How to Learn a Language

By Lindsay DowEducation Language Learning

How to Learn a Language episodes

January 04, 2019Discovering Hmong
What do you know about Hmong? Join us in Sapa, Vietnam; Luang Prabang in Laos; and somewhere a little further afield for this episode of Language Stories.
THE VIDEO
Click here to watch the sister video to this podcast episode.
To keep track of future episodes in video form, click here to subscribe on YouTube.
SUPPORT THE SHOW
The best thing you can do right now to support the project is threefold, and if you've ever listened to any podcast before, I'm sure you'll be familiar with what I'm about to say!
Subscribe - by subscribing to the Language Stories podcast in your favourite place and YouTube for the sister videos, you're going to keep up with all future episodes. Woop!
Review - when it comes to the tech stuff, reviews are pretty important. Reviews help to tell iTunes that people like the podcast, and that helps to raise the profile so that new people can find it easily. Yay!
Tell a friend - word of mouth still wins! If you know someone who would love Language Stories, tell them about it. And if they're new to podcasts, walk them through the process to subscribe them. Woohoo!
To make it as easy as possible to share the podcast, click here to tweet about episode.
SHARE YOUR STORY
If you have a Language Story you’d love to share, or if you know someone that does, get in touch.
I always love to hear from you! Your feedback helps to shape future episodes so thank you.
Special Guests: Chua - Chua's Sapa Tour and Homestay, Jasmine Tierra - Singer, and Jer, Evan, Tanya - Laos Learns English.
Sponsored By:
Lingora: Sign up to Lingora completely free to share your spoken + written language practice and get real community feedback.
Links:
Hmong Batik Class, Luang Prabang — This is the link on Backstreet Academy to the Hmong Batik Class we did that featured in the video. It's a great experience! Make sure you do it early in your visit so you have time to collect your finished piece the following day.
Hmong Vegetarian Cooking Class — And here's the link to the cooking class that features in the video. It's also in Luang Prabang and was great too. We got to choose our dishes and picked the ones we were least likely to cook again. This meant we cooked with rattan and banana flower! The family you cook with are very friendly.
Black Singer Soars in Hmong Language - NPR — NPR article that features Jasmine's story to singing in Hmong.
Hmong Americans - Wikipedia — Wikipedia has a good overview of Hmong Americans.
History of the Hmong in Minneapolis-St Paul - Wikipedia — There's even a specific page for Minneapolis-St Paul!
St. Paul: McDonald’s Hmong pitch mangles language - Twin Cities — I found this article interesting about McDonalds attempt locally to appeal to Hmong residents.
Being Hmong in America - The Atlantic — There's some interesting reads about Being Hmong in America on The Atlantic.
Minnesota Remembers Vietnam: America's Secret War - PBS — This documentary tells the story of 'America's Secret War'.
20 min
December 14, 2018Teaching English in Laos
In Laos, English is an important language to learn. What's happening with teaching English in Laos? Find out in this episode of Language Stories.
THE VIDEO
Click here to watch the sister video to this podcast episode.
To keep track of future episodes in video form, click here to subscribe on YouTube.
SUPPORT THE SHOW
The best thing you can do right now to support the project is threefold, and if you've ever listened to any podcast before, I'm sure you'll be familiar with what I'm about to say!
Subscribe - by subscribing to the Language Stories podcast in your favourite place and YouTube for the sister videos, you're going to keep up with all future episodes. Woop!
Review - when it comes to the tech stuff, reviews are pretty important. Reviews help to tell iTunes that people like the podcast, and that helps to raise the profile so that new people can find it easily. Yay!
Tell a friend - word of mouth still wins! If you know someone who would love Language Stories, tell them about it. And if they're new to podcasts, walk them through the process to subscribe them. Woohoo!
To make it as easy as possible to share the podcast, click here to tweet about episode.
SHARE YOUR STORY
If you have a Language Story you’d love to share, or if you know someone that does, get in touch.
I always love to hear from you! Your feedback helps to shape future episodes so thank you.
Special Guests: EDF Laos, Jer, Evan, Tanya - Laos Learns English, Martin - Momobooks, and Rachel - ARDA.
