Ms. Claudia’s 10 Mandarin-pop songs for kids

My Mandarin journey began when I was 15 years old. I could read and write Chinese but never spoke Mandarin until then! I learned Mandarin pretty much entirely by listening to Mandarin songs and singing karaoke.

In fact, learning songs in your target language has been said to have helped many people reach their language goals:

I really like how this blog summarises why learning through music is effective (here). I have modified some of the ideas here:

• Catchy music makes you remember: You are likely to keep singing the song over and over again if a song is easy to remember, lyrics included, which is the perfect way to ‘memorise’ phrases and expressions!

• You can listen to music anywhere: You can also listen to songs when multitasking such as cooking, exercising, driving and taking public transit, etc. This makes the language input more likely to happen since music is portable.

• Singing improves your pronunciations: You are likely to pay attention to the artist’s lyrics, and imitating their pronunciation as you learn a new song.

If you are sick of the Chinese versions of “Wheels on the bus” or “两只老虎“ you may want to consider putting the following songs on repeat instead! I’ve chosen songs that have a catchy tune, well-written lyrics, containing themes about friendships, Chinese culture, spending time, and love.

Some of these songs also happen to be my favorite songs.

Please scroll to the bottom for the Spotify list!

小手拉大手

“Hand in hand”

好想你

“I miss you”

“It’s a Long Day”

学猫叫

“Meowing like cat”

龙的传人

“Descendants of Dragons”

五月天

“May day“

特别的人

“A special one”

时光机

“Time machine”

有点甜

“A bit sweet”

小酒窝

“Dimples“

中国话

“Chinese language”

I’ve added more songs since!

Link to Spotify playlist (here)

Since writing this post, I’ve had numerous opportunities to sing together with Kai in the languages that we speak. I’ve documented the songs here:

If there are any songs that should go on this list, do leave a comment below! If you want more language learning tips, follow me on Instagram @msclaudias_bento