Much Language Such Talk

For today's episode, we have invited Dr. Isabelle Barth. Isabelle is originally from France, and works as a consultant in languages, plurilingual education and intercultural communication. Isabelle conducts research on family language policies, in particular how they affect families with mixed cultural backgrounds and migrant families. In addition to her research, she founded the Multilingual Café in 2010, to help families and professionals on their plurilingual and multicultural paths. 

Go to our website to read the transcript!

MLST  is brought to you by volunteers at Bilingualism Matters Edinburgh. The  views of our guests don’t always reflect our own, as    we   hope to provide  an accessible platform for the findings of   current research and the  perspectives of experts. For more resources   like definitions of  linguistic terms, episode transcripts, and   information about the team,  go to our website at www.mlstpodcast.com.

Recorded on 17/11/2021

Music: Arc of the Sun by The 126ersssssss

For this episode, we invited Dr. Sharon Unsworth, who is a lecturer and researcher on second language acquisition at Radboud University in the Netherlands. Her research focuses on how to best raise children bilingually and which factors play a role in this process and best predict success. She is involved in various projects on early foreign language acquisition and bilingual primary education. More specifically, on the role of age and environmental factors such as the quality of the input, and she is currently leading a project on how the two languages of bilingual children influence each other. While Sharon is based in the Netherlands now, she is originally from England and moved to the Netherlands while completing her PhD. Before starting at Radboud, Sharon held positions at Utrecht University, Leiden University, and the Meertens Institute. Outside of her academic duties, Sharon, as a mother of two bilingual children, regularly gives workshops for parents about raising bilingual children for example.

And together with her colleagues at Radboud University and the Max Plank Institute for Psycholinguistics, she founded the first child language festival in the Netherlands, Kletskoppen, which took place for the first time in 2017.

Go to our website to read the transcript!

MLST  is brought to you by volunteers at Bilingualism Matters Edinburgh. The  views of our guests don’t always reflect our own, as   we   hope to provide  an accessible platform for the findings of  current research and the  perspectives of experts. For more resources  like definitions of  linguistic terms, episode transcripts, and  information about the team,  go to our website at www.mlstpodcast.com.

Recorded on 29/10/2021

Music: Arc of the Sun by The 126ersssssss

Welcome back to another episode! Today we are joined by Professor Ludovica Serratrice.

She is a Professor of bi-multilingualism at the University of Reading and was the Director of the Centre for Literacy and Multilingualism for 3 years. She is also a co-investigator on a project as part of the ESRC (Economic and Social Research Council) international center for language and communication development - LuCiD. Prof Serratrice did her PhD in the Linguistics department here at the University of Edinburgh, the same department in which many of our volunteers on the podcast currently study. She is also a member of the Reading Branch of Bilingualism Matters.

You can find out more about some of her current projects, and perhaps participate, below:

Go to our website to read the transcript!

MLST  is brought to you by volunteers at Bilingualism Matters Edinburgh. The  views of our guests don’t always reflect our own, as  we   hope to provide  an accessible platform for the findings of current research and the  perspectives of experts. For more resources like definitions of  linguistic terms, episode transcripts, and information about the team,  go to our website at www.mlstpodcast.com.

Recorded on 20/9/2021

Music: Arc of the Sun by The 126ersssssss

If you have ever studied bilingualism and/or cognition, you will know today's guest, and are probably as excited as we are.

Her research uses a range of techniques and methods, to help us understand the effects of bilingualism on cognitive processes across the lifespan. Her research has uncovered ways to identify differences in the development of essential cognitive and language abilities for bilingual children, and the postponement of symptoms of dementia in bilingual older adults. Ellen has received several awards for her groundbreaking research such as the Dean’s Award for Outstanding Research, the Donald T. Stuss Award for Research Excellence, the Canadian Society for Brain Behaviour and Cognitive Science Hebb Award,  the Killam Prize for the Social Sciences, and the York University President’s Research Award of Merit. Additionally, in 2017, she was granted an honorary doctorate from the University of Oslo for her contributions to language research.

