22: It’s a Wrap (For Now)

It’s a wrap for season 1! The Easy Languages Podcast is taking a break. We hope you have enjoyed the past 21 episodes, found our language stories interesting, and our tips useful and actionable. As for the future… stay tuned on the Easy Languages YouTube channel and on our website: easy-languages.org

On behalf of the Easy Languages team, thanks for listening, and happy language learning!

21: 4 Asian Languages You Can Learn Together (With Hyperpolyglot & Author Tim Keeley)

Join Rita in this special episode and listen to our remarkable guest, Tim Keeley - a hyperpolyglot & author - as he tells us about his fantastic life journey in 30 languages and gives us valuable insights into the historical and cultural ties that bind 4 of the major East Asian Languages: Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean and Japanese. Tim explains - examples in support - the fascinating similarities these languages share and how it is an advantage to learn them together.

Show Notes

• Polyglot Conference

• Polyglot Gathering

• Polyglots mentioned in this episode:

  • Richard Simcott
  • Luca Lampariello
  • Judith Meyer

• Map of Japan
• Ryukyuan languages, Japan

• Chinese Dynasties Timeline

• Scripts & Language Structure:

  • Alexandre de Rhodes & the Vietnamese Script
  • Hiragana, Katakana & Romaji
  • Old Names for Japan
  • Korean Script (Hangul)
  • “Japan Made English” (Wasei-Eigo)
  • Particles in Korean & Japanese

20: New Languages for New Worlds: ConLangs and the Case of Esperanto

In this episode we introduce artificial languages: a group of languages spoken, among other places, on Avatar's Pandora, or Tolkien's Middle-Earth. But the first stop of our trip is actually in Eastern Europe, where Esperanto was created in 1887.

In the second part of the episode, we answer questions from two of our listeners, Anna and Joanna.

Tune in and join the language talk!

Show Notes

• Esperanto

  • Esperanto (Wikipedia)
  • 16 Grammar Rules (Wikiversity)
  • 6 Basic Phrases in Esperanto (HiNative)
  • World Esperanto Congress (Universala Esperanto-Asocio, in Esperanto)

• Other Constructed Languages (Wikipedia)

  • Latino sine Flexione
  • Klingon
  • Naʼvi
  • Dothraki
  • Valyrian languages
  • Elvish languages)
  • Toki Pona

• 13 Sentences to Deconstruct a Language

  • How to Learn (But Not Master) Any Language in 1 Hour (The Tim Ferriss blog)

19: The Hardest Language in the World (Isn’t the One You Think…)

What makes some languages harder to learn than others? In this episode, we attempt to entangle the objective factors - as to why a language is complex - from the subjective ones. We also dedicate a section to talking about our experiences with those languages which we traditionally think are the most difficult to master.

Show Notes

• Foreign Service Institute Language Rankings (Foreign Language Training)

• Can We Measure Language Difficulty by the Numbers? (Ofer Tirosh, TowardsScience)

• Rank of Language Difficulty (Michael Campbell, Glossika Blog)

• What is the Hardest Language to Learn? (Steve Kaufmann, The Linguist Blog)

• Past tense ending in Turkish: ‑mış (TurkishTexbook)

• 13 Russian Verbs of Motion to Move Your Learning Forward (Kelly Virginia Phelan, FluentU)

• Chinese Classifiers: What Are They And How To Use Them ( Angie, ChineseEdge)

• Japanese Formal & Informal Speech (Lydia Thron, Wyzant)

• Conjugation of The Verb To Eat in Japanese (JapaneseVerbConjugator)

18: This is Why We Use Subtitles in 2 Languages

Join Rita and Raffaele in this new episode as they discuss the importance of using comprehensible input throughout your language learning journey, and how a certain degree of difficulty is needed and welcome while consuming language-related content.

In the second part of the episode, they share a few resources like apps, books, and courses that make use of this principle and have helped them in the past and can help you too!