Sponsored By:
Lingora: Sign up to Lingora completely free to share your spoken + written language practice and get real community feedback.
Links:
Big Brother Mouse — A project in Luang Prabang that focuses on getting literacy and books to Lao children.
Star2 article — The story of a German man who devotes his free time in Laos to teaching English.
Live Lingua - Lao Courses — Lao lessons if you're feeling inspired to learn a little of the local language yourself!
34 min
November 30, 2018Singapore Takes The Floor
What's it like to learn a language in a country with 4 official languages? How does English bring people together? Find out in season 2 episode 2 of Language Stories.
THE VIDEO
Click here to watch the sister video to this podcast episode.
To keep track of future episodes in video form, click here to subscribe on YouTube.
SUPPORT THE SHOW
The best thing you can do right now to support the project is threefold, and if you've ever listened to any podcast before, I'm sure you'll be familiar with what I'm about to say!
Subscribe - by subscribing to the Language Stories podcast in your favourite place and YouTube for the sister videos, you're going to keep up with all future episodes. Woop!
Review - when it comes to the tech stuff, reviews are pretty important. Reviews help to tell iTunes that people like the podcast, and that helps to raise the profile so that new people can find it easily. Yay!
Tell a friend - word of mouth still wins! If you know someone who would love Language Stories, tell them about it. And if they're new to podcasts, walk them through the process to subscribe them. Woohoo!
To make it as easy as possible to share the podcast, click here to tweet about episode.
SHARE YOUR STORY
If you have a Language Story you’d love to share, or if you know someone that does, get in touch.
I always love to hear from you! Your feedback helps to shape future episodes so thank you.
Special Guests: Eva Neo - Eva Comics, Lilian Lee - Say What?, and Zinkie Aw - Singaporean Photographer.
Sponsored By:
Lingora: Sign up to Lingora completely free to share your spoken + written language practice and get real community feedback.
Links:
Languages of Singapore - Wikipedia — A great general overview of languages in Singapore.
Speak Good English Movement — The official website of the Speak Good English Movement.
The Language The Government Tried to Suppress - BBC — A longform article about Singlish and its history in Singapore.
National Statistics - Singaporean Government — Some statistics on the population of Singaporean, including language stats.
Tamil Language Council — The official website of the Tamil Language Council in Singapore.
Malay Language Council — The official website of the Malay Language Council in Singapore.
Speak Mandarin Campaign — The official website of the Speak Mandarin Campaign in Singapore.
So, Expats Are Taking Classes To Learn Singlish In Singapore (P.S. It’s FREE!) - The Finder — An article from 2017 about expats in Singapore learning Singlish.
Singlish Crash Course - The Finder — Some Singlish basics to spark your interest!
34 min
November 09, 2018Learning Vietnamese
How easy is it to get started learning Vietnamese? If you're curious about the language spoken by around 75 million, the first episode of Season 2 of Language Stories is for you.
THE VIDEO
Click here to watch the sister video to this podcast episode.
To keep track of future episodes in video form, click here to subscribe on YouTube.
SUPPORT THE SHOW
The best thing you can do right now to support the project is threefold, and if you've ever listened to any podcast before, I'm sure you'll be familiar with what I'm about to say!
Subscribe - by subscribing to the Language Stories podcast in your favourite place and YouTube for the sister videos, you're going to keep up with all future episodes. Woop!
Review - when it comes to the tech stuff, reviews are pretty important. Reviews help to tell iTunes that people like the podcast, and that helps to raise the profile so that new people can find it easily. Yay!
Tell a friend - word of mouth still wins! If you know someone who would love Language Stories, tell them about it. And if they're new to podcasts, walk them through the process to subscribe them. Woohoo!
To make it as easy as possible to share the podcast, click here to tweet about episode.
SHARE YOUR STORY
If you have a Language Story you’d love to share, or if you know someone that does, get in touch.
I always love to hear from you! Your feedback helps to shape future episodes so thank you.
Special Guests: Gaston Dorren - Author, Saphire & Shinegi - Vietnamese Teaching Group, and Tri - Language Accepted.
