Please take 5 minutes to take our Fluent Show survey!

We don't often have research scientists on the show, so this was a huge opportunity for the Fluent Show to go into science.

We posed your "Ask a Linguist" questions on these topics:

Is it a language? Is it a dialect?

Talk the Talk had a few insights that I had never heard before.

What determines the prestige of a dialect within a language?

We looked into how politics and social developments can directly influence how you speak, and how you feel about it.

Are there common language learning stages across all languages, for example grammar needed to communicate something?

In fact, there are two ways to approach language learning: analysis and pattern-spotting, and learning and copying useful chunks. Which one works? Talk the Talk gave us the science perspective. Plus: What is "glottochronology?"

Hedvig quoted this research paper.

If we come across a language in the same area that uses different words for the same concepts, does that language come from a different family of languages?

In essence, yes. For this one, you need a basic vocabulary list - but they're not all that straightforward. Hedvig and Kylie explain more on this episode.

Finally: Podcasting!

Also: We talk about what it's like to podcast about languages, and about podcasting in general. If you're not interested in the wider context of language and podcasting authentically...then skip it and you won't miss the linguistics. We do know that many listeners love podcasts and think about starting their own, so for you this discussion is going to be both useful and interesting.

Ultimately, we love and support community radio and podcasting. And in that sense...

Please Support This Podcast
Like all podcasts, the Fluent Show is supported by your online reviews and word of mouth.

If you liked this episode, please tell someone about it. Click here to tweet about the show, go to your Podcasts app and leave us a review, or simply text a friend about the Fluent Show. Thank you!

Special Guests: Kylie Sturgess and Talk The Talk.

Sponsored By:

• Drops: Play with your words in this beautiful language app - free on Android and iOS

Links:

• CLICS² - — Big database of basic vocab and linked words in different languages.
• Talk the Talk are creating a linguistics podcast | Patreon — Talk the Talk are sharing their interview with us
• Radio Garden
• Ethnologue: Languages of the World
• The Fluent Show: Q&A: Should You Learn the Dialect of a Language?
• Glottolog 3.3 -
• Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database
• Food for thought: "a language is a dialect with a missionary and a dictionary"
• Micrela - Mutual intelligibility of closely related languages
• Sound Comparisons
• Concepticon - — Linking a large amount of different concept lists which are used in the linguistic literature
• The consequences of talking to strangers: Evolutionary corollaries of socio-cultural influences on linguistic form - ScienceDirect
• "How podcasting is changing the audio storytelling genre" by Siobhan McHugh
• The World Loanwords Database
• Talk the Talk (@talkpod) | Twitter

I've been out in the wild, seeing and discussing words in the English language, and in this episode I presented the best of them to Lindsay to discuss what they can reveal about us and about society.

First, we discussed social justice words. What really IS mansplaining? Is it just a word to describe any occasion when a man explains something to a woman? Or is there more to it?

What do you think of the social justice words like hepeating, mansplaining, manel, and the responding #notallmen and broflakes?

And our second word in the wild was tea - short and sweet, but is this even translateable?

Motivation Tips

Even though this is not Lindsay's average October of falling leaves and dropping temperatures, we took a deep dive into the season to discuss how you can get motivated for learning a language in autumn/fall.

Plus, we've got some absolute evergreen tips mixed in for you to help anyone learning a language by themselves. Learning a language by yourself is not always easy, and motivation is a huge challenge. There are so many interesting and exciting ways to get going, so here are some of our best:

You can read our full list of motivation tips in detail at www.fluentlanguage.co.uk/blog/podcast-episode-67

Little tip: Try our sponsor Clozemaster as your new app addiction. Get it done in the morning, and you'll be set for the day.

