Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe

Today I’m back with another episode of Sicilian conversation and this time, I’m talking with Ari, a writer and translator who lives near Messina. If you remember earlier this summer we had another Sicilian conversation and you might be wondering why we’re hitting Sicily so hard and the answer is-- because Sicily is a very old language, influenced by many cultures over centuries and I feel that it’...

Today we’re doing things a bit differently. Usually, we’re talking about languages other than english and but today we’re talking about The Bahamian dialect of english with the founder of iisabahamianbey, Kache Knowles. I’ll mention in a minute why this episode is so close to my heart but first I want to talk about why this episode is an important milestone not just for this podcast but also why i...

The Basque language is one of the most unique languages in the world. Spoken in parts of Northern Spain and Western France, Basque is considered a language isolate - meaning that it is unrelated to any other language and many believe that it predates the Spanish language. In today’s conversation, I’m talking about Basque with Naroa who grew up in the Basque country speaking Basque at a young age....

Today I’m bringing you the eighth and final episode in this summer’s “Summer School” series where all summer long we have been having conversations with language teachers. In today’s episode I’m speaking with Melissa, an English teacher and the founder of Quintessentially English. I wanted to do something different with this episode and if you’ve been listening for a long time now you’ll notice th...

Hello Language Lovers! Thank you for joining me for another episode of Speaking Tongues, the podcast in conversation with multi-linguals! I’m your host, Elle Charisse. Today I’m bringing you the seventh episode in this summer’s “Summer School” series where all summer long we are having conversations with language teachers. In today’s episode I’m speaking with Linda, an Italian teacher and the host...

Hello Language Lovers! Today I’m bringing you the sixth episode in this summer’s “Summer School” series where all summer long we are having conversations with language teachers. In today’s episode I’m speaking with Maria, a Spanish teacher in Ireland and an Embodied Spanish Coach. I really enjoyed connecting with Maria as we discussed methods for learning another language. As you will hear in this...

Hello Language Lovers! Today I’m bringing you the fifth episode in this summer’s “Summer School” series where all summer long we are having conversations with language teachers. In today’s episode I’m speaking with Duda, an english teacher in Brazil and the founder of Divergent English. I first met Duda months ago when she reached out to me on Instagram to tell me about her language classes. Since...

Today I’m bringing you the fourth episode in this summer’s “Summer School” series where all summer long we are having conversations with language teachers. In this episode, I am speaking with Ilaria, a professional language teacher and instructor and the founder of Languages in Progress. Ilaria is originally from Sicily and today she’s telling me all about the Sicilian language, some bits about Si...

Hello Language Lovers! Thank you for joining me for another episode of Speaking Tongues, the podcast in conversation with multi linguals! I’m your host, Elle Charisse. Today, I have the honor and privilege of introducing you to Dr. Funlayo E. Wood-Menzies. Dr. Wood-Menzies is a leader in her community, a scholar-priestess of Ifá-Òrìsà and a teacher of the Yoruba language and that is just a short l...

Hello Language Lovers! Today I have the honor of bringing you the second installation in this summer’s “Summer School” series, where all summer long we’re having conversations with language teachers. In this episode I’m speaking with T’helah, a Hebrew teacher and the founder of The Kefar. The Kefar is an online Hebrew education platform that teaches the language in an accessible, engaging and cult...

Hello Language Lovers! Today I have the pleasure of bringing you the first episode of this summer’s “Summer School” series where for the next two months, each episode will be a conversation with a language teacher. In this first episode of the series, I’m talking with Jessica of French Sunny Side. Jessica is a french language teacher and mindfulness coach who helps her students to find their authe...

Hello Language Lovers, Today, I have the pleasure of talking with Melita Issa of Miso Studios, an NYC/ Tokyo design studio with a focus on hospitality. dining and multi-family design interiors. Melita is an interior designer who has lived and worked in Japan off and on throughout her career. In this episode, we talk about how she developed a love for Japanese language, Japanese culture, Japanese d...

