracks are expertly produced and often come with subtitles (or, at the very least, lyrics in the description), making it easier to follow along and grasp the language. The benefit here is twofold: you’re improving your listening skills while enjoying the process of learning.
Beyond YouTube, many of their tracks are also on Spotify, so you can playlistify your favourites to work with (and to).
Other Artists to Explore
Beyond TG Lurgan, there’s a growing pool of talented Irish-language artists creating original music across various genres. Here are a few worth adding to your playlist:
– Seo Linn: Known for their collaborations with TG Lurgan, Seo Linn also release their own upbeat, original tracks in Irish. Songs like “Ár nAmhrán” (Our Song) and “Tú” are great for learners seeking modern and melodic material.
– KNEECAP: If you’re looking for something edgier, this Belfast-based hip-hop group combines Irish with English in a bold and irreverent way. Their music introduces slang and colloquial expressions that you won’t find in traditional textbooks. They’re likely already on your radar thanks to the eponymous drama which proved a recent hit!
– Clare Sands: Mixing traditional Irish elements with contemporary sounds, Clare Sands’ music is both atmospheric and accessible. Her bilingual tracks are particularly good for learners who are easing into Irish.
Why Pop As Gaeilge Matters
Pop music is a fantastic way to bring Irish out of the classroom and into your daily life. It reminds learners that Irish isn’t just a language of the past but a vibrant, living tongue with relevance in the modern world. By engaging with Irish-language pop, you’re not only improving your skills but also supporting a thriving cultural movement.
So plug in, sing out, and let Irish music bring your learning journey to life!
When it comes to Eurovision, I’m your man. Junior Eurovision, though, not so much.
It’s hard to believe that the kids’ version of our favourite contest has been with us since 2003 already. It’s a lovely idea – what’s not to like about showcasing young songwriting and performing skills?
But it became clear pretty early on that the target audiences for Eurovision and its junior counterpart didn’t quite overlap. Yes, there’s still the flag-waving excitement of a national competition. There’s still the razzamatazz of an expensive, slick TV extravaganza. But it can all feel a bit… twee. Great for other showbiz-minded kids (I’d have loved it as a theatrical pre-teen) and cooing grandparents, but not quite the banger-factory Eurovision proper had become.
Irish Surprise
So, imagine my surprise when Ireland popped up this year with a song that made me rethink the whole shebang. The country has tasked Irish-language station TG4 with selecting its junior entry since its 2015 debut, which has meant a stream of non-anglophone entries that are joy to polyglots’ musical ears. In fact, Junior Eurovision has been flying the flag for non-English entries well into ‘daddy’ Eurovision’s broken English-heavy, post-language rule phase.
It turns out that Junior Eurovision is very much a contest of two camps. On one hand, you do have the saccharine, milk tooth and pigtails contingent (which often wins thanks to a seemingly sentimental jury vote). On the other, you have a more grown-up side to the contest with the slightly older kids entering sometimes quite sophisticated pop. And so it is with Ireland this year, represented confidently by Enya Cox Dempsey and the Eurovision-worthy Le chéile (Together).
It’s the kind of tune you can dance to. It’s a mature, well-produced mix. And it has hooks for days. This is no cookie-cutter junior bop—it’s a song that could hold its own on the adult stage.
In the end – perhaps predictably – it didn’t fare so well in the voting, ending up 15th out of 17 (again, it’s those sentimental juries). But it was fresh, catchy and authentic, and well worth adding to a Gaeilge pop playlist.
In any case, props to TG4 for providing a stream of Irish-language bops to a wider European audience. There’s a lesson here for the grown-up event: Eurovision needs to reclaim its roots and embrace more authentic language diversity.
It feels like we only just said goodbye to the last one, and another Eurovision Song Content has rolled around again. Once a veritable garden of languages, all competing broadcasters were re-granted a free choice of song language in 1999. Sadly (for linguaphiles) that’s meant English lyrics for the most part.
But linguistic diversity has found a way, too, and not just thanks to those hardy regulars like France, Italy, Portugal and Spain that almost never disappoint with home-language lyrics. The 2023 edition saw the welcome return of tongues long-missed on the Eurovision stage, like Finnish and Russian.
So how does 2024 measure up against that pretty high bar?
The Eurovision Language Contest 2024
Big Firsts
Notably, we have two language debuts at this year’s contest. Azerbaijan, entering since 2008 without a word of Azeri, finally treats us to a few words of this beautiful Turkic language in the entry Özünlə apar (take me with you). And from Australia, a competing member of the family since 2015, we have the uplifting song One Milkali (One Blood) featuring lyrics in Yankunytjatjara, a Pama-Nyungan language from Western Australia. Azeri and Yankunytjatjara may not feature as their full entry texts, but it is a beautiful thing to celebrate new languages on the Eurovision stage!