But what does Rita really think about all this? Can you believe that even in-comprehensible input can help?

Show Notes

• Comprehensible input (British Council)
• Linguist (definition) (Cambridge Dictionary)

• Dog/Language Learning meme (Fluent Forever)

• Resources mentioned:

  • Rosetta Stone
  • Lingq
  • Storylearning Books
  • Interlinear Books

• YouTube videos:
  • Does Input Have to Be "Comprehensible"? (Matt vs Japan)
  • Why Did You Learn Esperanto? (Easy Esperanto 1)

17: The Spirit of the Sakha Language (Yakut) With Tatiana O. & Olga Y. From Easy Sakha

Yakutia, also known as the Sakha Republic, the land where the Taiga meets the Tundra, is one of the coldest inhabited areas in the world and home to one of the most unique and thrilling languages and cultures in the Russian Federation. At Easy Languages, we are happy to count Easy Sakha as one of those languages.

In this episode, you'll listen to Tatiana O. & Olga Y. share all the essential facts about their fascinating language, the Sakha language, and give us their tips for learning languages in the second section.

And if you want to learn some basics in Sakha, become a member & join us for a fun after-show!

Show Notes

• What is Sakha/Yakut?

  • Sakha Tyla (Britannica)

  • Yakut Alphabet/Script (Omniglot)

  • About Yakut language / Sakha tyla (Life in Yakutia Channel)

  • How similar are Tatar and Sakha/Yakut languages? With Eli from Russia (Life in Yakutia Channel)

  • Similarities Between Turkish and Yakut (Siberian Turkic language) (Bahador Alast Channel)

  • History of Sakha: The Story of an Indigenous Siberian People (Left Handed Asians Channel)

  • YAKUT PEOPLE, CULTURE, & LANGUAGE (IloveLanguages! Channel)

  • 10 Facts You Didn’t Know about Yakutsk (theculturetrip)

  • Map of the Sakha Republic in the Russian Federation

  • Resources for learning Sakha:

    • What People Wear in the Coldest Place on Earth (Yakutsk, Russia) | Easy Sakha 1 (Easy Languages Channel)

    • Language Links Database

    • Sakha Lessons

    • Wordle in Sakha:

      • https://sakhatyla.ru

      • https://sakhatyla.ru/blogs/news/wordle

      • https://wordle.afanasev.net

      • https://wordle.tylytaay.ru

    • Application to learn Sakha

16: Språkmelodi, or the Sound of Swedish: Fredrik's Language Journey Around the World

In this episode, we have a guest: Fredrik grew up in a small town close to Gothenburg, Sweden, but has lived in Australia, Turkey, Hungary, and Spain, where he lives now. When he's not studying languages, he teaches Swedish as the Swedish Linguist. In the first section of this episode, Fredrik tells us a bit more about his story.

In the second section, we discuss the intelligibility between Scandinavian languages, and one of the features that make Swedish unique: språkmelodi, or the distinctive intonation of this beautiful language. But we also investigate the unusual meaning hidden behind a Swedish day of the week...

Finally, in the last section of the episode, Fredrik opens up about how he really learns languages, and what lesson Hungarian taught him... Tune in and enjoy Fredrik's language journey around the world!

Show Notes

• Fredrik’s projects:
  • https://www.swedishlinguist.com/
  • https://www.swedishlinguist.com/podcast/
• Are the Nordic languages mutually understandable? (Nordics Info, Aarhus University)
• Why is the Swedish language so melodic? (Transparent Language)
• Fredrik’s resources to learn Russian
  • Lingq
  • Russian with Max

15: Reasons You Should Join an Online Language Learning Community

In this episode, we discuss why you should consider joining an online language-learning community if it still needs to be made the case. And there is no lack of reasons to do so!

You can also listen to us share our experiences with language Apps, Forums and how you could use those cooperative settings to level up your language game!

