With its intense rhythms and catchy lyrics, reggaeton has managed to cross borders, establishing itself as a global phenomenon that is now also sweeping through China. However, beyond the nightclubs, in the giant Asian country, this musical genre is being used for a very different purpose.
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According to a report by NBC News, college students have started using songs by artists like J Balvin and Bad Bunny as tools to learn Spanish.
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The report cites a recent study conducted by the Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) in Barcelona, which revealed that Chinese students’ interest in Spanish has grown significantly.
In the last five years, enrollment in translation and language science programs has increased by 37%. However, educational resources for learning Spanish in China are still scarce compared to those allocated for English, leading students to seek other learning avenues.
Songs as a cultural and educational bridge
Faced with the lack of educational materials, many young Chinese people have chosen to consume music content on free music platforms such as NetEase Cloud Music (NECM).
There, translations of reggaeton lyrics have become especially popular, accumulating millions of views.
The study, published last month in the journal Language and Intercultural Communication, points out that users themselves, acting as informal translators, work together with followers of Latin music to translate the lyrics.
These amateur translators apply what the report describes as “intercultural mediation strategies” in order to adapt the cultural references of reggaeton to the Chinese context. In this process, they face the challenge of interpreting idiomatic expressions without literal equivalents in Mandarin.
In fact, the report details that around two-thirds of translators choose to replace Spanish expressions with local cultural references.
Reggaeton in China: between censorship and creativity
In addition to linguistic differences, those who translate and share songs like “Gasolina” or “Despacito” must face censorship on Chinese social media, similar to what exists on platforms like TikTok. Content with sexual connotations, common in reggaeton lyrics, are often blocked or removed.
To avoid these filters, translators resort to strategies such as inserting asterisks between Chinese characters, attempting to disguise sensitive words. However, this presents an additional complication: Mandarin does not use spaces to separate words, so altering texts with asterisks can radically change their original meaning.
The use of foreign cultural elements—such as French films or Italian cuisine—has been a common tactic in language teaching for years. Today, it seems that reggaeton is taking that place in China, promoting interest in the Spanish language and culture.
In the case of UPF, this trend is already showing concrete results: the number of Chinese students at the university has grown by 33%, reaching 275 enrolled in the last five years.