As an aside, as one commenting fan dubbed it, it’s that moment when Yankunytjatjara makes it to Eurovision before Scottish Gaelic and Welsh. We UK fans live in hope…
There’s a first for Armenian, too. While we’ve heard the language in previous entries, 2024 is the first time it will be the sole language of an Armenian entry. Jako has a world music fusion vibe, and a simple message of be yourself, which is a noble sentiment in any language.
Many Happy Returns
The it’s been TOO long! prize must go to Norway this year. Norway has sent a song with Swahili lyrics (2010) more recently than it has one på norsk (2006). The latter, Christine Guldbrandsen’s Alvedansen, didn’t even do particularly badly, so heaven knows what put them off.
This year, though, Norwegian folk metallists Gåte were the surprise vanquishers of fan favourites Keiino, pipping them to the Norwegian ticket with the song Ulveham and breaking the Norwegian drought. Its beautifully haunting arrangement builds on traditional Kulning calls from the mountain herds of Norway, featuring lyrics drawn from Telemark dialect.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UipzszlJwRQ
While the return of Finnish was last year’s joy, its loss this year is tempered by the return of its close cousin, Estonian. The collaboration between 5miinust and Puuluup will present (Nendest) narkootikumidest ei tea me (küll) midagi (the crazily-titled We (sure) know nothing about (these) drugs), the first time Estonia has presented its national language since back-to-back eesti keel in 2012 and 2013. Incidentally, it wasn’t all English for Estonia in the interim – they achieved a solid top ten in 2018 with a song in Italian, of all tongues.
Going Dutch, Again
Dutch had fared similarly poorly in the anglophone takeover too – until recently. After one of many mid-noughties semifinal failures, the Netherlands ditched its national language following the 2010 contest. It took until 2022 for Dutch to pop up again, with considerable success – De diepte ended up of the left side of the scoreboard in the Torino contest. Two years later, Dutch is back again, this time with Joost Klein and Europapa.
Lithuania has also shied away from using its home tongue on the Eurovision stage. It took 21 years for the language to be heard again after a mediocre result in English and Lithuanian in 2001. But that return made the 2022 final, with Monika Liu scoring a solid result just outside the top ten. This year, Silvester Belt is aiming to do even better with the catchy Luktelk (Wait).
Greece will be looking to mirror that national language return to success, too. Greece’s last two attempts with full or partial Greek lyrics ended in very rare semifinal failure for the country, in 2016 and 2018. Marina Satti aims to be the first Greek-singing finalist since 2013, with a self-ironising, catchy, ethnopop banger.
Doubling Up
French and Spanish fans have an extra bite at the language cherry this year, and from perhaps surprising sources. Thanks to the return of Luxembourg to the contest – after an incredible 31 years away – we have a song with mixed French and English lyrics in the tally. As for Spanish, we can thank the Sammarinese win of Spanish rockers Megara for the fact that this year’s entry from the microstate will be in Spanish, not Italian or English.
Mixed Bag from the Balkans
We can always count on the Balkans for some non-anglophone fun at Eurovision. This year, we have, interestingly, two proper-name songs in Serbian Ramonda and Slovene Veronika. Only Albanian and Croatian lose out to English entries (although Croatia is doing very well for that as a pre-contest bookies’ favourite!).
The Hardy Annuals
And of course, we have our stalwarts, our indefatigable linguistic champions – France, Italy, Portugal and Spain. They’ve kept the national language flags flying almost without fail throughout the modern free-language era, and we should celebrate each of them for that. Italy in particular is a veritable feast of lyrics, with the hugely talented Angelina Mango firing them out in a fast-paced three minutes. Little wonder that she is also one of this year’s hot favourites for the top.
We might almost add Ukraine to this list, having not only sent, but won in Ukrainian in recent years. Ukraine opts for a cool mix this year with the duo Alyona Alyona and Jerry Heil.
And for the Germanists…
No consolation for the Germanists, this year – again. 2012 was the last time German – or at least a dialect of it – formed part of a Eurovision song lyric. That honour goes to Austria’s Woki mit dem Popo (pretty much shake your bumbum in Upper Austrian dialect), which failed to make the final that year.
Can you believe it’s been that long? Me neither. But there’s small consolation in the fact that Germany had a stonker of a song in their national final this year. Galant’s Katze (cat) may have fallen at the final hurdle, but it has all the makings of a cult classic.
Which are your favourite non-English entries this year? And which language do you yearn to hear again on the Eurovision stage? Let us know in the comments!
Pop music can be a really good route in foreign language learning.