Besides, we talked about how a language challenge could benefit your learning and how to choose the community that suits you best.

There's so much power when language enthusiasts come together!

Listen up and join the fun!

Show Notes

• Rita’s suggestions:

  - Samuel Vieira and Marjolein Benschop's Language Community

  - Speaking Challenge (Jonathan Huggings)

• Raf's suggestions:

  - https://www.hellotalk.com - https://www.easy-languages.org/our-languages

• Examples of forums

• Top language learning Apps
• James Kenny's article
• Constance Porter's quote

14: New Year, New Language: SMART Resolutions That Actually Stick

Happy New Year, language lovers! Have you ever set a new year's resolution to learn a new language? If so, you're not alone! Learning a new language is a common goal for many people at the start of the new year, but unfortunately, a majority of these resolutions fail. Why is this? Rita and Raffaele discuss the common pitfalls of language learning resolutions and how to avoid them by setting SMART goals instead.

In the second half of the episode, Rita and Raffaele will share their own experiences with language learning resolutions, including the challenges they've faced and the strategies they've used to overcome them. Plus, there's a resolution they want to share with you...

Join us and get ready to kick off your language-learning journey with confidence!

Show Notes

• New Year’s Resolutions
  • Are New Year's resolutions powerful or pointless? (BBC)
  • New Year’s resolutions at work, can work (Asana)
• SMART Goals
  • SMART criteria (Wikipedia)
  • How to Set Smart Goals For Learning a Language (Storylearning)
  • How to Set Smart Goals For Language Learning (Lindsey does Languages)
  • 5 Tips for Setting Realistic Language Learning Goals for 2023 | Super Easy Polish 53

13: More Than Words - The Importance of Culture in Language Learning With Marian From Easy Welsh

Meet Marian Brosschot from Easy Welsh as she discusses, with Rita, how Culture and language are inseparable.

Marian was raised bilingual Welsh-Dutch at home in Wales. She traveled quite a bit and has been teaching Welsh and English abroad for some time. In 2020, Marian B. went to Argentina for a year to work as a Welsh teacher in Patagonia and is currently studying Linguistics at the University of Bangor in North Wales. In this episode, she shares valuable tips for those who want to join the ever-growing number of students learning Welsh and other critical cultural facts about Wales, mysterious names in Welsh, and the biggest Cultural event in Europe.

"Hoffech chi gael coffi" before starting?

Show Notes

• Super Easy Welsh 1: How to order drinks in Welsh

• Marian’s Brosschot Youtube Channel (Galés con Marian)

• Names of places in Wales mentionned in this episode:

  • Castell y Gwynt (“Castle of the Wind”) – rock formation on the summit of Glyder Fach

  • Pen Llithrig y Wrach (“The slippery head of the witch”) – Mountain

• Event in Wales:

  • Dydd Gŵyl Dewi (St David’s Day) 1st of March. People wear a daffodil, which is the national symbol of Wales.
  • Eisteddfod – biggest cultural festival in Europe.

• Numbers of learners of Welsh in the UK

• Quote from Jacques Leylavergne and Andrea Parra

12: Self-Talk Your Way to Fluency

In this episode Raffaele “goes solo” and tells you everything about Self-Talk, the incredibly underrated technique that can boost your speaking skills all the way to basic fluency. But how does it work exactly? What are its pros and cons? Join Raffaele and you’ll find out!

Raffaele also shares the news about the most recent addition to our Podcast network, and replies to a question from Easy French’s Hélène about frustration in language learning.

Show Notes

• Easy Russian Podcast
• Self-Talk
  • How to Improve Your Language-Learning Skills Using Self-Talk (Language Mentoring)

11: The Success Formula - Habits Building In Language Learning With Kerstin Cable

If you've been struggling with maintaining consistency in your language learning journey, Kerstin Cable has some words of wisdom to share.

