The Fluent Show - Episodes Tagged with “English”

New York Language Stories At Ellen Jovin's Grammar Table

Kerstin Cable — Mon, 12 Nov 2018 07:00:00 +0000

Can you imagine how fun it would be to speak to a fellow language lover who's encouraging you to share ALL your language questions, from comma conundrums to relative clause regrets?

And how great would it be to have all this language joy just outside your front door?

With excitement about any language?

Let me tell you, this utopia exists in New York City. In today's episode, I brought back Ellen Jovin, one of the most inspiring language lovers I know. And Ellen has a brand new project to share - in fact, an inspiring message of encouraging conversation about language .

Ellen's new project is called Grammar Table, and it's free for all of us.

As ever, Ellen comes armed with a thousand hilarious stories and quotable sentences. Here are a few quotes - listen to our interview to hear these quotes and topics:

What is Grammar Table, and where can you find it?

"Some people stay away from grammar table, it’s like I have toxic grammar syndrome or something"

Why Ellen believes that the more we talk to people in person, the better

"Grammar humility is an important principle to me."

How the table encourages looking beyond just google for finding an answer to any question

"Grammar table enables me to have conversations with strangers about a topic I love. And it’s got drama!"

There is one swearword in this episode which we announce way ahead of time with a warning. Language can be like that.

Special Guest: Ellen Jovin.

What is it that you want to achieve?

Kerstin Cable — Mon, 01 Jan 2018 10:45:00 +0000

Hello from Kerstin and happy new year! In today's show, I've got notes for you on what really mattered for language learning in 2017, and how you can make the most out of these for your own path to fluency.

Lessons from 2017:

Best practices aren’t going anywhere
- Ask yourself what you want to achieve
- Get out of the house and use what you know
- Contribute to your community
Getting organised is the key to actually using those best practices: Plan - Track - Review
Setting goals helps me get out of my comfort zone - I’ve never self-studied a language to this level and I can totally do it

The Year in Language Learning Events

Polyglot Gathering in Bratislava
- It was warm, busy, and great to visit this Slovak city
- The organisation was outstanding and there was a real sense of interest in almost every talk
- A lot of people enjoyed the no-English zone
- I gave a talk on how to talk to people and the feedback was very interesting (no it was NOT about chatting up girls)
- Already bought my ticket for 2018
Langfest in Montreal
- It was warm again, a slightly smaller event, and with so many great volunteers and organisers
- Langfest stood out in how media-savvy it was, there was live streaming, lots of web coverage, even a little podcasting room
- Montréal is an amazing city for any polyglot
Languages of London
- A smaller meet-up, great for connecting

The podcast came back this year!! Thank you all so much for listening and supporting us.

Thank you to my wonderful guests this year: Madeline Vadkerty and Marianne Manz, Gabriel Wyner, Chuck Smith, Kris Broholm, Shannon Kennedy
Thank you to our sponsor Clozemaster, and the future sponsors who have shown interest in supporting the Creative Language Learning Podcast
A special thank you to my co-host Lindsay Williams
Please review!!

Future You is The Best You, with Guest Benny Lewis

Kerstin Cable — Sun, 14 Feb 2016 20:00:00 +0000

This episode is all about being inspired by other people and their achievements. We decided to invite a guest, well-known language learning hero Benny Lewis from Fluent in 3 Months.

Benny has done a lot for the promotion of language learning, and these days he gets hundreds of emails from his fans.

In our interview, you'll find out:

How does it feel to be the big language author and influencer man?
Who is the mystery man that got Benny excited about language learning?
Does "Benny the Irish Polyglot" want people to say that he is impressive?
How can we share the love of language and stop people from asking us how many languages we speak?
What is the most important difference Benny thinks he's made in the lives of language learners?
Which polyglots and community members have made an impact to Benny?
What did Barbie, Shakira and Beyoncé do to get us where we are today?

You also get to find out a lot about how Benny is keen to be promoting many others in the community, and how even a speaker of over 10 languages can be thrown when they're "hit with another language".

"The people around us are the ones that can inspire us even more than those YouTube superstars."

And what about being someone who runs their own business and travels the whole world learning languages? Benny is a pioneer, but knowing the real situation is a different story.

We hope you enjoy this awesome interview with Benny. Tell us what you think as well! Hashtag #cllp on Twitter, or simply comment below and let's chat about our heroes!

GREAT LANGUAGE-LOVING PEOPLE MENTIONED IN THIS SHOW