Moving to a new country is never easy (did someone say culture shock?), but it can be especially challenging if you need to learn how to live your life in a different language when you get there. How will you buy groceries or make a doctor’s appointment? How do you get a job and then, once you have one, navigate the workplace? Our guest for this episode of Language Chats, Dory Wang, understands this all too well from her own first-hand experience of moving to Australia. However this also makes h...
May 27, 2024•55 min•Ep. 104
In this episode, we’re chatting with Dr Howard (Howie) Manns, Senior Lecturer in Linguistics and Applied Linguistics at Monash University. We were so excited to have the chance to speak with Howie, because we are fascinated by his language story and his academic work - from growing up in a monolingual environment and then (unexpectedly) becoming a linguist through joining the US Navy, to working as a researcher who now studies Australian English, Indonesian, tactile (deafblind) Auslan and interc...
Apr 22, 2024•51 min•Ep. 103
About this Language Chat In this episode, we’re chatting with Canadian-Australian Andrea Plawutsky - currently based in NSW - who has brought her interest in tourism, China and Asia together across her career. From teaching English in north-eastern China, living and working in Thailand and then working in the travel & tourism industry in Australia, we loved hearing about Andrea’s experiences with learning and enjoying language around the world, in both professional and personal contexts. Hav...
Apr 08, 2024•37 min•Ep. 102
Penny is a long-time travel lover and in this episode, she tells us about her most recent international trip which was actually a bit of a reconnaissance mission… As she will soon be helping others to discover new cultures, languages and adventures through her new venture, Pip & Co Travel . We chat about Penny’s history of embracing language and culture through travel, how we can all enrich our travel experiences with even the most basic openness and interest in the language and culture of y...
Mar 25, 2024•28 min•Ep. 101
100 EPISODES of Language Chats have now made it out into the world! To celebrate this exciting occasion (and the start of a new year, hello 2024), we’re going back through our archive to reminisce about some of our favourite episodes. We’ve had so many great chats over the last five years, it wasn’t easy narrowing down our top eps! But it has given us an opportunity to think about some of the great discussions we’ve had between the two of us and with many others across the last 99 episodes. If y...
Feb 19, 2024•31 min•Ep. 100
In this episode, we're welcoming linguist Karla Zuluaga back to Language Chats to hear more about the interesting work she is involved in as a Community Linguist on Groote Eylandt, Northern Territory. Born in the Philippines and having grown up in NSW, a couple of years ago Karla made the big move to the Northern Territory to work with the Groote Eylandt Language Centre . She tells us more about her role as a Community Linguist, the work the centre does to promote, maintain and preserve the lang...
Nov 20, 2023•31 min•Ep. 99
Feeling a bit ‘under the weather’ because it’s been ‘raining cats and dogs’? Maybe you’ve found yourself ‘in a pickle’! But if a Danish person said to you that ‘there’s no cow on the ice’ (det er ingen ko på isen), would you know what they mean? Idiomatic expressions are a really interesting part of language and in this episode, we’re chatting with Rune Pedersen, host of The Idiom , a podcast co-produced Think HQ CultureVerse and SBS Audio which explores culture through weird and wonderful idiom...
Oct 23, 2023•45 min•Ep. 98
In this episode, we’re chatting with our intrepid traveller Penny, who is on the trip of a lifetime around Australia with her family! After setting off in August 2023 for a 5-month road trip around the country, Penny and her family are discovering parts of Australia that they’ve never been to before, encountering different languages and cultures, and experiencing all the fun, challenges and practical considerations of travelling with a camper trailer in tow. Have a question for Penny about her t...
Oct 02, 2023•34 min•Ep. 97
In this episode, we’re again chatting with two members of the Language Lovers AU Community based in Australia - Han-Yu Ong and Ingrid Botha - who both kindly took the time to tell us (and you!) about their respective experiences of learning other languages, the part that language plays in their lives, and what has motivated and inspired them. Have a question for Han-Yu, Ingrid or us? Get in touch or join our Facebook group, Language Lovers AU Community , to connect with other like-minded languag...
Sep 04, 2023•28 min•Ep. 96
In this episode, we’re chatting with two Melbourne-based members of the Language Lovers AU Community - Lily Cerôn-Fernández and Deb McLeod - who both kindly took the time to tell us (and you!) about their respective experiences of learning other languages, what has motivated and inspired them, and where languages have taken them in their lives. Have a question for Lily, Deb or us? Get in touch or join our Facebook group, Language Lovers AU Community , to connect with other like-minded language l...
