Language Chats

How much do you know about Filipino food, culture and language? Did you know that Australians of Filipino heritage make up the fifth largest group of Australians born overseas*? In this Language Chat, we speak with Fides Mae Santos-Arguelles, independent business consultant and co-founder of The Entree. Pinays , a food-loving entrepreneurial group of Filipinas working together to bring Filipino cu...

Australians aren’t well known for their language skills (unfortunately)… But is this just a stereotype? Do we really struggle at learning languages, or are we just expecting too much, too soon, when we set out on a language learning journey? In this episode of Language Chats, we speak with Margaux Josse , a Melbourne-based French language teacher who has been teaching French to Australians of diff...

In this episode of Language Chats, we’re talking the ‘F’ word! Maybe not the F word you are thinking about…. but FLUENCY. Our very own Language Chats co-host Bec talks about her French language learning experience from a beginner 5-year-old kid to becoming ‘fluent’. What does fluent mean to you? Is it a goal of yours? Can you be fluent in a particular context and not in others? What about all the...

In this episode of Language Chats, we speak with Italian teacher and artist Ermy Pedata of The Language Rose . Ermy is passionate and enthusiastic teacher (her positivity is infectious!), who loves to help her students learn Italian through their interests and passions. We chat with her about her own language learning journey and how art led her back to languages, her tips to help people connect t...

50 episodes of Language Chats! We can hardly believe it! It’s been a little over two years since we started recording this podcast and we’re still here… But so are you! We have a lot of fun chatting language between ourselves and with others, but it’s extra special that there are other language lovers out there who enjoy listening to these language chats too. So, thank you for tuning in and engagi...

Wiradjuri is the Australian indigenous language of Wiradjuri country, in central-southern New South Wales. As a revival language, it is experiencing growth and provides an important connection to the local indigenous culture; however it also faces significant challenges to keep it alive and active. In this episode, we speak with Wiradjuri man Yaaran (Aaron) Ellis who currently teaches the Wiradjur...

Farsi (Persian) may not be a language that you hear about people learning often in Australia; however the official language of Iran has an estimated 70 million native speakers and 110 million speakers worldwide, and it’s the language that has captured Sydney-based Candace Powell’s language-loving heart for the last several years. In this episode of Language Chats, we speak with Candace about how s...

How important are podcasts to you for learning a language? Being so accessible, podcasts are a great way to practice your listening skills for any language! But it’s not always just about the language itself. Listening to podcasts can also be a way to learn more about another culture and about other more subtle aspects of communicating in another language too. In this episode, we speak with Pete S...

In this episode, we speak with two members of our Language Lovers AU Community - Andrew & Xuran (Sharon), who are both currently language teachers of Chinese at schools in Geelong, Victoria. We chat with them both about their respective journeys with language learning and how they became interested in languages, teaching Chinese in Victorian high schools and how they bring many languages into thei...

Have you learned (or would you like to learn) a language that uses another script or alphabet? Or does the idea of learning a language that is written in a *completely* different way scare you? In this episode of Language Chats, we chat about Penny’s experience of learning Japanese and Mandarin, the excitement of learning to ‘crack the code’, the visual nature of learning other scripts and alphabe...

The world of EdTech is growing and dynamic, offering greater access to exciting and diverse learning materials to students around the world. In this episode of Language Chats, we had the pleasure of speaking with Philippa Kruger, Global Head of Languages at Education Perfect. We chat about Philippa’s background as a French teacher and how she progressed into the exciting world of EdTech, what EP i...

If you haven’t already listened to Part 1 of this conversation, you can listen to it here. This is Part 2 of our chat with linguist Karla Zuluaga, who gives us an introduction to Australian indigenous languages and their current context, based on her studies, knowledge and experience to date. In this second half of our conversation, we chat about bringing indigenous languages into education in ind...

There are over 250 indigenous languages in Australia, but most Australians know very little (if anything at all) about them. There is important work being done around the country to document, revitalise, revive and share the languages which have existed in Australia since long before colonisation, but if you’re like us and you want to know more - where does one even begin? In this episode of Langu...