In addition to wanting to talk to Ellen about her amazing career, we also invited her to the podcast in anticipation of her giving a plenary talk at the Bilingualism Matters Research Symposium, which is on the 25th and 26th of October.

Go to our website to read the transcript!

MLST  is brought to you by volunteers at Bilingualism Matters Edinburgh. The  views of our guests don’t always reflect our own, as  we   hope to provide  an accessible platform for the findings of current research and the  perspectives of experts. For more resources like definitions of  linguistic terms, episode transcripts, and information about the team,  go to our website at www.mlstpodcast.com.

Recorded on 03/9/2021

Music: Arc of the Sun by The 126ersssssss

Today, we're joined by Dr. Nicci MacLeod. She is a Senior Lecturer in English Language and Linguistics at Northumbria University. She got her PhD from Aston University in Birmingham where she conducted discourse analysis on police interviews with women reporting rape. 

Go to our website to read the transcript!

MLST  is brought to you by volunteers at Bilingualism Matters Edinburgh. The  views of our guests don’t always reflect our own, as  we   hope to provide  an accessible platform for the findings of current research and the  perspectives of experts. For more resources like definitions of  linguistic terms, episode transcripts, and information about the team,  go to our website at www.mlstpodcast.com.

Recorded on 24/8/2021

Music: Arc of the Sun by The 126ersssssss

Today’s episode is dedicated this episode to World Refugee Day on June 20th, and we have a very special guest for you, Debora Kayembe.

Debora grew up in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

In addition to her work as a human rights lawyer, she also has extensive experience in working as a translator for Refugees at the National Health Service in Scotland. She also set up her own language services company in 2009 with an international client base in the US and the UK.

In 2012, she joined the Scottish Refugee Council, where she served as a board member. That same year, she was added to the list of assistants to counsel for the victim support section of the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC). In 2016, she joined the language service of the office of the Procecutor as well.  Shortly after, she became the first African woman to join the Royal Society of Edinburgh, where she holds a seat on the Working Group for Africa.

Go to our website to read the transcript!

MLST  is brought to you by volunteers at Bilingualism Matters    Edinburgh. The  views of our guests don’t always reflect our own, as  we   hope to provide  an accessible platform for the findings of current    research and the  perspectives of experts. For more resources like    definitions of  linguistic terms, episode transcripts, and information    about the team,  go to our website at www.mlstpodcast.com.

Recorded on 3/5/2021

Music: Arc of the Sun by The 126ersssssss

Thomas Chaurin holds a Master’s degree in French as a Foreign Language from the University of Rennes 2. He has an extensive experience in language teaching, language teachers’ training, curriculum development, the Common European Framework of Reference for languages and its applications (e.g. European Language Portfolio, Reference Level Descriptors, international language qualifications, European Profiling Grid), quality processes, and management of academic teams and of organisations. He is also involved in the 1+2 Approach in Scotland.

Prior to joining the Centre for Open Learning, Thomas was a Research Associate at Moray House School of Education taking part in a research project analysing the factors of successful language learning in Scottish schools. He was previously the Scotland based Education Attaché of the French Embassy in the UK (2014-2018), the Executive Director of the Alliance Française of Washington DC (2010-2013) and of the Alliance Française of Calgary (2007-2010). Thomas has also held leadership roles in France, Spain, Chile, Kenya, Zimbabwe and Slovakia. He is also Representative for University Language Centres in Scotland on the AULC Executive Commitee, an Erasmus+ Assessor at the British Council, a UNILANG External Examiner, and also a DELF DALF Examiners' Trainer at the Centre International d'Études Pédagogiques.

Go to our website to read the transcript!

MLST  is brought to you by volunteers at Bilingualism Matters   Edinburgh. The  views of our guests don’t always reflect our own, as we   hope to provide  an accessible platform for the findings of current   research and the  perspectives of experts. For more resources like   definitions of  linguistic terms, episode transcripts, and information   about the team,  go to our website at www.mlstpodcast.com.

Recorded on 3/5/2021

Music: Arc of the Sun by The 126ersssssss

For the International Day of Families, we have two special guests: Dr. Ute Limacher-Riebold and Korina Topalidou.