Target language pop has long been a great way to practise listening. Diction tends to be slower and more deliberate, and you often have rhyme to help as an aide memoire. Learning snippets of song lyrics give you reusable phrases, as well as a feel for the sound shape of the language.
Up until now, it’s been a case of hunting down artists whose lyrics resonate with you. Easier said than done if you’re new to the target language culture. But now, thanks to a new AI-powered site, you can create music in a language and style of your choice, simply by asking for it!
Instant Music, On Demand
Suno.ai has emerged from obscurity in recent weeks to a flurry of excitement. It takes a musical prompt and transforms it into a fully threshed out track, vocals and all. And the best bit?
It works in multiple languages!
It’s incredibly simple to use – you don’t even need any actual lyrics to start with. In simple mode, you just describe, in simple terms, the song you want:
However, I’ve found it even better when combined with another platform to customise the lyrics. I used ChatGPT to create the text first, here, manually tweaked a little, then pasted into suno’ai’s Custom Mode for the music:
Here’s my rather jolly track “Der fröhliche Gorilla” from the above prompt, complete with album art. Sound quality is middling right now, but it’s exciting to think how much this will probably improve over the coming year. The free account also tends to chop tracks off suddenly, but for a free resource, it’s pretty great!
With a pretty generous 10 free tracks a day up to 1:20 long, you can get a lot out of the free tier. I may well upgrade in any case, as it’s so much fun, and so useful, that I’d love some longer, more polished tracks.
Created any tracks you’re proud of in suno.ai? Please share them with us in the comments!
There’s always Piaf. Even in a dearth of foreign-language shows, the empress of chanson usually makes an appearance each festival, and this is one of two name-checking her this year. The focus, however, is the move into ye-ye in the 1960s, and the subsequent Americanisation of the French sound. It’s a two-date affair only, with fans still able to catch singer Christine Bovill’s second show at the Loretto School Theatre on 19th August.
C Arts is hosting this digital, on-demand celebration of all things chanson by Stefanie Rummel. With tickets sold on a pay what you can basis, it’s a very accessible way to enjoy the festival even if you’re not in Edinburgh.
Entwining narrative and a whole host of arias, Lieder and musicals numbers in their original languages, the Baroness treats punters to classical singing with a rags-to-riches storyline. Touted as fun for both opera fans and the opera-curious, it’s running at theSpace up to the 22nd August.
Singing, amongst other numbers, songs by Lorca, soprano Silvia Mirarchi and guitarist Luca Villani serve up entertainment for the hispanists amongst us. It’s one show only, so be quick – they’ll be performing at artSpace@StMarks on Friday 25th August.
Polish learners are in for an unexpected treat with this original language production, based on Adam Mickiewicz’s poetic drama Dziady. With shows running up to the 27th August, you can catch it at the Summerhall venue.
Have you caught any of these? Have we missed any gems? Let us know in the comments!
Music from other countries was a big early draw to foreign languages for me. The lyrics seemed magical, if only I could memorise and sing along to them.
As a wee young thing, I would sit rewinding and replaying CDs, tapes and videos (largely Eurovision, as that was the best multilingual source in those pre-web days) trying to transcribe what I heard. If I really liked a song, I’d get hold of a dictionary in its language, and try to match those rough transcriptions with a translation.
It was a labour of love, and often a labour in vain – like trying to climb Mount Everest before I could walk.
But those early games with lyrics prepared me more than I realised for all the language learning I went on to do. I not only learnt vocabulary and grammar, but accent, intonation, differing phonologies, relationships between languages, differences between language groups, other writing systems… The list goes on.
One-Click Lyrics
These days, of course, it’s a whole lot easier to get hold of lyrics to foreign language songs you love. Not that transcription isn’t still a great exercise for all the reasons above. But for when you just want to sing along, your hymn sheet is just a search away.
The thing about lyrics sites is that they have often not been the best examples of friendly, cutting-edge web design out there. You still find plenty of examples of clunky, basic sites, often peppered with ads to make them financially viable to run. But there are some gems amongst the chaff. Here are some of the best I’ve found for language learning!
As you’d expect from the site that bagged that URL, Lyrics.com is a pretty comprehensive lyrics search engine. It boasts a wealth of international lyrics, as you can see by their hefty catalogue of Gigliola Cinquetti’s hits, for example.
Genius.com likewise has an impressive number of non-English language songs included in its banks. I was particularly impressed at the number of Norwegian titles they had, as you can see from their page on norsk star Anita Skorgan. For me, that’s a good barometer of how many ‘mainstream’ language songs they must have, too!
While not quite as slick as its two cousins above, SongLyrics.com is nonetheless a good place to go if you have little luck searching elsewhere. They have a great list of tracks by French singer Alizée, for example; you’ll be warbling along to Moi… Lolita in no time.