Aug 22, 2023•39 min•Ep. 95
AI (Artificial Intelligence) is a hot topic at the moment, and in this episode of Language Chats we’re speaking with Melbourne-based conversation designer Grace Frances, whose work involves training AI assistants to interact with people and the creative aspect of conversational AI. We chat with Grace about what conversation design is and what it entails, how she found herself working in this exciting new field from a background in linguistics and copywriting, the ethics of working in this space,...
Aug 07, 2023•31 min•Ep. 94
In this episode, we’re speaking with David Hua, Director of Audio and Language Content at SBS (Special Broadcasting Service) Australia , Australia’s multilingual, multicultural and Indigenous media organisation. We speak with David about his own cultural and linguistic background, what inspired him to get into the media industry, the role that SBS has in modern Australia, what he is most proud of in the work that SBS does, and representation of culturally and linguistically diverse people in Aus...
Jul 24, 2023•38 min•Ep. 93
In this episode, we’re chatting with Tom Shugg , VIC-based co-founder of Meg Languages . Meg Languages focuses on creating global citizens and getting students excited about learning a language by providing live Mandarin & Spanish language instruction in classrooms across Australia and around the world. Tom tells us about how he was inspired by a school trip to China in Year 9, studying Chinese at university and abroad, how Meg Languages came to be, the challenges of finding language teacher...
Jul 10, 2023•38 min•Ep. 92
Love watching movies from around the world? It turns out that Bec goes to the cinema quite a lot and always has a recommendation for a film up her sleeve! Most of the movies she goes to see are in languages other English - surprise, surprise! - so in this episode, Bec is sharing a few of the international films that she’s watched over the last year or so which might also interest other language- and film-loving folk. Have a question or want to share your film recommendations with us too? Get in ...
Jun 26, 2023•33 min•Ep. 91
In this episode, we’re speaking with Yoshito Darmon-Shimamori , a London-based languages teacher and author, writing specifically for multilingual children. Yoshito grew up in France, bilingual in French and Japanese, and learnt English and Spanish at school. His wife is Korean and they are now bringing up their children to be multilingual and multiliterate in their three home languages: Korean, French and English. We speak with him about his language-filled home environment, his work promoting ...
Jun 12, 2023•31 min•Ep. 90
In this episode, we’re speaking with US-based Lauren Williams, a speech language pathologist and founder of Polyglot Station and Language TV Club . As well as working with language day-to-day, Lauren is also a long-time language enthusiast who has studied French, Spanish and Mandarin Chinese (and dabbled in others!). We chat with her about her work as a speech language pathologist, her language learning experiences, how Polyglot Station and Language TV Club began and how they have grown. We hope...
May 29, 2023•33 min•Ep. 89
In this episode, we’re speaking with Michelle Parkin, a member of the Language Lovers AU Community ! Michelle is a passionate teacher and language enthusiast, who has studied German, French, Italian and Portuguese, and LOVES listening to podcasts! Michelle tells us about her language learning journey over the years, from learning at school, independent language learning, returning to study languages at university level and her teaching experiences as well. We talk about the many (and varied) res...
May 15, 2023•38 min•Ep. 88
In this episode, we’re chatting with Damian Bolton, an Indonesian language teacher based in Canberra who brings his passion and fascination for languages into the primary school classroom. Damian tells us about how he came to learn Indonesian after growing up in regional NSW with very little exposure to languages other than English, how an exchange program after high school changed his life, his love for his work as an Indonesian language teacher and what he thinks about the perception that Indo...
May 01, 2023•46 min•Ep. 87
In this episode, Penny & Bec are chatting about where our interest in language has taken us in life, both literally and figuratively. We talk about what learning other languages has inspired us to do and how it’s allowed us to have some pretty cool experiences over the years - which have influenced our studies, careers and personal lives - as well as the things that we perhaps wish we had (or hadn’t!) done along the way. What has language given you the opportunity to do? How has learning ano...
Apr 17, 2023•28 min•Ep. 86
Our guest for this episode is Joseph Lo Bianco , Professor Emeritus of Language and Literacy Education at the Melbourne Graduate School of Education, University of Melbourne. We were delighted to have the opportunity to speak with Joe about his career and work on language, culture and literacy education in Australia and around the world. Among many other interesting research projects and advisory roles, in the late 1980s he wrote The National Policy on Languages, Australia’s first explicit and c...