Sponsored By:
Lingora: Sign up to Lingora completely free to share your spoken + written language practice and get real community feedback.
Links:
Omniglot — Vietnamese language and writing information.
CJV Lang — A good overview of the Vietnamese writing system and alphabet.
More Vietnamese — Lots of helpful blog posts for learning Vietnamese. This is a good introduction to tones.
123Vietnamese — This video will help you to get to grips with the Vietnamese tone system.
Babel - Gaston Dorren — Gaston Dorren's new book, Babel on Amazon (affiliate link)
29 min
October 26, 2018POLYGLOT UNDUBBED EDITION: Guarani In The Heart of South America
Guarani is an indigenous language that defies all odds to exist today as it does alongside Spanish in Paraguay. But what odds? How does it thrive in the modern world? In this episode of Language Stories, we're exploring the story of Guarani in Paraguay. (This is a Polyglot Undubbed Edition of Language Stories. The interviews are shared in their original language. Enjoy!)
THE VIDEO
Click here to watch the sister video to this podcast episode.
To keep track of future episodes in video form, click here to subscribe on YouTube.
SUPPORT THE SHOW
The best thing you can do right now to support the project is threefold, and if you've ever listened to any podcast before, I'm sure you'll be familiar with what I'm about to say!
Subscribe - by subscribing to the Language Stories podcast in your favourite place and YouTube for the sister videos, you're going to keep up with all future episodes. Woop!
Review - when it comes to the tech stuff, reviews are pretty important. Reviews help to tell iTunes that people like the podcast, and that helps to raise the profile so that new people can find it easily. Yay!
Tell a friend - word of mouth still wins! If you know someone who would love Language Stories, tell them about it. And if they're new to podcasts, walk them through the process to subscribe them. Woohoo!
To make it as easy as possible to share the podcast, click here to tweet about episode.
SHARE YOUR STORY
If you have a Language Story you’d love to share, or if you know someone that does, get in touch.
I always love to hear from you! Your feedback helps to shape future episodes so thank you.
Special Guests: Cecelia - Guaraní Tutor at IDIPAR, Guaranglish, Marcelo Alvarenga - Guaraní Tutor, and Romy Natalia Goldberg - Author of Paraguay Other Places Travel Guide .
Links:
Newfound Pride in Guaraní, a Language Long Disdained in Paraguay - an article from the New York Times
Language Planning and Policy in Paraguay - a document about how Guaraní and Spanish live alongside each other in Paraguay.
Land and Dignity in Paraguay - a Google Book covering Guaraní under Stroessner.
Language Planning and Policy in Latin America, Volume 1 - another Google Book with some interesting points on Guaraní under Stroessner.
Guarani course on Duolingo (in Spanish)
Peace Corps PDFs for Guarani
30 min
October 19, 2018POLYGLOT UNDUBBED EDITION: Nicaraguan Sign Language
Every language has a unique story, but Nicaraguan Sign Language is pretty special. A language emerging in the 80s amidst a revolution? In this episode of Language Stories, we're exploring the story of Nicaraguan Sign Language. (This is a Polyglot Undubbed Edition of Language Stories. The interviews are shared in their original language. Enjoy!)
THE VIDEO
Click here to watch the sister video to this podcast episode.
To keep track of future episodes in video form, click here to subscribe on YouTube.
SUPPORT THE SHOW
The best thing you can do right now to support the project is threefold, and if you've ever listened to any podcast before, I'm sure you'll be familiar with what I'm about to say!
Subscribe - by subscribing to the Language Stories podcast in your favourite place and YouTube for the sister videos, you're going to keep up with all future episodes. Woop!
Review - when it comes to the tech stuff, reviews are pretty important. Reviews help to tell iTunes that people like the podcast, and that helps to raise the profile so that new people can find it easily. Yay!
Tell a friend - word of mouth still wins! If you know someone who would love Language Stories, tell them about it. And if they're new to podcasts, walk them through the process to subscribe them. Woohoo!
To make it as easy as possible to share the podcast, click here to tweet about episode.