Last but not least, and it’s one I’ve sung the praises of before, it’s Diggiloo Thrush. Dislaimer: this is all about the vintage Eurovision lyrics. It’s been lovingly maintained for years now, and has original contest lyrics as well as other language versions, translations and transliterations for many non-Latin scripts. Basically a goldmine if you dream of singing along with Edyta Górniak.
For the non-initiated, this is the least transparent site name of all. If you’re wondering, it refers to Sweden’s winning entry of 1984 (Diggi-loo, Diggi-ley) and the Eurovision 1992 mascot and national bird of Sweden, the song thrush.
Singing from a Different Sheet
So there you have it; four sites to go wild with foreign language lyrics. It’s also worth nothing that the Spotify app now includes lyrics that scroll along with many popular songs. I was very chuffed to find they’d given that treatment to a favourite French pop song by a favourite French band recently, Coma Idyllique by Therapie Taxi. Merci, Spotify!
If anything is missing in the mix, though, it’s a resource to browse for lyrics – and new songs – by language. Webmasters, if you’re reading this…
There’s an underexploited, rich seam of fun, bite-sized authentic materials out there. Especially if you find yourself reminiscing wistfully on your childhood television memories. Bring on the cartoon themes – in translation!
Now, I’m not talking about the big, blockbusting Disney feature animations. Those are, of course, a different subtype of this genre (and no less handy for language learning).
Instead, this is about pure nostalgia of the small-time kids’ shows of yesteryear as an engine for language learning. It’s about reliving those half-forgotten, often very modest-budget productions with some of the catchiest tunes composed for TV. Many a bored moment I’ve spent idly browsing YouTube, wondering along the lines of “what did ‘Dogtanian and the Muskahounds’ sound like in Polish?”. And yes, YouTube really does have almost everything in its cartoon themes annals. As obscure as you care you conjure up, it’s probably there.
And go on then… While we’re at it, let’s throw Disney back into the mix. Just not the big cinema headliners, but the cartoon series of decades past with some of the biggest earworms of all.
Ah, the soundtracks to our childhoods.
It’s not just a trip down memory lane, of course. It’s the geekiest (and most satisfying) of language learning party tricks to memorise the lyrics to these wee jingles, ready to reel off and impress friends and family at the slightest cue. And, like all automatic, rote memorisation tasks (like the mass sentence technique), it’s a brilliant exercise for phonetic finessing of pronunciation, accent and prosody. That’s not to mention the extra vocab you’ll pick up along the way.
That’s not to say you shouldn’t try to transcribe them as you hear them first, of course. They just help with some of the more magical vocabulary. No way was I going to get that “περιπέτεια συγκλονιστική” meant “astounding adventure” without help!
It’s an exciting week ahead for lovers of language and music. Firstly…
It’s Eurovision Week!
As you’ll know, my polyglot passions and love for the content are tightly intertwined, so Eurovision is a very special treat once a year. Even more so this year, since the 2020 event was cancelled due to the worsening Covid-19 situation. There will be a lot to celebrate in Rotterdam on Saturday the 22nd.
Since the free language rule was reintroduced in 1999, however, the non-English entries have dwindled. Saying that, there are still rich pickings for those eager for songs in other tongues. Italy and France are currently the top favourites to win – and both sung in the countries’ native languages. Malta, while mainly sung in English, is a vehicle for a very handy colloquial French phrase, “je me casse” (I’m outta here). And, admirably, Denmark has elected to sing in Danish this year, and what a catchy little synth bop it is, too. It has been quite a while since we last heard Danish sung at the contest!
I still keep my hand in writing about the contest, and you can follow my regular bookies’ roundup articles at esctoday.com. Have to keep on top of those odds!
The Polyglot Gathering (Online)
Appropriately, Eurovision week coincides with another jamboree of coming together in language and culture: the Polyglot Gathering. It’ll be my first, although I got great vibes from my inaugural Polyglot Conference in Slovenia too, and expect the level of linguistic revelry and ribaldry to be at least as high.
Due to the ongoing Coronavirus crisis, it will be quite a different gathering this year. Originally slated to take place in Teresin, Poland, it would have been the perfect opportunity to practise my Polish. Fortunately, the organisers have planned in a couple of online practice rooms for Polish learners, so I’ll still get my polski fix (as well as all the rest!).
It’s still not too late to register at the official site if it takes your fancy. I hope to see many of you there!
In Other Language News…
Oh – and bookshops are open to walk around and browse again where I am. It has been too long, friends. Absolute heaven. I hope you’ve experienced a bit of a return to the ‘good old days’ where you are, too. Long may things continue to improve!
