Connected By Language: Polyglot Interviews

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Petr is a Czech linguist and freelancer who spent years treating English as just another school subject, until an early internet language exchange site opened up the world to him. From there he taught himself Russian in his thirties, not because he had to, but because he was drawn to the post-Soviet world and the vast geography a single language could unlock. He passed a B2 exam, traveled to Georgia to put his skills to the test, and built quiet long-lasting friendships along the way.

Then February 2022 arrived. When Ukrainian refugees began flooding into his city, Petr showed up to volunteer at the reception center, speaking a language he had learned entirely for personal curiosity, now suddenly needed in the most human way possible. In this episode we get into what that experience felt like, what a crisis teaches you about language that no classroom or app ever could, and how a hobby you build slowly over years can matter enormously in a single unexpected moment.

About the guest: https://freelancing.eu/petrloucka/

What is Tandem - Language exchange?

Tandem is a global language exchange app on a mission to connect the world through languages. Members build confidence and improve their language skills through real life conversations with native speakers in 1:1 chats or live audio rooms. 

🔗 Connect With Us: https://linktr.ee/Tandem_App

0:00 Intro 

4:36 From Classroom Boredom to Real Motivation 

11:34 Building Russian From the Ground Up 

38:33 The Moment It All Meant Something 

54:43 The Dream That Started It and the Reality It Became

🌟 What topics/language should we explore on the next episode of the new tandem podcast? Let us know in the comments! 

Thanks for watching Connected By Language: Polyglot Interviews, the new Tandem Podcast.

🌍 JOIN TANDEM TODAY: https://tandem.go.link/lcLQH

Rafael is a Korean native speaker who started teaching Korean online after noticing how many people in Prague were desperate to learn the language during the height of the K-pop and Squid Game wave. What began as a casual side project turned into a full career… Until he followed his Spanish partner back to Europe, landed in Barcelona without knowing a word of Catalan, moved to Madrid, and suddenly found himself on the other side of the classroom for the first time in his life.

In this episode we get into what makes Korean both more logical and more nuanced than most learners expect, why so many Koreans can read and write English perfectly but freeze the moment they have to speak it, and what teaching a language for years teaches you about it that simply speaking it never could. We also get into Rafael's current approach to Spanish: the classic textbook, the public language school, the Spanish partner, and a playlist of classic Spanish hits that he sings along to alone at home… which he insists is working!

About the guest: https://ochikortutor.com/koreanclass

What is Tandem - Language exchange?

Tandem is a global language exchange app on a mission to connect the world through languages. Members build confidence and improve their language skills through real life conversations with native speakers in 1:1 chats or live audio rooms. 

🔗 Connect With Us: https://linktr.ee/Tandem_App

0:00 Intro 

8:31 Growing Up Inside the Korean Education Machine 

19:29 Teaching Korean to the World 

39:51 The Spanish Adventure 

51:07 What the Classroom Looks Like From the Other Chair

🌟 What topics/language should we explore on the next episode of the new tandem podcast? Let us know in the comments! 

Thanks for watching Connected By Language: Polyglot Interviews, the new Tandem - Language Exchange Podcast.

🌍 JOIN TANDEM TODAY: https://tandem.go.link/lcLQH

Jonatan grew up in northern Sweden with Eritrean parents, speaking both Swedish and Tigrinya at home, and was promptly labeled the math kid while his more extroverted sister got the language person title. That label stuck until a passionate Spanish teacher named Lars changed everything, and what started as a school subject eventually took Jonatan through Spain, six years of medical school in Hungary, fluency in Hungarian, Russian, and several other languages, and back to Sweden with a completely different understanding of what languages are actually for.

In this episode we explore what it really means when a doctor speaks a patient's native language, why the difference between a direct conversation and an interpreter goes far beyond words, and how Jonatan turned a quiet longing for his polyglot community into Stockholm Polyglots, a growing nonprofit that brings language lovers together every two weeks across ten languages at a time. We also get into the Hungarian saying he opens every event with, and why he believes every language you speak makes you a more complete human being.

About the guest: https://polyglots.se/

What is Tandem - Language exchange?

Tandem is a global language exchange app on a mission to connect the world through languages. Members build confidence and improve their language skills through real life conversations with native speakers in 1:1 chats or live audio rooms. 

🔗 Connect With Us: https://linktr.ee/Tandem_App

0:00 Intro 

4:14 The Language Person He Was Not Supposed to Be 

13:31 Language in the Hospital Room 

35:11 Building the Community Sweden Forgot to Build 

43:32 What Seven Languages Taught Him

🌟 What topics/language should we explore on the next episode of the new tandem podcast? Let us know in the comments! 

Thanks for watching Connected By Language: Polyglot Interviews, the new Tandem Podcast.