SHARE YOUR STORY
If you have a Language Story you’d love to share, or if you know someone that does, get in touch.
I always love to hear from you! Your feedback helps to shape future episodes so thank you.
Special Guests: Antonio Prieto Buñuel - Cafe de las Sonrisas and James Shepard-Kegl - Nicaraguan Sign Language Projects.
Links:
Oralism - Wikipedia
Psychological Effects of Oralism - a study on the psychological effects of oralism
Hammocks from Cafe de las Sonrisas - learn more about Tio Antonio, Cafe de las Sonrisas and treat yourself to one of their handmade hammocks if you fancy!
Nicaraguan Sign Language Projects - learn more about the work James and his wife Judy do.
Visual Dictionary - a dictionary for Nicaraguan Sign Language
A Life Without Words - a documentary about bringing Nicaraguan Sign Language to rural communities.
Sign: A Game About Being Understood - a silent game based on the emergence of Nicaraguan Sign Language.
29 min
October 12, 2018POLYGLOT UNDUBBED EDITION: Keeping K'iche'
K'iche' is a Mayan language spoken in Guatemala by over a million people. Join us for this episode of Language Stories as we explore K'iche' Maya at a local homestay and in a busy market town, as well as learning how to learn K'iche'. (This is a Polyglot Undubbed Edition of Language Stories. The interviews are shared in their original language. Enjoy!)
THE VIDEO
Click here to watch the sister video to this podcast episode.
To keep track of future episodes in video form, click here to subscribe on YouTube.
SUPPORT THE SHOW
The best thing you can do right now to support the project is threefold, and if you've ever listened to any podcast before, I'm sure you'll be familiar with what I'm about to say!
Subscribe - by subscribing to the Language Stories podcast in your favourite place and YouTube for the sister videos, you're going to keep up with all future episodes. Woop!
Review - when it comes to the tech stuff, reviews are pretty important. Reviews help to tell iTunes that people like the podcast, and that helps to raise the profile so that new people can find it easily. Yay!
Tell a friend - word of mouth still wins! If you know someone who would love Language Stories, tell them about it. And if they're new to podcasts, walk them through the process to subscribe them. Woohoo!
To make it as easy as possible to share the podcast, click here to tweet about episode.
SHARE YOUR STORY
If you have a Language Story you’d love to share, or if you know someone that does, get in touch.
I always love to hear from you! Your feedback helps to shape future episodes so thank you.
Special Guests: Carlos and Family - Guatemala, Dave Prine - K'iche' Learner, and Juan Leon Cortez - Galeria Pop Wuj.
Links:
Stay with Carlos and family in the Mayan Countryside - check Carlos' Airbnb listing to stay for yourself with him and his family.
Galeria Pop Wuj - learn more about the art and classes taking place at Juan's gallery.
Can Knowing Some K’iche’ Save Your Life and Make You Rich? - Dave's presentation on K'iche' from the Polyglot Gathering 2017.
Online free K'iche' course from The University of Texas
Further resources to learn K'iche' - a few extra links from the University of Connecticut.
Institute of World Languages - the initiative that Dave is learning K'iche' through.
Mayan Languages: How I Learned to Speak Tz’utujil in Guatemala - Fluent in 3 Months
Academy of Mayan Languages in Guatemala
21 min
October 05, 2018POLYGLOT UNDUBBED EDITION: Maya Isn't Dead
Think of this episode as a bit of a myth buster. Answering the questions you didn't even know you had about a language that you didn't even know still existed: Maya. (This is a Polyglot Undubbed Edition of Language Stories. The interviews are shared in their original language. Enjoy!)
THE VIDEO
Click here to watch the sister video to this podcast episode.
To keep track of future episodes in video form, click here to subscribe on YouTube.
SUPPORT THE SHOW
The best thing you can do right now to support the project is threefold, and if you've ever listened to any podcast before, I'm sure you'll be familiar with what I'm about to say!
Subscribe - by subscribing to the Language Stories podcast in your favourite place and YouTube for the sister videos, you're going to keep up with all future episodes. Woop!
Review - when it comes to the tech stuff, reviews are pretty important. Reviews help to tell iTunes that people like the podcast, and that helps to raise the profile so that new people can find it easily. Yay!
