Simon Ager

When people ask me what I do, I usually tell them that I write and talk about languages for a living, mainly on my website. This leads to more questions about what exactly my website is about, how I make money from it, and what I spend my days doing. When I mention working with languages, many people assume my work involves translation or teaching. You can also hear this episode, and find notes on...

This is a tune I composed in January 2019 mainly on the cavaquinho. This recording was made in February 2019 on the guitar, cavaquinho, high and low whistles and the bodhrán. The geese in the photo used to live by the sea in Bangor, and I nicknamed them Bertie and Gertie. Unfortunately one died, and the other hasn't been seen since. This tune is for them. The word gwyddio is one I made up consisti...

This is a little song I wrote in January 2019 in a language I'm constructing called Laala. One of the reasons I created this language was to write songs in it - this my first song in Laala. At first it had quite a few verses, but then I decided to make it into a round. I tried it at a song writing group I go to, and found that it worked quite well. The red symbols in the middle of the image are in...

In this episode I talk about Cornish, the Celtic language spoken in the southwest of Britain. I look at the history of the language, its decline and revival, and current status, and talk a bit about the language itself, and how I learnt it. You can also hear it, and find out more at: http://www.omniglot.com/radio/?p=494

This is a tune I composed for no particular reason in January 2019 on the cavaquinho and piano. This recording features the cavaquinho, guitar, high and low whistles and the bodhrán. The name of the tune came to me after writing it - I just thought it had a pigeon-like feel to it, and it's possible that pigeons are curious. The photo comes from: https://flic.kr/p/8kny7w You can see the dots at: ht...

In this episode I discuss the distinction between between less and fewer, and commonly-held beliefs about English grammar and usage. I investigate where these 'rules' and practises originated and find out who is responsible. More details: http://www.omniglot.com/radio/?p=444

In this episode I look into the differences between languages and dialects, and talk a bit about where they come from and how they develop. You can find notes on this episode at: http://www.omniglot.com/radio/?p=412

This is a traditional Welsh folk tune played on the harp, which I learnt from the book 'The Celtic Harp'. It's also known as The Queen's Marsh or The Queen's Bog. This version is in F. In sessions it's usually played in G. You can find a number of versions of this tune at: https://thesession.org/tunes/2910 The photo is one I took of the Cegin Valley / Dyffryn Cegin in Bangor.

I wrote this tune on the piano and cavaquinho in November 2018 while playing around in A minor. This recording was made on the piano in December 2018. You can see the score for a piano arrangement of this tune at: https://musescore.com/user/16918231/scores/5559366 The photo comes from Flickr: https://flic.kr/p/6EVF5V

In this episode I talk about Welsh (Cymraeg), a Celtic language spoken mainly in Wales, a part of the UK. I delve into the history of the language, its current status, the language itself, and how I learnt it and use it. I also talk to a Welsh learner from Michigan in the USA who is doing a degree in Welsh at Bangor University. This podcast is mainly in English, with a few bits in Welsh. The Welsh...

This is a tune I wrote in November 2018 on the guitar, and this recording is made entirely on the guitar. You can see the score for a piano arrangement of this tune at: https://musescore.com/user/16918231/scores/5561933 The dog in the photo is Frankie, one of the doggy denizens of the Aquarius B&B in Newquay in Cornwall where I stayed during the 2018 Lowender Peren festival.

This epsiode is about polyglottery and was partly recorded at the 2018 Polyglot Conference in Ljubljana, Slovenia. I talk about what is a polyglot, how many languages you have to speak to call yourself a polyglot, and discuss what polyglots get up to There are also some sound bites from participants in the Polyglot Conference in a variety of languages.

The Chanter's Tune is a traditional Irish tune that is popular in the Isle of Man. The Chanter's Jig is a version of the tune arranged by the Mollag Band. I recorded it for episode 7 of the Radio Omniglot Podcast, and thought I'd make it available as a separate recording. http://www.omniglot.com/radio/?p=316 This recording is played on the guitar, cavaquinho, high and low whistles and bodhrán. The...

In this episode I talk about Manx (Gaelg), or Manx Gaelic (Gaelg Vanninagh), a Celtic language spoken in the Isle of Man. I look at the history of the language, its decline and revival, and its current situation. I also talk about my own experiences with the language, and play a few Manx tunes, and a song I wrote in Manx and English.

This episode is about accents. What are they? Where do they come from? Does it matter if you have a foreign accent when speaking a foreign language? Can you acquire a native-like accent in another language as an adult? If so, how do you do so?

This is a tune I wrote on the harp in August 2018. Originally it was in F, as I my harp happened to be in F when I started composing it. Later I decided to change it to G to make playable on more instruments. This version is played on the cavaquinho, guitar and whistle. The name has no particular significance - I like naming tunes after animals, and as I haven’t written any about frogs, I thought...

In this episode I talk about Solresol, a musical language invented by François Sudre in the early 19th century. It is designed to be a simple language for international communication with just seven basic syllables based on the Western major musical scale (do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, si). Solresol was the first constructed language to be taken seriously as an international auxiliary language (IAL), a...

In this episode I talk about Italian, and specifically about the Italian words used in Western classical music. I investigate why Italian is used, look at some of the words, and find out what they mean and how they are used in Italian. You can find out more at: : http://www.omniglot.com/radio/?p=190

This is a podcast about the Irish language (Gaeilge) which talks about the history of the language, its current situation, how I learnt it, and a bit about its grammar and structure. It features a number of traditional Irish tunes, and one of my own compositions and is partly in Irish, but mostly in English. For more details, see: http://www.omniglot.com/radio/?p=80

This episode of the Radio Omniglot Podcast is about Scottish Gaelic (Gàidhlig). I talk about the current state of the language, its history, how it is used, about my experiences of learning it, and share some observations I've collected from other Gaelic speakers and learners. You can find out more about Scottish Gaelic at: http://www.omniglot.com/writing/gaelic.htm The music featured in this epis...

In this first episode of the Radio Omniglot Podcast, I talk about my own language learning adventures, about the languages I've learned, and how and why I learned them.

I wrote this tune on the cavaquinho in January 2018, and finally got round to recording it, also on the cavaquinho, in June 2018. The photo is of the apple tree in my garden with some apple blossom on it. You can see the score for a version of this tune (not quite the same as this recording) at: https://musescore.com/user/16918231/scores/5633628

This is a tune I wrote for no particular reason in May 2018. It was composed on the piano, but this version is played on the guitar and cavaquinho. The photo was taken from Roman Camp in Bangor, looking towards Hirael Bay and Llandudno.

This is a little ditty I came up with in April 2012 which incorporates the old Cumbrian sheep scoring numbers and a bit about their history. I first discovered these numbers in a book about Cumbrian dialect in Lancaster library one day many years ago. The numbers I use here come from Keswick in Cumbria. There are many other versions from all over England, Wales and Scotland. This recording was mad...

This is a tune I wrote on the piano in March 2018 after a long winter. This recording features the piano, harp, high and low whistles, and cavaquinho, and finishes with some bird song I recorded in Bangor. The photo is of a forsythia bush in a garden on Ambrose Street, just round the corner from where I live.