Maureen Stimola Last updated: April 10, 2023

The Language of Music: 19 Phenomenal Bilingual Songs That Connect Us All

Bilingual music is the language lover’s dream realized.

It’s a pure, joyful celebration of the diverse world we inhabit.

And, as it turns out, it’s pretty freaking cool—bilingual music is starting to both dominate the charts and capture our hearts.

Now it’s only a matter of time before kids are rocking multiple languages for kicks.

Bilingualism, until now, has been either a fact of life (you live in a place where multiple languages are used) or a uniquely fascinating (albeit somewhat nerdy) talent.

Being bilingual might just be the next big trend that takes the world by storm—and wouldn’t that be awesome?

The answer is “yes, it would be awesome.” And here’s why!

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Why Bilingual Songs Are Great for Language Learners

There are just so many beautiful ways to look at it (or, rather, listen to it): Multiple languages are respected as forms of expression, bridges are connected and people from different backgrounds can sing along to the same tune. As they say, languages aren’t just different sets of words for the same objects and ideas—different languages are actually totally different ways of seeing the world and expressing thought. By engaging in musical expression with multiple languages, bilingual songs are intrinsically more nuanced than monolingual songs.

Not to mention, bilingual songs are powerful pieces which capture glimpses of bilingual culture. For example, Chicano music blends English and Spanish to reflect the natural mix of languages found in Mexican-American communities.

Bilingual music is also the best recipe for high-powered learning. When music and multiple languages collide, your brain kicks into overdrive. There’s so much complex information entering your brain that the gears automatically get whirring.

Music boosts brainpower and language retention, while bilingualism boosts your hearing and attentiveness. That means the more music you listen to, the better your brain is at absorbing language. The more time you spend becoming bilingual and learning languages inside and out, the more receptive your brain becomes to music and other input. Now, imagine what your brain is capable of when you feed it both language and music together!

Then there’s the obvious benefit of listening to bilingual songs: It’s fun.

Singing along to music sneakily gives us language learning practice. It’s even ideal for raising bilingual children, as they’ll simply be enjoying themselves while learning languages in the process. Same goes for you, grown-ups. You’re so busy jamming along to the tune that you don’t even realize you’re deftly swapping between languages.

Mastering the Spanish rap interlude in your favorite pop song adds an element of challenge to the experience—and when you finally master that bit of the song, the satisfaction and pride you feel is beyond compare. Like, how cool are you?

How to Learn Languages with Bilingual Songs

Find songs that blend languages.

Many songs use two (or more) languages equally, switching back and forth throughout. These are great for training your brain to work with both languages at once. Sure, you may tell yourself that you don’t want to speak Denglish (Deutsche + English) better than pure German, but it can be pretty freaking useful.

What if you’re translating for a party of German and English speakers? What if you someday need to translate for your English-speaking parents and your German-speaking mother-in-law so they can get to know each other? Maybe someday you’ll even become an ambassador, professional translator or tour guide.

Listen to songs with two different versions, one for each featured language.

Many bilingual artists record multiple versions of their hit songs. For example, you’ve probably been rocking out to Enrique Iglesias’s “Bailando” on the Top 100 channel over the past year. Well, he’s got a 100% Spanish version of the song which is arguably even better.

Try listening to both. Favor the version in your target language until you’ve mastered those lyrics. Once you can sing along perfectly in your target language, switch over to the English version and compare and contrast the lyrics. How has it been changed?

Check out covers in your target language.

Take your favorite English songs and search for them in your target language. If it’s a popular song, chances are good that there’s a sweet cover out there on YouTube or Soundcloud in your target language.

I fell in love the first time I heard this Japanese rendition of “Tomorrow” from Annie. The first time I heard Seu Jorge’s Portuguese version of “The Life Aquatic” album by David Bowie? Pure magic!

Get down with the remix.

Explore the Internet by searching for your favorite song remixed in your target language. For example, are you a Spanish learner who loves (or gets some guilty pleasure from) Rihanna?

Then a search for “Diamonds Spanish remix” will take you to the original RiRi favorite overlaid with a Puerto Rican artist’s original rap. Now you get your favorite song mixed in with some Spanish learning time.

Try some bilingual songs for kids.

The following resources are designed for bilingual kids who are growing up learning English and another language. Use them as a starting place!

French: Globe Toddlers | Sarah Jordan English-French bilingual collection | Alaine le Lait—French Songs for Kids | Songs for Teaching

Spanish: Sarah Jordan English-Spanish bilingual collection | Mariana Iranzi

Chinese: Sarah Jordan English-Mandarin bilingual collection

Japanese: MamaLisa

19 Bilingual Songs That Bring the World Closer

It’s finally time to listen to some great songs!

The songs I’ve got for you below are grouped by the languages in which they’re sung. We’ll start off with a couple multilingual musical works (sung in 3+ languages). Then we’ll move on to a few English and French bilingual songs, followed by songs sung in German, Spanish, Japanese and more.

1. “L-O-V-E” by Nat King Cole

Languages: English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Japanese

What it’s all about: Love, of course! Multilingual, international love (no, not the kind Pitbull sings about). This song sings the same upbeat message about love in six languages.

Nat King Cole’s accent is perhaps a bit off in some languages, but give the guy a break while he tries to spread the love, okay? Anyway, it feels darn good to see an American showing off his linguistic chops.

2. Album: “eXtraOrdinary rendition” by Rupa & the April Fishes

Languages: English, French, Spanish, Hindi

What it’s all about: The song above, “Une americane a Paris,” is only sung in French, but it comes from the extraordinarily multilingual “eXtraOrdinary rendition album,” which is like one long—sometimes tormented, sometimes joyful—love song to the world.

The song itself captures one brief experience had by the lead singer, an American with Indian roots, while living abroad in France. If you’ve traveled or lived abroad, even if you’ve never had an experience similar to what’s told in this story-cum-song, you’ll probably relate to the lyrics to some degree.

The frontwoman of this musical group, Rupa, is a lifelong multilingual, part-time doctor, part-time musician and all-around fascinating human being. Her parents hail from India, she was born in San Francisco and the whole family relocated to France when she was still quite young. So, she has grown up with a beautiful mix of languages—and also some confusion about her roots and identity.

While no one song on the album is bilingual, you can purchase the full album and take a look at the multilingual track list. The colorful, soulful music really manages to capture the ups and downs of an international life that crosses every border imaginable.