The Polyglot Podcast

Instead of waking up on the wrong side of the bed, in Croatian, you say you step on your left leg first. Croatia is a country located in the northwestern part of the Balkan Peninsula, full of rich history and culture. In this episode, I will be talking with Irena, a native Croatian speaker from Split. She'll be providing a linguistical overview of Croatian, like pronunciation, dialects, and grammatical structures, including the 7 different types of 'cases' and what they are. We'll talk about her favorite Croatian words and idioms and what advice she has for any learners interested in Croatian. Finally, we'll conclude the conversation with a fun discussion of Croatian coffee culture and other unique festivities. Please check out her Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/irenascrocafe/ 

In this episode, I'll be talking with Katerina from Greece. She'll be sharing about the Greek language and introducing its unique constants,  grammatical structures, idioms, and differences between Ancient and Modern Greek. In addition, Katerina will share about Greece's culture and rich history, including notable philosophers and the historical legacies Greece has left in the world. Finally, we'll be concluding with a reflection on Greek artifacts that have been placed in other museums and our considerations of where they should belong. As a fun bonus, Katerina will also share her thoughts about Greek mythology. Please check out her Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qqeYd-DQS8&feature=youtu.be&ab_channel=LearnGreekwithKaterina and Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/learngreekwithkaterina/ 

In this episode, I'll be talking with Rebecca (@rebeccalearnslanguages), who is a current Chinese studies student at Oxford University who also loves graphic design and is studying abroad in Taiwan. She'll be sharing her language journey and challenges/lessons that she's learned abroad as well as some advice for those who would like to achieve a level of "immersion" without traveling. Finally, she'll share her advice for how to pick up a language again after setting it aside for a while. You can learn more about her here: https://linktr.ee/rebeccalearnslanguages 

In this episode, I'll be talking with Mia (@jangmia317), a language learner currently in South Korea who is studying English, German, Spanish, Korean, Italian, and Thai. She'll be sharing her experience reading various novels in different languages and her goal of better understanding the author/story through the native language instead of the translated text. We'll also share advice for reasonable language goal-setting, how to avoid unrealistic goals and steps to achieve the ones we have in mind.

In this episode, I'll be talking with Ashley, an Iranian American storyteller who will be sharing her experiences learning languages and traveling and how these global interactions have shaped what she hopes to convey through her writing. We'll also be delving into the importance of diverse representation in literature and sharing marginalized voices through the power of storytelling. 

Ashley Hajimirsadeghi is an Iranian-American writer and artist. She is the author of the chapbooks cartography of trauma (dancing girl press) and cinephile (Ghost City Press). She is an M.A. Candidate in Global Humanities at Towson University and graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology with a BS in International Trade & Marketing, an AAS in Fashion Business Management, and minors in Film and Media, English, Asian Studies, and American Studies. She is co-Editor-in-Chief at Mud Season Review and a poetry reader at EX/POST Magazine. A five-time Best of the Net and two-time Pushcart Prize nominee, Ashley has received scholarships, awards, and fellowships from Brooklyn Poets, the US State Department, the State University of New York (SUNY), COUNTERCLOCK, the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa, and the University of Arizona, among others. Find her work at MovieWeb, New Perspectives Theatre Company, and various other print and online outlets.

In this episode, I'll be talking with Sziszi who is from Hungary and will be sharing about the Hungarian language and culture. Hungarian is a fascinating and complex language, with an alphabet of 44 letters and 2 words for the color 'red'. Stay tuned to hear more about the Hungarian culture, including a fun exploration of how Hungarian names work. You can check out her account here for resources and tips to learn Hungarian: @hungarianwithsziszi. Website: https://linktr.ee/hungarianwithsziszi 

In this episode, I'll be talking with Lisa, who will be sharing about the Afrikaans language. If you are interested in learning about the relation between Afrikaans and other languages, unique grammatical structures like double negation and idiomatic statements like pulling old cows out of a ditch, tune in to this exciting episode! Lisa is also studying Tunisian Arabic, which she will be sharing about in this episode

Did you know that Norweigian has 2 official written languages? In this episode, I will be talking with Joanna who is from Norway and will be giving an introduction to the Norwegian language and culture. Tune in to hear about the written forms of the language, dialects, and her favorite Norweigian phrase which means "there is no such thing as bad weather. There's only such thing as bad clothing" Check out her YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/c/NorwegianJoVideos/videos 

This is part 2 of my conversation with Roxanna, where she will be sharing about her blog called Natural Life and give us an introduction to traditional Indian Ayurvedic medicine practices. If you are interested in learning about different cultural health practices and traditional medicine, this is definitely the episode for you! Finally, she will conclude by sharing common misconceptions people have about India and Argentina and what she hopes people will come to understand about both countries. Check out her blog here: https://naturallife365.com/ 

In this episode, I'll be talking with Roxana, an Argentinian who later moved to India with her husband. In this part of our conversation, she will be sharing about her experiences adjusting to the new culture and the challenges she's experienced in a bicultural relationship, from different preferences of food to traditional clothing and small things like leaving the windows open. Roxana speaks about her personal growth and open-mindedness and what she's come to value in the Indian community.