Ute is a multilingual Family Language Consultant and Intercultural Communication Trainer at Ute's International Lounge. Ute holds a PhD in Romance Philology and has taught Italian historical  linguistics at the Department of Romance Studies of the University of  Zurich.

Korina Topalidou is a Spanish language teacher in a secondary school in  London. Originally from Greece, she holds degrees in International  Relations and Organisations, European Law, and Spanish Language and Culture. With her experiences as a student, translator, teacher, and  expatriate, she has always been interested in languages.

Go to our website to read the transcript!

MLST  is brought to you by volunteers at Bilingualism Matters  Edinburgh. The  views of our guests don’t always reflect our own, as we  hope to provide  an accessible platform for the findings of current  research and the  perspectives of experts. For more resources like  definitions of  linguistic terms, episode transcripts, and information  about the team,  go to our website at www.mlstpodcast.com.

Recorded on 30/4/2021

Music: Arc of the Sun by The 126ersssssss

Dr. Carlos Soler Montes is a Lecturer at the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures at the University of Edinburgh, where he teaches Hispanic Linguistics and advanced Spanish Language courses. He started working at The University of Edinburgh in 2015 as a Teaching Fellow and e-Learning Coordinator and now is the Learning and Teaching Director of the Department of European Languages and Cultures as well as Programme Director for Spanish and Portuguese at Bilingualism Matters.

One of Carlos' passions is studying the Spanish language in Spain and Latin America. He is  interested in language variation from a pan-Hispanic and pluricentric perspective and how this variation is dealt with by native speakers, as well as learners of Spanish. This is reflected in his research of Hispanic Linguistics, where he has examined the ways Spanish grammar varies across different Hispanic regions, its particularities, cultural connections and social contacts with other languages.

Currently, Carlos is co-leading a research project entitled “Linguistic variation in postcolonial contexts: historical, social and contact linguistic perspectives” funded by UNA Europa. The project brings together researchers working on postcolonial language studies and sociolinguistics within their university network, in order to produce new insights into linguistic variation and change in postcolonial contexts, promoting new and long-lasting collaboration initiatives that lead to a better understanding of European languages outside Europe. Additionally, Carlos is part of the “Spanish in Europe: Linguistic Demography of Spanish in Europe” research project, representing Scotland, which aims to better understand how groups of Spanish speakers are shaped by migration and the spread of Spanish as a foreign language, as well as how different social and linguistic environments affect language competency and use.

Go to our website to read the transcript!

MLST  is brought to you by volunteers at Bilingualism Matters Edinburgh. The  views of our guests don’t always reflect our own, as we hope to provide  an accessible platform for the findings of current research and the  perspectives of experts. For more resources like definitions of  linguistic terms, episode transcripts, and information about the team,  go to our website at www.mlstpodcast.com.

Recorded on 8/4/2021

Music: Arc of the Sun by The 126ersssssss

In this episode, in honour of World Autism Awareness month, we are joined by Dr Bérengère Digard and Sonny Hallett to talk about Austin and Bilingualism in research and real life.

Dr Bérengère Digard has just finished her PhD in Psychiatry at the University of Edinburgh. Her research focused on how being bilingualism shapes the way autistic and non-autistic adults understand social information and relate to other people, in terms of lived experiences, mental skills, and brain networks. During her PhD she wrote the PhD blog, ‘PhD & Stuff’. She is currently working as an Engagement Officer at The Patrick Wild Centre.  She is also a Bilingualism Matters volunteer and member of the podcast team. Twitter: @BerengereDigard

Sonny Hallett is the co-founder and mental health advisor of AMASE, Autistic Mutual Aid Society Edinburgh. They are also a trainee counsellor and autistic advocate. You can read their medium piece on autistic connection and communication here. Twitter: @scrappapertiger

Go to our website to read the transcript!

MLST is brought to you by volunteers at Bilingualism Matters Edinburgh. The views of our guests don’t always reflect our own, as we hope to provide an accessible platform for the findings of current research and the perspectives of experts. For more resources like definitions of linguistic terms, episode transcripts, and information about the team, go to our website at www.mlstpodcast.com.

Recorded on 36/3/2021

Music: Arc of the Sun by The 126ersssssss