Have you ever taken part in an online language challenge to keep yourself on track and stay motivated in your learning? Debs Bensaul ( @franklyfrancophone | @essentiallyitalian | @towardsfluency ) is a long-time Language Chats listener and member of our Language Lovers AU Community . Based in Sydney, Debs is a committed learner of French and Italian who regularly takes part in the Fluent in 3 Mont...

What’s been your experience with tutors and teachers? Have you had mostly native teachers or a mix of non-native and native teachers? In this episode of Language Chats, Bec and Penny chat about their experiences over the years, and the pros and cons of both. Plus are you going to be at the Women in Language online conference? It's from 4-7 March 2021 - you can get your ticket here ! Italki Get you...

You might not know it yet, but you’re about to get very enthusiastic about linguistics. Yes, that’s right! The science of language and communication is fascinating and we recently had the pleasure of chatting with Gretchen McCulloch and Lauren Gawne, hosts of Lingthusiasm , a podcast that’s enthusiastic about linguistics. We talk about what linguistics is, why it is so interesting and relevant (es...

Was 2020 a year you needed a break from language learning? Did you step back and change your direction and plans? In this episode of Language Chats, Bec and Penny reflect on the past year and think about the learnings they will take with them into 2021. Consistency, not being hard on ourselves, getting back to what we love doing, not wanting to lose our sense of self and discovering what really wo...

Mistakes are a natural part of the learning process but that doesn't mean that they are always pleasant! In this episode of Language Chats, we chat all about embarrassing mistakes we’ve made in our language learning, how we recovered and what we learned. From tonal mishaps to pronunciation blunders, we’ve made a few! What funny/embarrassing experiences have you had when trying to speak another lan...

How does a love of music and a love of language come together? In this episode of Language Chats, we speak with Melbourne-based speech pathologist and opera singer, Sarah Lobegeiger de Rodriguez, who describes herself as “a person with a complete and utter fascination with sound”. We chat about her love for music, words and sound, how this impacts her experience of learning other languages, fighti...

This year has been a test for us all! When life intervenes (and this is not just during pandemics, but other life changes can throw up big changes in how we approach language learning), it’s important to have a few reasons at your disposal to keep you going in language learning. In this episode, we chat about our different motivations for language learning and what has kept us on track this year d...

Some language apps are really gamified, some have video, animations or audio, and some use spaced repetition. There have been some fad apps that have come in and been replaced by others – there sure is lots going on in this app world! In this episode of Language Chats, Bec and Penny reveal their favourite apps and others that aren’t near the top of the go-to list. What apps do you love or loathe?...

Lina Vasquez is a Latvian-Australian personal development coach, polyglot, YouTuber, speaker and entrepreneur. Having been immersed in a multicultural environment from a young age, she studied law and languages in Australia and Germany and now speaks a total of eight at various levels. Lina has always been curious and a free soul and her experiences of other countries as a teenager, led her to cre...

From the Quebecois accent to the Southern Vietnamese accent, we've both had experiences of struggling with accents or feeling proud of their accent in their second language. In this episode, we ask if accents matter, or is the main goal actually just comprehension? In this episode, we’ve done something a bit different and put some questions out to our Language Lovers AU Community Facebook group ab...

Is there such a thing as a right time to introduce a new language? Do we need to be at a certain level such as B1 or equivalent before adding in a new language? Or does it all come down to your motivation and goals and it when it just feels right? In this episode, Penny and Bec talk about if there is a right time to introduce a new language into your language learning mix. What's been your experie...

What we’re watching! We love watching foreign language TV and in this episode we round up our latest discoveries. From German fantasy thrillers to Danish political drams and Spanish food documentaries to Indian love stories, we cover all kinds of genres and languages in this episode! What have you been watching? Let us know here , in our Facebook Group or Instagram ! Head to our website for the sh...