🌍 JOIN TANDEM TODAY: https://tandem.go.link/lcLQH

Ali Alradhi grew up in Basra, Iraq, surrounded by brothers who traveled the world and spoke English fluently. At twelve, he asked for a dictionary instead of a toy, started reading five to ten pages a day without knowing why, and spent the next decade quietly building an obsession that would take over his entire life. By the time he was twenty two, he had turned down Arabic music, Arabic friends, and anything that wasn't in English, bought a one-way ticket to Turkey, and started over from scratch.

In this episode, Ali walks us through how that radical self-taught approach shaped the way he now runs Just English, a language school in Turkey where English is the only language allowed in the building. We get into what it actually takes to hire great teachers, why mindset always comes before grammar in his classroom, what English genuinely represents for people in Turkey who desperately want it but can't always access it, and why he believes the word "impossible" is just another entry in the dictionary.

About the guest: https://linktr.ee/alawiiiz

What is Tandem - Language exchange?

Tandem is a global language exchange app on a mission to connect the world through languages. Members build confidence and improve their language skills through real life conversations with native speakers in 1:1 chats or live audio rooms. 

🔗 Connect With Us: https://linktr.ee/Tandem_App

0:00 Intro

2:07 From Basra to Fluency

13:30 Building a Multilingual Classroom

47:20 What English Really Means in Türkiye

56:30 The Outsider Advantage

🌟 What topics/language should we explore on the next episode of the new tandem podcast? Let us know in the comments! 

Thanks for watching Connected By Language: Polyglot Interviews, the official Tandem Podcast.

🌍 JOIN TANDEM TODAY: https://tandem.go.link/lcLQH

Frank grew up in London convinced he was simply bad at languages. Seven years of French at school, five of German, and not a single conversation to show for it. So at twenty-two, fresh out of university, he did the only logical thing: bought a one-way ticket to Buenos Aires with no contacts, no savings, and barely enough Spanish to order a coffee.

What followed was equal parts terrifying and transformative. In this episode, Frank walks us through what real immersion actually looks like from the inside: the supermarket anxiety, the elevator small talk, the football team he joined by pretending he understood every word, and the pandemic lockdown that unexpectedly turned Argentina into home. We also get into how that journey eventually led to a language teaching career, a viral moment on Instagram, and a philosophy about fluency that has less to do with grammar and everything to do with the confidence to just keep going.

About the guest: https://www.instagram.com/frankly_speaking_english/

What is Tandem - Language exchange?

Tandem is a global language exchange app on a mission to connect the world through languages. Members build confidence and improve their language skills through real life conversations with native speakers in 1:1 chats or live audio rooms. 

🔗 Connect With Us: https://linktr.ee/Tandem_App

0:00 Intro

 4:24 From “Bad at Languages” to Moving Abroad

14:45 Designing Immersion & Building Real Fluency

44:47 Turning Language into Career & Leverage

58:58 Reflection & Mindset

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Luke is a British-born polyglot who grew up in a national park in northern England, spent his adult life living across eight countries, and now works at a French language school in Lille, advising, testing, and reassuring students from all over the world who come to learn French in an immersive environment. In this episode, he shares what years of living abroad and watching hundreds of students succeed and fail has taught him about what language learning actually takes.

We go deep on the psychology of learning: why attitude almost always outweighs environment, what Luke calls the "tea bag effect," and how the fear of speaking to native speakers holds people back far more than grammar ever could. We also zoom out into the bigger picture: how the dominance of English threatens minority and regional languages across Europe, why France and the UK couldn't be more different in how they handle linguistic diversity, and why Luxembourg might just be the quiet model no one talks about enough.

About the guest: https://www.instagram.com/lukielingual/

What is Tandem - Language exchange?

Tandem is a global language exchange app on a mission to connect the world through languages. Members build confidence and improve their language skills through real life conversations with native speakers in 1:1 chats or live audio rooms. 

🔗 Connect With Us: https://linktr.ee/Tandem_App

0:00 Intro

4:10 From England to France: A Life Built Around Languages

11:44 Working in Language Education

40:00 Language Diversity & Rights in Europe

57:19 Reflections & Advice

🌟 What topics/language should we explore on the next episode of the new tandem podcast? Let us know in the comments!

🫂 Donate to CLEAR Global today: clearglobal.org/donate

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In this special episode of the Connected by Language podcast, we dive into the critical mission of CLEAR Global to bridge the "digital language divide". We sit down with CEO Aimee Ansari to discuss why 3.7 billion people remain "digitally invisible". From crisis response in Nigeria to disaster preparedness in Bolivia, we explore how language barriers can become a matter of life or death and why language justice is a fundamental human right.

Discover how CLEAR Global uses language data and innovative technology to ensure that half the world's population can finally access essential information in their own tongue. Amy shares powerful insights on the importance of speech data for low-resource languages and provides practical ways for multilingual listeners to volunteer their skills to save lives. Join us for this impactful conversation and learn how you can support the push for global language equality during this year's Podcasthon event.