Tell a friend - word of mouth still wins! If you know someone who would love Language Stories, tell them about it. And if they're new to podcasts, walk them through the process to subscribe them. Woohoo!
To make it as easy as possible to share the podcast, click here to tweet about episode.
SHARE YOUR STORY
If you have a Language Story you’d love to share, or if you know someone that does, get in touch.
I always love to hear from you! Your feedback helps to shape future episodes so thank you.
Special Guests: Mirna Canul Aké - Radio Yúuyum, Pat Boy - Mayan Rapper, and Vicente Canché Móo - Yucatec Maya Expert.
Links:
Photos of the Yuya nests Mirna mentions - The Yucatan Times
End of World in 2012? Maya "Doomsday" Calendar Explained - National Geographic
Vicente Canche Moo's Website
Ko’one’ex kanik maaya - the project in the region teaching Yucatec Maya in schools.
Xiimbal Kaaj - my favourite Pat Boy song featuring Yazmín Novelo, who also volunteers with Radio Yuuyum.
ADN MAYA - Pat Boy's record label YouTube channel.
Vice/Noisey - an interview with Pat Boy (in Spanish)
Radio Yuuyum - check their official website to see everything going on!
Global Voices - an article about Radio Yuuyum.
33 min
September 28, 2018BONUS MINI: Aymara + Language Families
Aymara is the final language to take us down an internet rabbit hole for this Bonus Mini series. This episode, we look at how similar it is to Quechua.
Support The Show
The best thing you can do right now to support the project is threefold, and if you've ever listened to any podcast before, I'm sure you'll be familiar with what I'm about to say!
Subscribe - by subscribing to the Language Stories podcast in your favourite place and YouTube for the sister videos, you're going to keep up with all future episodes. Woop!
Review - when it comes to the tech stuff, reviews are pretty important. Reviews help to tell iTunes that people like the podcast, and that helps to raise the profile so that new people can find it easily. Yay!
Tell a friend - word of mouth still wins! If you know someone who would love Language Stories, tell them about it. And if they're new to podcasts, walk them through the process to subscribe them. Woohoo!
To make it as easy as possible to share the podcast, click here to tweet about episode.
Share Your Story
If you have a Language Story you’d love to share, or if you know someone that does, get in touch.
I always love to hear from you! Your feedback helps to shape future episodes so thank you.
Links:
Aymaran Languages - Wikipedia
Aymara and Quechua : Languages in Contact by M. J. Hardman
Origins and Diversity of Aymara - Quechua.org.uk
Numbers 1-5 in Quechua and Aymara - Quechua.org.uk
6 min
September 21, 2018BONUS MINI: Quechua + Language vs Dialect
Much like the other episodes in this Bonus Mini series, Quechua led me down a deep internet rabbit hole here. We're heading into tricky territory in this episode: language vs dialect.
Support The Show
The best thing you can do right now to support the project is threefold, and if you've ever listened to any podcast before, I'm sure you'll be familiar with what I'm about to say!
Subscribe - by subscribing to the Language Stories podcast in your favourite place and YouTube for the sister videos, you're going to keep up with all future episodes. Woop!
Review - when it comes to the tech stuff, reviews are pretty important. Reviews help to tell iTunes that people like the podcast, and that helps to raise the profile so that new people can find it easily. Yay!
Tell a friend - word of mouth still wins! If you know someone who would love Language Stories, tell them about it. And if they're new to podcasts, walk them through the process to subscribe them. Woohoo!
To make it as easy as possible to share the podcast, click here to tweet about episode.
Share Your Story
If you have a Language Story you’d love to share, or if you know someone that does, get in touch.
I always love to hear from you! Your feedback helps to shape future episodes so thank you.
Links:
Quechuan Languages - Wikipedia
Tupac Shakur and Tupac Amaru
Quechua.org.uk - great website with lots of information on Quechua
Piedmontese - Omniglot
Venetian - Omniglot
Sardinian - Omniglot
Sicilian - Omniglot
What’s a Language, Anyway? - The Atlantic
8 min