Copying Sounds, Rhythm and Tune
Say back what you hear: the sounds, the beat of the phrase, and the way the voice rises and falls. Songs, chants and rhymes carry all three at once.
What a learner can do afterwards
- Repeat a short phrase closely enough that a speaker of the language recognises it
- Join in with a song or chant in the new language and keep its rhythm
- Copy the rise or fall of the voice in a question the way it was said
1 · Read
Copying means saying back what you hear. Hear the whole phrase first. Then pause. Then say it back the same way.
Jon learns a song in a new language. First he hums the tune. Then he adds the easy words. Then he sings the whole line. The tune helps him hold the words.
Each phrase holds its own music. The voice rises and falls. In a question it often moves up. Copy the moves like you sing them back.
Say it big and slow first. Open wide and move your lips. Say every bit out loud. Do not swallow the ends of words.
Hear it whole, copy its sounds and its tune, and say every bit out loud.
2 · Watch
Take it off screen
Where it sits
8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.