This episode is part of Podcasthon 2026, a global movement where podcast hosts interview NGOs and charities to spread awareness and support for humanitarian wonders across the world.

Join Podcasthon 2026: https://podcasthon.org/

What is Tandem - Language exchange?

Tandem is a global language exchange app on a mission to connect the world through languages. Members build confidence and improve their language skills through real life conversations with native speakers in 1:1 chats or live audio rooms. 

🔗 Connect With Us: https://linktr.ee/Tandem_App

0:00 Intro 

6:14 Personal Journey into Language and Humanitarian Work

8:46 Low-Resource Languages and Why They Matter

17:39 Beyond Translation: Building Language Infrastructure

25:16 Beyond Translation: Building Language Infrastructure

31:42 Language, Power, and Getting Involved 

39:08 The Future of Language Access

🌟 What topics/language should we explore on the next episode of the new tandem podcast? Let us know in the comments! 

This episode features a charitable appeal for CLEAR Global as part of Podcasthon 2026. No payment was exchanged for this interview

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In this episode of Connected By Language, Dutch content creator Jetske shares her experience learning Luganda, a language of Uganda. Originally visiting for a university minor, she eventually settled there and started a family. 

Jetske explains her commitment to the language as a way to connect with her partner's family and ensure their daughter grows up with both her Dutch and Ugandan heritage. The conversation covers the technical aspects of Luganda, including its twelve noun classes, tonal pronunciation, and the use of double consonants. Ultimately, the episode highlights how learning a language serves as a form of respect for a partner's culture and identity

The guest: https://www.youtube.com/@tess_chinese

What is Tandem - Language exchange?

Tandem is a global language exchange app on a mission to connect the world through languages. Members build confidence and improve their language skills through real life conversations with native speakers in 1:1 chats or live audio rooms. 

🔗 Connect With Us: https://linktr.ee/Tandem_App

0:00 Intro

3:39 Falling in Love with Luganda

11:28 Learning Luganda as a European Adult

29:28 Baby Intermission

30:51 The Learning Process

39:57 Language, Family & Bilingual Parenting

48:24 Advice for Learners of “Uncommon” Languages

🌟 What topics/language should we explore on the next episode of the new tandem podcast? Let us know in the comments! 

🌍 JOIN TANDEM TODAY: https://tandem.go.link/lcLQH

In this episode of Connected By Language, we sit down with Tess, an Australian content creator and university teacher currently living and working in China. Tess shares her incredible eight-year journey of mastering Mandarin, starting from a high school trip to Guangzhou that changed her life forever.

From waking up at 6:30 AM to study before school to navigating the complex world of Chinese radicals and tones, Tess reveals the specific strategies she used to transition from self-directed learning to professional fluency. We also dive into the cultural shifts she experienced, such as moving from the informal communication style of Australia to the formal professional environment of a Chinese university.

The guest: https://www.youtube.com/@tess_chinese

What is Tandem - Language exchange?

Tandem is a global language exchange app on a mission to connect the world through languages. Members build confidence and improve their language skills through real life conversations with native speakers in 1:1 chats or live audio rooms. 

🔗 Connect With Us: https://linktr.ee/Tandem_App

0:00 Intro

5:20 Discovering Chinese From a Distance

28:30 Independent Language Learning and Self-Directed Progress

42:43 From Learner to Teacher and Living the Language

53:11 Language Learning Mindset and Advice for Independent Learners

🌟 What topics/language should we explore on the next episode of the new tandem podcast? Let us know in the comments! 

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In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Tanu Biswas, associate professor of pedagogy and lifelong polyglot, to explore how language can be more than a skill — it can be a worldview. Growing up multilingual in India and continuing her journey across Europe, Dr. Biswas shares how each language she’s learned became a bridge to new cultures, academic research, and deep human connection.

We dive into how multilingualism can shift not just your vocabulary, but your imagination and identity. Dr. Biswas discusses the power of switching between languages intuitively, how meaning shifts across tongues, and how even listening can be a powerful act of contribution.

She also opens up about her work on Childism: a growing academic movement that reimagines children’s roles in society,  and how she’s building multilingual research communities around it across the globe.

Whether you're learning your first language or your tenth, this episode offers a rich, philosophical, and deeply human perspective on what it means to be “connected by language.”

The guest: www.tanubiswas.net  

The Childism Institute: www.childism.org

What is Tandem - Language exchange?

Tandem is a global language exchange app on a mission to connect the world through languages. Members build confidence and improve their language skills through real life conversations with native speakers in 1:1 chats or live audio rooms. 

🔗 Connect With Us: https://linktr.ee/Tandem_App

0:00 Intro

3:08 Becoming a Polyglot Without Chasing Fluency?

19:43 Language as a Tool for Bridging, Academia, and Meaning

53:54 Rethinking What Language Learning Is For

🌟 What topics/language should we explore on the next episode of the new tandem podcast? Let us know in the comments!