Living with lockdown and not being able to come together with our friends for social dances has been extremely depressing, frustrating and demotivating.

However there's no reason you can't use this dance downtime as an opportunity to hone other skills that you might find useful at your next dance congress.

Why not learn another language and become more culturally in tune with your favourite dance style?

Which languages?

There's a pretty good chance that if you're learning a latin dance then the origins of that dance style and its teachers are going to be from another country.

We did a quick summary of the most popular partner latin dances associated with a language.

Salsa, Bachata & Argentine Tango all have strong connections to latin America so there's a good chance your teachers are going to be from a Spanish speaking country such as Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Argentina.

Did you know Spanish is the fourth most spoken language in the world with around 500 million native Spanish speakers.

If you're learning Brazilian Zouk then many of the top international instructors are going to be from Brazil. At 205 million people Brazil has the biggest population of native Portuguese speakers anywhere in the world.

Kizomba originates from Angola where Portuguese is also widely spoken alongside the native Bantu dialect. But as well as being popular in Portugal and Spain, Kizomba is extremely popular in France where urban Kizomba originated from.

Another fun fact -  Spanish, Portuguese and French are some of the easiest languages to learn for English speakers as they are linguistically the closest languages. This is based on a scale developed by the Foreign Service Institute.

Why should I bother?

Most international instructors speak great english, to be able to teach classes and converse in, but being able to chat with them in their native tongue may prove beneficial as quite often some meanings are lost in translation.

Whilst you're learning a new lingo you'll also start to become aware of cultural differences which may give you greater insights into dance characteristics, movement and musicality. Bonus!

So if you you're keen to stay mentally challenged during your lockdown then learning a new language could be for you.

How do I start?

You might want to check out an app like DuoLingo to get you started on your linguistic path.  It's a free app  for learning foreign languages including Spanish, Portuguese and French amongst others.

It's super easy to download onto your phone and you can work through the exercises in your own time.

Another app to check out is something like Fluent Forever for the hard core linguists.

You can also supplement your language learning by reading foreign language magazines and blogs and also watching some of your favourite TV shows on Netflix in another language or with subtitles.

Bon chance !