Art Meets Language: Creative Ways to Combine Learning and Creating

One of the ways to save some time and make the most of combining your activities when you can. And if you combine making art and language learning, both can benefit!

Let’s find out how!

Note: Unfortunately, many of these tips work better with more widespread target languages, like English or Spanish, for instance. The rarer your target language the harder it will be to find suitable resources in it.

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com

Listen or Watch While Creating

This may not work perfectly for everyone – many people prefer quiet and peace when they are creating or concentrate so much on the art that they don’t hear anything that’s going on around them. But it may be worth giving this idea a try.

When you are drawing or crafting, play audio or video in your target language – bonus points for art-related materials but they don’t have to be.

Listen to an audio course, audiobook, or lecture about art. Watch silly videos on YouTube or a TV show on a streaming service.

Make sure that the resources you select match your level and don’t distract you too much from what you are creating. And even if you don’t concentrate on whatever is playing 100% of the time, you will still hear bits and pieces of your target language, which is a form of practice.

If this doesn’t work for you – no worries, there are other things you can do.

Watch Tutorials

On YouTube and on sites like Skillshare or Udemy, there are lots of lessons, tutorials, and even in-depth courses on many art-related topics.

Next time you want to upgrade your skills or learn something new, try a tutorial in your target language. The video will help you understand what is being said and you will practice lots of art-related vocabulary.

Read About Art

There are lots of blogs and websites dedicated to various forms of art – find one that interests you and is in your target language, and let it be your language practice.

Follow Native Speaker Artists

Social media is not all bad and a waste of time. By following artists that speak your target language, you kill two birds with one stone: expose yourself to more art from all over the world and to your target language.

Interacting with these artists would be even better practice, but you don’t have to if you feel shy or not sure about your language level.

Start by reading their posts and watching their videos – over time, you’ll learn more art-related and other vocabulary and improve your overall level.

Attend Events

This one can be quite a luxury, but do it from time to time if you can – attend exhibitions and other art-related events in your target language.

Listening to people and communicating live is both very inspiring and great language practice.

Draw What You’re Learning

By drawing what you are learning you create additional associations with your target language in your brain which helps you remember it better. And on the art side, it can be quite a fun challenge.

Here are some of the things you can draw: new vocabulary, illustrations of useful phrases, sentences, dialogues, your own vocabulary cards, vocabulary lists and connections between words, illustrations of various grammar points, and so on.

Making notes when you learn a language is good, and making visual notes, at least from time to time, is even better.

Talk About What You Create

Talk about your art or craft in your target language. Discuss it with other artists on social media and forums online. Talk about it in a language club. Present yourself and your art at IRL events.

At first, it can be hard and pretty stressful. But the more you do it the better you will get, and it will be beneficial for both your art and your language skills.

Final Thoughts

I tried not to go in too deep so these points are quite general. But I believe many artists can easily adapt them to fit their own learning and art-making routines.

If you have any questions I’ll be happy to continue the discussion in the comments!