Thank you for joining me for Part II of my conversation with Kuba- an incredible language lover and polyglot who speaks Polish, Hungarian, Spanish, Catalan, English and is learning Basque and Greek. In Part I of this episode, we spoke about his native Polish and in this episode we're talking about how Kuba became fluent in Hungarian, living life in a bilingual society & we share some observati...

Hello Language Lovers, I'm excited to bring this episode to you today and guess what! It's another two part episode. Today my guest is Kuba, a true polyglot, originally from Poland who speaks not only his native Polish but has also learned English, Spanish, Hungarian, Catalan. He's learning Basque and he's starting to learn Greek and so we had a lot to discuss. In this first episode, we talk about...

Today, I have the pleasure of speaking with someone who is not just a learner of language but also a leader in language. My guest today, Shahidah, aka Language Bae, is the founder of Black Girls Learn Language,  a multi-platform digital community for black women who are passionate about languages. In this episode, Shahidah talks about her journey to fluency in German, her experience with Fren...

Well, here we are friends, we've reached Episode 10 of Speaking Tongues and I'm so happy to have made it this far. Sure, I know that 10 is not a large number but for a show that's had some hiccups getting started, I'm truly happy to be here at number 10 and I'm looking forward to the next 10 with all of you. My guest on today's episode is a truly, truly special person and a very good friend of min...

I'm so happy to bring you this 9th episode of the show and this time, we're talking about Korean with Hanna and guess what? It's another "live" episode since we recorded in a Le Pain Quotidien! Hanna is an interior designer originally from Seoul, Korea currently living and working in New York City. In this episode we talk about the Korean language and we also talk about her experience learning eng...

Today, I have the pleasure of speaking with Leor, talented designer, musician and a good friend. I wanted to speak with Leor about her relationship with Hebrew although she isn’t fluent in the language at all. You see, one of the goals of this podcast is to celebrate language at any stage we’re in as learners. Though Leor isn’t fluent in Hebrew, her relationship to the language tied into her herit...

Hello Language Lovers, Today, as promised, I bring you the second half of my conversation with Amarens, a linguist and the creator of Untranslatable, a multi-lingual urban dictionary where people get to share local idioms, slang and expressions in any language. We last spoke about her native Dutch language and her connection to Frisian and today we're talking about her experience learning Spanish...

In this episode, I'm speaking today with Amarens, who is a linguist & the creator of Untranslatable a multi-lingual urban dictionary where people get to share local idioms, slang and expressions in any language. In the first part of this conversation, we're discussing Amarens' native Dutch & her connection to Frisian and in the second part of the conversation which you'll hear in the next episode,...

Hello Language Lovers, Today I have the honor of talking about Argentine Spanish with one of my long time very best friends. We often discuss the intricacies of Spanish and English with one another and she may not know this but she was one of the few people who inspired me to begin this podcast journey. Our casual conversations inspired me to want to have casual conversations with people from all...

I met my next guest as he was planning his upcoming trip to NYC. He's currently completing a screenplay about a frog who comes to visit New York City for the first time. In preparation for his trip, he reached out to me through the magic of the internet for some logistics planning and we connected! When he arrived in New York, I had a chance to show him around town for a few hours and that led to...

Today, we're talking to Elie about the several languages she grew up speaking and has learned over the course of her lifetime. Elie is an accomplished lawyer in California and she breaks down her attraction to learning languages and offers some valuable insight for those of us who continue learning as adults! 

In this episode we're talking with Tom about the language he grew up speaking and how coming to the US and having to learn English has impacted his life.  He also talks to us about the gradual way that parts of his heritage have made their way into popular culture and he even teaches us a few swear words! We even learn a bit about the alphabet!  Warning: this episode includes mature language. List...

When I decided I wanted to start this podcast, I wanted the opportunity to talk with people at all stages of fluency and not just those who are already fluent. My guest Talia is an actress, writer and photographer who talks with me about her ties to her heritage and her ambition to connect with it as it relates to language. Ever the professional, she did this in one take! Apologies for the audio a...