The Fluent Show

Latest Episodes:

My 2020 Language Plan Jan 06, 2020

Show notes

In this episode I share my own review of language learning in the year 2019 and what's next for me in 2020. It's like an audio #clearthelist article on my goals and what matters most in the upcoming year.

In 2019, my main foreign languages were Chinese, French and Welsh and I'm sharing where I am at in each of them.

In Chinese I am finding myself in a plateau - that frustrating slog where it feels like nothing is moving. You'll hear my answers to the questions I asked myself to get unstuck:

What did I come to Chinese for?
What have I got out of it so far?
What do I enjoy about it?
What don't I enjoy?

Special Offer for Podcast Listeners
Get Kick off 2020 in Style, my unique bundle combining Your Solid Vocab Memory and the Language Habit Toolkit and this week's surprise "sponsor". Click here to get the bundle and enter code FLUENTSHOW for 20% off.

Thank you to Kendra for this episode introduction.

And as always...Thank you for listening to the Fluent Show! If you enjoyed this episode, please consider supporting the show by leaving a review in your podcast app or becoming a member of our Patreon community

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Links:

Chinese: Assimil Workbook for Fake Beginners
Dr LaMort - Wondery - Feel The Story
Chinese Teach Yourself Course
Welsh: Myfanwy: Geiriau Cân / Lyrics – Parallel.cymru: Bilingual Welsh digital magazine
italki: Learn a language online — This is where I find my language tutors.

Words of the Year 2019 Dec 23, 2019

Show notes

In this episode, Lindsay and Kerstin wrap up the year by reviewing a BIG crop of Words of the Year from Australia, the USA, the UK, Germany, Portugal and Japan.

We also create a Spanish version of #yolo, explain why Austria is going to Ibiza, and figure out the Portuguese nominations (even though we don't know a lot of Portuguese).

Thank you for listening to the Fluent Show! If you enjoyed this episode, please consider supporting the show by leaving a review in your podcast app or becoming a member of our Patreon.

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Links:

Fluent Festivities! How to Learn a Language at Christmas (Even If You Don't Celebrate Christmas) Dec 16, 2019

Show notes

Grab a Brandy and a Mince Pie! This is the festive Fluent Show. Is your mind wrapped up in gift wrapping and hosting this week instead of flashcards and language partners?

Don't worry, because in this show I have put together some quick tips for staying in touch with your target language during the festive season.

Click or tap here to read my Christmas learning tips on the blog

Feliĉan Zamenhofan Tagon to all my Esperantist listeners! Thank you to Petra for this episode introduction in Bulgarian.

Music credit
Jingle Bells 7 by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Artist: http://incompetech.com/

Thank you for listening to the Fluent Show!

If you enjoyed this episode and you're feeling the festive generosity, please back the show on Patreon today.

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Shahidah Foster on Black Girls Learn Languages (bilingual podcast in German and English) Dec 09, 2019

Show notes

Shahidah Foster is an American expat in Germany, creator of the Black Girls Learn Languages community, and a passionate language learner. She's an English native speaker but her German is 💯 so prepare for a bilingual show today!

Bilingual Show: German and English Conversation

If you are not an experienced German learner, there will be some parts of the podcast that you don’t understand. You can learn it by the way using my German Uncovered course.

Here is where I always remember the wonderful Ron Gullekson, saying "In a new language, I want to find an opportunity to be uncomfortable as soon as possible." So even if you don't speak German, dive in. We will be speaking English for more than half of the time.

In our conversation, Shahidah and I discussed moving to Germany, how to apply for university in another country, and the role of languages in the black community.

She shared some unbelievable experiences, and her ideas for making the language learning community more inclusive and welcoming for black girls.

Thank you for listening to the Fluent Show!

If you enjoyed this episode, please consider supporting the show by becoming a member of our Patreon community

Special Guest: Shahidah Foster.

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Yabla: Stream authentic shows you enjoy and learn at the same time. Give Yabla a try with a free trial for Fluent Show listeners

Links:

How Your Personality Changes in Another Language Dec 02, 2019

Show notes

In today's podcast, I'm excited to tackle a big question:

Listener Maria writes that she hears people sounding different to her depending on the language they speak. Could it be that learning another language can change your entire personality?

Listen in to hear me discuss a few of the aspects that contribute to how we perceive personality through a language:

Language Attitudes and Egocentricity: What you think about different languages and accents
Pragmatics: How people use language to navigate interactions
Language Skills: How a learner's situation affects how they express themselves

Thank you for listening to the Fluent Show! If you enjoyed this episode, please consider supporting the show by leaving a review in your podcast app or becoming a member of our Patreon community

Thank you to listener Gosia for sending an introduction to the Fluent Show

Sponsored By:

Yabla: Stream authentic shows you enjoy and learn at the same time. Give Yabla a try with a free trial for Fluent Show listeners

Links:

Top Tools for Language Learning: Autumn/Winter 2019 Nov 25, 2019

Show notes

Wrap up warm, it's the autumn/winter edition of Top Tools for language learning, bringing you ingenious solutions to common language learning problem.

This podcast has chapter support, so if your podcast player supports chapters, you can skip to relevant parts as your little linguist heart desires.