Sponsored By:

• Clozemaster: Visit our sponsor Clozemaster, the free addictive language app in over 50 languages

Links:

• Hepeating: When men say what you just said but louder
• Tower Bridge (London, England): Top Tips Before You Go (with Photos) - TripAdvisor
• Creative Language Learning Podcast: Learn A Language with TV: How to Get The Most Out of Watching TV in Your Target Language
• Quora: In the Polish language, the word for tea, herbata, is neither derived from cha nor tee. Are there any other languages like that? - Quora
• How to Stay Motivated in Language Learning (Even When You're Not Feeling It) by Fluent Language
• Talk the Talk – A weekly show about linguistics, the science of language, on RTRFM 92.1
• There's a new kind of snowflake in town: the 'Broflake'
• Yogi Tea — IS THIS EVEN TEA??
• Maslow's hierarchy of needs - Wikipedia
• What Is the Hawthorne Effect?
• How to enjoy Language Learning more by being lousy at it by Fluent Language — Discussing the Growth Mindset and how it helps language learners

Links:

• List of all Glossika courses
• SaySomethingIn... — available in Spanish, Welsh, Manx. Dutch, Cornish, Latin
• Moodnotes | Thought Journal | Mood Diary | CBT App
• Say Goodbye to Shy — Great book by Shannon Kennedy from Eurolinguiste, in collaboration with Benny Lewis
• LangFest – Festival de Langues de Montréal | Montreal Language Festival

Look out for the very special "live from the floor" reports in episode 40.

Episode 38 is brought to you with friendly support from italki. Do visit their site and check out the awesome Buy 1 Get 1 Free offer to learn from native speakers today.

We Want To Meet You At The Gathering!

Are you a podcast listener on the way to the Polyglot Gathering?

Then don't hesitate and come to see Lindsay and me! We'll be reporting from the conference floor for episode 40 so your voice could even be on the show.

Send us a message on Twitter! We are @ldlanguages for Lindsay and @kerstinhammes for Kerstin, and on the hashtag #cllp

Links From This Episode:

• The Polyglot Gathering


• Full Programme Booklet of the Gathering


• North American Polyglot Symposium


• Polyglot Conference


• 8 Life-Changing Language Learning Events Around the Globe

Do you remember when you first heard the word "polyglot"?

And what does this word mean to you?

##Show Topic: What Is a "Polyglot" and Should You Be One?

In this episode, Lindsay and I went deeper into what's changed in the emerging community of internet polyglots. A few years ago, the YouTube landscape in particular was a nasty place. But things are looking up!

What does the word mean, and is being polyglot desirable?

Far from being entirely opposed to polyglots as a barrage of braggards and internet trolls, we are able to bring you many positive thoughts and perspectives.

##Polyglot Guest: Alex Rawlings

In this episode, we have a special guest who is a famous fancy polyglot and known for winning the prestigious Harper-Collins award of being [Britain's Most Multilingual Student]. It's Alex Rawlings, co-founder of the [Polyglot Conference] and "full-time language guru dude".

Polyglots have existed a lot longer than YouTube.

Alex did an amazing job of describing how the polyglot community has changed and also why it wasn't a great place to start out in. It's fascinating how much YouTube comes up in this discussion. He shares the story of bringing a bit of offline magic into the online world, and we agree that the internet is now a nicer place for language learners, and thank God for that.

##Takeaway of the Week

"It is what you make it."

There is still a personal challenge to readers, but also a real sense of permission to make the word mean what it means to you. Polyglots might be online, offline, nice, nasty, multilingual or just really curious.

For me, the biggest update to the polyglot label was the idea of it being all about the intention of learning languages, and the interest, and the passion. I love that!

##Links and Tips from This Episode

• Alex Rawlings writes at Rawlangs


• Lindsay on Youtube: What's a Polyglot?


• Kerstin speaks (reads!!!!) 25 European languages - the best part of making this video was finding native speakers of 25 languages in one week. I even rang the Icelandic and Luxembourgish tourist offices. ^__


• My Blog Article from May 2014, summing up all the polyglot negatives


• Polyglot Conference - this year in Greece and the Polyglot Workshops or just search for any of these things on Facebook


• Polyglot Gathering in Berlin


• HelloTalk

Are you going to claim the polyglot title this year? Or still not convinced?

Special Guest: Alex Rawlings.