The Fluent Show - Episodes Tagged with “Polyglots”

Finding friends who love languages (with Chuck Smith)

Kerstin Cable — Mon, 04 Dec 2017 14:00:00 +0000

These days, the Polyglot Gathering pulls in hundreds of language learners who share and enjoy community in the heart of Europe. A lot of this is thanks to Chuck's contributions, along with the wonderful Polyglot Gathering team.

This year, Chuck published his first language learning app, Amikumu.

What is Amikumu?

Want to text another person and ask them to meet up and practice a language...without looking creepy?

Amikumu will help you find people near you who love languages. The purpose of the app is to help you find people nearby to chat and meet up, and it supports the world's 7,000+ languages (including 100+ sign languages).

The idea for Amikumu came out of Chuck's love for the planned language Esperanto. It’s not a natural language choice, it’s a minority language. Why would anyone bother to learn?

Language Learning Apps

In recent episodes, we've covered language learning apps on a regular basis. If you have a smartphone and you live in the 21st century, they are an essential component of language learning. More and more developers are working on apps for language learning, and Chuck's experience stands out from the crowd: he is the creator of Duolingo's Esperanto course.

In our interview, Chuck explained how he came to work on Duolingo and why he loves gamified learning, how we can bring more soul into language learning apps...and why you could probably learn a language if you have three apps.

Check out Chuck's app recommendations in our link list below.

Special Guest: Chuck Smith.

Gabriel Wyner is NOT a Robot (with Fluent Forever author Gabriel Wyner)

Kerstin Cable — Mon, 06 Nov 2017 07:00:00 +0000

On this show, I spoke to Gabriel (Gabe) Wyner, a well known name to many language learners thanks to his bestselling book "Fluent Forever".

In this interview, you will get to know the story of "Fluent Forever", the approach he takes to language learning, and a little bit about what makes him tick as a person.

The theme I saw come through in Gabe's approach was that of engineering language learning to be as efficient and productive as it can possibly be. He's an engineer by trade and it shows in how he approaches language learning: find the problem, find a way to solve it, set, and go.

It made me curious about his human side, so we also discussed where he finds the joy in learning. Beyond the app, I also took the opportunity to ask Gabe about the inner monologue of self-doubt, and courage in creation and in language learning.
But that is not all we talked about...we also discussed what this app is all about

In our interview touched on..

how Gabe's own experience of creating over 45,000 (!) flash cards in Anki is going to make language learning so much more efficient
what it's like to have created a book that more than 120,000 people have read
why the Fluent Forever method started with pronunciation training...then progressed via word lists...and is now ready to take app-based learning to a new level
the big, obvious, annoying problem of using ready-made flashcards (this is why you won't remember words)
the place for apps in everyday language learning -- is immersion better than apps? is an app better than immersion? Do language learners have to do everything at the same time?
how the Fluent Forever has standing based on actual science (and a research book tip if you want to find out more)
what to do when you're too scared to start speaking to someone in your target language
a Q&A on learning two languages at the same time, where the Fluent Forever app is headed after its HUGE Kickstarter success, and what rewards there are for you when you pledge to support its big Crowdfunding campaign

Special Guest: Gabriel Wyner.

"For the Love of Humanity": Using Languages for Good

Kerstin Cable — Mon, 09 Oct 2017 10:30:00 +0100

In this episode, I'm presenting two interviews with women who are working to change people's lives through the power of language.

Madeline, Interpreter for Survivors of Torture and Trauma

Community Interpreter Madeline Vadkerty gives me an overview of what it is like to interpret for survivors of torture and trauma. This interview was an incredible chance to learn more about interpreting from her, and to hear why helping refugees and toture survivors get their stories heard matters so much.

The people Madeline works with were caught in situations that we take for granted in many other countries: running for political office, being a homosexual, or expressing different opinions to the mainstream.

She says got into her field "for the love of humanity", and shares what you need to know if interpreting intrigues you.

Marianne, Religious education teacher...turned teacher for refugees

When Germany accepted a large number of refugees back in 2015, many communities sprang into action. In this interview, I'm learning more from Marianne Manz, a school teacher who decided to put together a motivated group of volunteers to offer language classes in German.

Marianne works with a range of untrained language teachers - there are some pitfalls for sure and the group needed to find unusual techniques for teaching.

Special Guests: Madeline Vadkerty and Marianne Manz.

10 Polyglot Conversations from Langfest 2017 in Montréal

Kerstin Cable — Sun, 03 Sep 2017 22:00:00 +0100

This podcast episode is a bit like a Wundertüte - a lucky dip bag of interviews with wonderful people who made the 2017 Langfest event what it was. Thank you so much to all of these lovely people - Langfest was motivating, informative, energising, and of course very, very multilingual.

Here's a taste of what you'll find inside the episode:

Could you become a multilingual parent?

We've all seen the feats of Bella Devyatkina, who speaks 8 languages at age 5. But how does that work? In my interview with conference organizer Tetsu Young, we touched on the everyday actions that he and his wife create a multilingual environment for their three (!) kids.

Applying your outside skills to language learning

You might not know this, but all of us have hidden skills that help us learn languages. I interviewed Benny Lewis and Tim Pelletier to find out what theirs are.

Impressions of Québécois

From how to make those dipthong sounds to religious swearing, be a fly on the wall during our French-language lesson on the Québec dialect.

A few words in Romanian

Listen to me try as hard as possible to get my Romanian pronunciation right with the kind help of presenter Mihai. Ooof!

Unconventional Motivational Techniques

Jana Fadness is a polyglot, translator, traveller, and introvert. She shares her insights on the most popular motivational techniques - and how she found her own unconventional ways of making things work. Jana's interview was amazing, her honesty stood out among the crowd.

Special Guests: Benny Lewis and Shannon Kennedy.

Links:

How to Speak Your Target Language Today, Not Tomorrow

Kerstin Cable — Tue, 22 Aug 2017 11:30:00 +0100

Speaking your new language for the first time can be so nerve-wracking! Will they switch to English? Are you good enough? Will you even get the words out? In today's episode, join me to start beating those gremlin questions.

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

Polyglot Gathering Preview (Mini Episode)

Kerstin Cable — Thu, 28 Apr 2016 11:00:00 +0100

We're getting excited about the Polyglot Gathering in Berlin! Here is a preview of the talks we are not going to miss.

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

Polyglot Club Certificates Available Now

Kerstin Cable — Mon, 14 Mar 2016 08:00:00 +0000

Episode 35 of the Creative Language Learning Podcast is brought to you with support from HelloTalk. Go visit them now, because you're totally missing out.

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.