Click or tap here to read the full show notes and get all links <<

This time, we're covering 6 resources that can make your life easier when you're learning languages. You'll hear about:

FlipWord
Quizklip
The Indo-European Cognate Dictionary
Mini Vocab Notebooks (preferably with Gudetama on them)
LingoLog
Master Any Language

Thank you for listening to the Fluent Show! If you enjoyed this episode, please consider supporting the show by leaving a review in your podcast app or becoming a member of our Patreon community. And if you have a question or want to share your listener intro on the show, please email it to hello@fluentlanguage.co.uk

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Yabla: Stream authentic shows you enjoy and learn at the same time. Give Yabla a try with a free trial for Fluent Show listeners

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Learning a Language Through Another Language (Laddering) Nov 18, 2019

Show notes

Today I am answering a listener question from Jessica who is an English native speaker, but so advanced in German that she wants to use it to learn a third language, Spanish.

Can you learn a language through another language? Of course!

Here are some advantages:

You boost your 2nd language as well as your 3rd - double result!
Sometimes you can find much better materials, for example when learning an African language through French (more about this here)
You gain a fascinating new perspective on the language you have been learning for many years

Some people say this is a more efficient way to learn, but is that really true? In this episode, I've got some answers and I share my own experiences of language learning in different settings.

Thank you to Sophie for this episode introduction in Thai.

Thank you for listening to the Fluent Show! If you enjoyed this episode, please consider supporting the show by leaving a review in your podcast app or becoming a member of our Patreon community.

Yabla: Stream authentic shows you enjoy and learn at the same time. Give Yabla a try with a free trial for Fluent Show listeners

Links:

2000+ Deutsch - Walisisch Walisisch - Deutsch Vokabular
How to Learn Several Languages At The Same Time by Fluent Language
Language Laddering // My Update on Learning Russian, Croatian and Japanese - Eurolinguiste
My Black Friday Offers 2019 — Sign up to the newsletter & I'll email you the offers

Interview with Language Creator David Peterson (Game of Thrones, Dune, The 100, Doctor Strange) Nov 11, 2019

Show notes

"Polyglots and language creators...that Venn diagram is almost a circle."

In this episode, language creator David Peterson sat down with me to talk about language creation, language ownership, and the joy of it all. No other interview has had such an impact on me, the level of mastery in language creation was completely unclear to me.

Every single choice that you're making is an active choice. Nothing in a language has to be that way.

Here are just a few of the questions we discussed on this show.

If a language is created, why is its grammar not easy?
How do Hollywood actors react when they have to deliver dialogue in an invented language?
How many languages do you need to speak in order to create a language? (spoiler: I have too many!)
After creating a language, do you want the world to learn this new language?

And David also explained the phases language creators go through.

You create the language...at least you think that's what you're doing
You realise you actually had lots of choices and you start making copy-languages
You realise you don't need to create your language like another one, you start making the language you actually want

If you're fascinated by language invention and created languages after listening to this interview, I recommend David's own book "The Art of Language Invention". (see links below)

Thank you to David Peterson for this episode introduction.

Special Guest: David Peterson.

Sponsored By:

Yabla: Stream authentic shows you enjoy and learn at the same time. Give Yabla a try with a free trial for Fluent Show listeners

Links:

Utopian for Beginners | The New Yorker
Conlanging film | Language Creation Society
The Fluent Show: Top 5 Fictional Languages
The Art Of Language Invention — on Hive, a UK book site to support bookshops
The Art Of Language Invention — on Amazon UK
The Art Of Language Invention — on Amazon.com
Irathient numbers — Of Languages and Numbers
Game of Thrones Language Creator Reviews People Speaking Valyrian and Dothraki | Vanity Fair - YouTube
Language Creation Society | Welcome to conlang.org
Fith - FrathWiki — Fith is a stack-based alien language.👽🤯
Na’viteri.org | Ziva’u nìprrte’ fte nivume! — The Na'vi creator blog
David Peterson Creates New Languages for Syfy's Face Off

Language Levels Revealed: The One Conversation You Need to Hear (with English teacher Michael Lavers) Nov 04, 2019

Show notes

When you are learning a language and selecting courses and materials, it's important to assess your level accurately. But how do you do that? In today's episode I've got English teacher Michael Lavers on the show and we go into the deep detail of what determines your level...and when it even matters to know.

If you've ever wondered about the real difference between A2 and B1, this conversation will bring you some clarity.

Bonus Episode: British Slang

Fancy learning some British English slang, guv'nor? Then head over to Patreon and become a member of our podcast community for a special bonus episode recorded with Michael. We're sharing our top 3 British slang terms - and one in Mandarin Chinese!

Special Guest: Michael Lavers.

Sponsored By:

Yabla: Stream authentic shows you enjoy and learn at the same time. Give Yabla a try with a free trial for Fluent Show listeners

Links:

Self-assessment grid - Table 2 (CEFR 3.3) : Common Reference levels

Good Lessons vs. GREAT Lessons: Life’s Too Short Not to Find a Great Tutor Oct 28, 2019

Show notes

Lindsay is back from Korea and Kerstin is back from America, and we're all together again to talk about finding yourself a GREAT language tutor!

We discussed

what the research tells us about the 5 signs that a teacher is extremely competent
how to get super clear about what you want from language lessons
why your first lesson is NEVER going to be a normal language leasson
whether it's ever okay to ghost your tutor! ...and so much more!

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