Apr 03, 2023•35 min•Ep. 85
In this episode, we’re chatting with John Jang, a Korean-born Australian who has already had many interesting and varied experiences in his life so far… Many of which have involved learning other languages! John’s first language is Korean and he learnt English as his second language after migrating to Australia as a kid, but he has also studied Japanese, Italian, German, Tunisian Arabic, and French. John is the Co-Founder and CEO of Pengguin , a videoconferencing app which helps make online lang...
Mar 20, 2023•40 min•Ep. 84
About this Language Chat In this episode, we’re chatting with Natalie King, a member of the Language Lovers AU Community who shows us that you can learn and continue to learn other languages no matter what stage of life you find yourself at. We’re so inspired by her story! Natalie has studied Latin, German, Japanese, French, Italian, Mandarin Chinese and Turkish at different times in her life, and we loved speaking with her about her experiences of learning languages through various methods (at ...
Mar 06, 2023•39 min•Ep. 83
A fresh year, a fresh start! In this episode of Language Chats, we speak about Bec’s attempts at speaking other languages during her Christmas travels, Penny’s plan to re-start a language this year, a different strategy for learning grammar structures, as well as how the chat in our last episode is encouraging us to be fine with feeling like an idiot (thanks to our guest Benny Lewis for the sound advice!). What are your language plans for 2023? Join our Facebook group Language Lovers AU Communit...
Feb 20, 2023•25 min•Ep. 82
Full-time traveller, polyglot, author and founder of Fluent in 3 Months , Benny Lewis is our first guest on Language Chats for the new year! Benny is well known in the language learning world for his ‘speak from day one’ attitude and his popular blog , YouTube videos and books ( Fluent in 3 Months and the Language Hacking series), through which he shares his experiences, strategies and tips for other people wanting to learn a language in a faster, smarter way. Tune into this episode to hear from...
Feb 06, 2023•51 min•Ep. 81
It’s our last episode for 2022 and now that the festive season is here, we’re chatting about gift ideas for language lovers (whether the language lover in question is you or someone else)! From books and games to things that you may be able to gift to a language-loving friends or family members who live further away, we hope this episode helps provide you with some ideas and thought-starters for useful, fun and inspiring presents, no matter how you celebrate at this time of year! This episode is...
Dec 05, 2022•31 min•Ep. 80
If you need a recommendation for a new TV series or film to watch, look no further - our annual ‘What We’ve Been Watching’ episode is back for 2022! We have always loved chatting about what we’ve been watching in other languages and, this time, we have a special guest to join us! We invited Lamont from Days of French ‘n’ Swedish back to join us for a second time on Language Chats in 2022 to hear about what he’s been watching as well (those who follow Lamont’s YouTube channel may know that he als...
Nov 21, 2022•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 79
Does learning a new skill (e.g. a new language!) make you feel energised and excited, or frustrated and anxious? Or perhaps you’ve felt a combination of both? In this episode of Language Chats, Penny & Bec are chatting about the earliest stages in language learning and all the feelings that come with it - good and bad! - after Penny saw this article in The Guardian which talks about how to embrace being a beginner. We discuss our own experiences of being beginners in different languages, tem...
Nov 07, 2022•30 min•Ep. 78
In this episode, we’re chatting with NSW-based Japanese & English teacher Kelly Harrison, the founder & director of Languages Roadshow . Languages Roadshow offers face to face events, online courses, creative resources and individualised support for teachers and schools, to empower educators to implement innovative teaching methods. Kelly tells us all about her journey and experience of learning Japanese and becoming a teacher, why she decided to start Languages Roadshow, the challenges ...
Oct 24, 2022•35 min•Ep. 77
So… You’re not a beginner anymore in the language that you’re learning, but you’re still a long way from considering yourself fluent. How do we deal with this hazy - and sometimes, seemingly endless - period of being kind of intermediate? In this episode, Penny & Bec speak about their experiences of this tricky but also empowering learning stage that comes after beginner, whether you like to describe it as intermediate, post-beginner, conversational or otherwise. We chat about the challenges...
Oct 10, 2022•25 min•Ep. 76
In this episode of Language Chats, we speak with Jenna Lo Bianco, a Melbourne-based educator, author, PhD candidate and mum of two, who lives and breathes all things Italian. Jenna is one of the most enthusiastic and passionate language educators we know (we challenge you to not feel motivated to support language education in Australia after listening to this episode!) and we were thrilled to have her on the podcast to tell us about all the doors that language has opened in her life and career. ...
Sep 26, 2022•43 min•Ep. 75
