“I do consider Puerto Rico a borderland of the United States,” says Brenda Piñero of her homeland, which is both a part of, and apart from, the U.S.

In Episode 60 of the America the Bilingual podcast, Brenda shares what it’s like to work on the border in South Texas as an American immigration attorney from a part of America that is a territory rather than a state. Every day she crosses emotionally from stories that are heartbreaking to those that are heartwarming. Often, they’re both.

“My dad died in 2018 and I wasn’t able to go to his funeral. It was too much of a risk.” For the film critic Carlos Aguilar to have left his home in the US to attend his father’s funeral in Mexico would have put his re-entry into the United States in jeopardy. A native of Mexico City who has lived and worked in the US since he was young, Carlos is part of the immigration program known as DACA— Deferred Action for Children Arrivals. He has experienced both the privilege and the pain that come with this tenuous status.

Music in this episode (in order of appearance) by:

Kai Engel - Seeker

https://bit.ly/KaiEngel_Seeker

Kevin Mcleod - Quasimotion

https://bit.ly/KevinMacleod_QuasiMotion

John Bartmann - Heart of acceptance

https://bit.ly/JohnBartmann_Heartofacceptance

Jorge Mario Zuleta - En detención

https://bit.ly/JMZ_detencion

TRG Banks - Daybreak in a new town

https://bit.ly/TRGBanks_Daybreakinanewtown

Monplaisir - I am the coyote

https://bit.ly/Monplaisir_Iamthecoyote

In 1491, the Taíno people of the Caribbean and their language were thriving. After 1492, both had been extinguished.

Or so many history books would have you believe.

In Episode 58 of the America the Bilingual podcast, Priscilla Colón—whose DNA tested YES for Taíno—shares what it’s like to reclaim a language that was nearly lost. The language that was, in fact, the first Indigenous American language of contact with the European explorers.

Long before his college graduation, Jack Clarke had his life mapped out: “I was going to be an Army officer and language capability would enhance my career.” Getting there was quite the adventure.

His Spanish took him parachuting into countries on Special Forces mission. His German found him alone in the mountains of… North Carolina. And his French got him in trouble with an aging Jesuit priest from Belgium.

There are more languages—and more stories. Hear them in Episode 57 of the America the Bilingual podcast.

Concert pianist Andrew von Oeyen has been learning languages even longer than he’s been performing with the world’s top orchestras—and he made his professional debut at age 16. In Episode 56 of the America the Bilingual podcast, he explains how his fluency in three other languages infuses his work with greater meaning (and did a lot for his relationships as well).

This is our second of two episodes on what technology can and can’t do for language learning…and perhaps more important, what technology should and shouldn’t do.

Listen as Steve shares the week he spent in Silicon Valley attending the futuristic technology incubator called Singularity University. He had a chance to ask the high priest of language technology, Ray Kurzweil, how he sees the role of high tech in language learning. Ray’s answer might surprise you.

You’ll be listening to the audio version of Chapter 34 of Steve’s book, America’s Bilingual Century, presented by the award-winning narrator Sean Pratt.

Music is “Quasi Motion” by Kevin Macleod at the start of the episode and then “West in Africa” by John Bartmann.

Everyone, it seems, has an opinion on using technology for learning a language. That includes the many bilinguals Steve interviewed for Episode 54 of the America the Bilingual podcast. It’s a brief meditation on the merits—and demerits—of language technology.

How much should we depend on language technology to talk for us? What are technology’s limitations? Or is it just we humans who are limited in our thinking of what technology can do?

The role that technology plays in language learning is such a timely and important question that we’re devoting two episodes to answering it. Meet the guests you’ll hear in this episode, the first of two.

Music is “Quasi Motion” by Kevin Macleod at the start of the episode and then “West in Africa” by John Bartmann.

From sea to shining sea, English is spoken throughout all 3.8 million square miles of the US. Does it make sense to speak anything else?

To answer this question, in Episode 53, Steve takes you on a tour that starts in Little Rock and ends in Montreal, by way of Casablanca and Mali.

Enjoy this seventh free audiobook chapter of America’s Bilingual Century by Steve Leveen. You’re listening to Chapter 37, narrated by Sean Pratt.

Like the music? It’s “Quasi Motion” by Kevin Macleod at the start of the episode and then “West in Africa” by John Bartmann.

Want to learn Japanese? Go to Japan. Portuguese? Portugal or Brazil. Hindi? India. Immersion is absolutely the best way to learn another language…or is it? In Episode 52, Steve weighs in, and his answer might surprise you.

Enjoy this sixth free audiobook chapter of America’s Bilingual Century by Steve Leveen. You’re listening to Chapter 36, narrated by Sean Pratt.

Music: “Quasi Motion” by Kevin Macleod at the start of the episode, followed by “West in Africa” by John Bartmann.

A middle-aged guy named Steve walks into an intermediate-Spanish class for Harvard undergrads, and does a quick assessment of their advantages versus his.

Theirs: They’re smarter. They take tests really well. They’ve had more Spanish. They can hear perfectly fine. They’re highly motivated to get good grades. They seem to relish the mental struggle.

Steve’s: He shows up on time.

And it gets better. Like when Steve teams up with one of the students, Josh Robinson, to do an oral presentation in Spanish on Reggaeton. Steve’s first question to his teammate: “What’s Reggaeton?”

The power of perseverance is on humorous display in Episode 51.

Enjoy this fifth free audiobook chapter of America’s Bilingual Century by Steve Leveen. You’re listening to Chapter 27, narrated by Sean Pratt.

The music is “Quasi Motion” by Kevin Macleod at the start of the episode, followed by “West in Africa”

by John Bartmann.