Kerstin Cable 14/03/2016 Kerstin Cable 14/03/2016

Podcast Episode 35: Polyglot Club Certificates Available Now

Episode 35 of the Creative Language Learning Podcast is brought to you with support from HelloTalk. Go visit them NOW!

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?

Kerstin Cable 09/11/2015 Kerstin Cable 09/11/2015

Podcast Episode 26: Language Careers, Language Events, Language Inspiration

In this episode, Lindsay and Kerstin discuss a good bunch of topics around the topic of language learning in person.

This episode is brought to you with support from Other Cats to Whip, a cute French book that you can buy for 10% off using the code FLUENT.

What was language learning like before the internet?
What’s so great about an event like the Language Show?
Our ideas for Langathon and Language Speed Dating
Language and Careers: What’s out there beyond Teaching and Translating?
Lindsay’s passionate explanation of “Primary Languages” in the UK, and how to instil a language passion for life in younger learners
Our appreciation of multilingual actors and subtitles in TV and movies

Our podcast also featured a short interview with Dan McIntyre from the University of Huddersfield and our discussion around what fluency involved.

Tip of the Week

Lindsay chose Tip 2 as the winning tip for this episode and added more great ideas on how you can present to people, even when they are not learning your language.

1) Draw a trilingual vocab chart to practice vocab divergence

2) Prepare a presentation for your tutor or buddy

3) Swipe in two languages using the Swiftkey Keyboard app