Kerstin Cable is a language and communications coach, writer, and podcaster living in England. She is a native German speaker who has studied 10 languages, including her language crush, Welsh. Kerstin is the author of 15+ books and courses for language learners, co-organizer of the Women in Language conference, and creator of the Fluent Show podcast, along with being a popular speaker at language events. Kerstin Cable has been featured on BBC World Service, Süddeutsche Zeitung, and The Cut.

In today's episode:

• She tells us more about her journey as a language coach, podcaster & enthusiast
• she shares her "secret formula" for successfully building a language learning system, habits, and some more actionable tips & rules to manifest your vision & goals.

And for those who joined our community on Patreon, you'll hear our multilingual after-show featuring Kerstin.

Show Notes

• Kerstin's podcast:

The Farewell Episode

• Kerstin's blog:

How to Maintain a Language While Starting a New One (blog)

• Kerstin's secret formula:

The Language Habit System:

10: The Pareto Principle, or the Economically Efficient Way to Learn Vocabulary

In the first part of this episode, we tell the story of Vilfredo Pareto, the Italian economist who discovered a distribution law that changed economics, and how we can all apply this principle to language learning, especially acquiring vocabulary.

In the second part, we go into more detail and spill the beans on how we go about learning new words in the first stages of studying a language, and why it’s a bad idea to learn from lists of words.

Show Notes

• Pareto Principle
  • Pareto principle (Wikipedia)
  • Vilredo Pareto (Wikipedia)
  • 8 Ways To Apply The 80/20 Rule To Language Learning (Storylearning)
  • The Pareto Principle (80-20 Rule): Minimize the Effort, Maximize the Results (Fluent in 3 Months)
  • 80/20 Rule: How to Learn Languages with the Pareto Principle (The Intrepid Guide)
  • How to Master the ‘Magical 2,5%’ (Language Boost)
• Simple English Wikipedia
  • Wikipedia Article about it (Wikipedia)
  • The free online encyclopedia in Basic English and Learning English (Simple English Wikipedia)
• Japanese
  • Kanji (Wikipedia)
  • Kanji Frequency List (Aichi University of Education)
• Mandarin Chinese
  • Chinese characters (Wikipedia)
  • Pareto Principle & the Chinese Language (Mandarin Blueprint)
• Easy Languages Videos on the World Cup 2022
  • Foreigners Trying to Pronounce the Names of Polish Football Players | Easy Polish 192
  • Brazilians Predict the 2022 World Cup Winners | Easy Portuguese 73

9: ÞEtta Reddast, It Will All Work Out Just Fine in Icelandic if You Follow the KISS Principle!

Go on Dying! Do you wonder why Icelanders keep cursing each other regularly or where their names originated? Would you be able to name the God of Poetry in Icelandic mythology or even pronounce Thor or Odin's name correctly? Join Rita and her guest from Speak Viking, Óskar Bragi Stefansson, through Eddas, Sagas, on a journey to learning about an alluring language: Icelandic. Learn about the unofficial motto of Iceland and listen to Óskar explain how to implement the KISS principle effectively in learning Icelandic. And for those who joined our beautiful community, you'll get to know how to greet people in Icelandic during this jolly season along a few fun facts about Icelandic and much more. Bless, bless!

Show Notes

• Speak Viking Media:

  • Website & Newsletter Subscription
  • Youtube Channel
  • Facebook Page

• Old Norse:

  • What is Old Norse? (OldNorse.org)
  • Old Norse | Can Norwegian, Danish and Icelandic speakers understand it? (Ecolinguist)

• Bragi:

  • Norse Mythology

• Eddas & Sagas:

  • The Icelandic Literature Center

• Gunnar:

  • Norse and Viking Mythology

• Þetta Reddast! It will all work out ok! Iceland’s Unofficial Motto:

  • BBC

• How to ACTUALLY pronounce names from Norse Mythology (Icelandic):

  • Hrafna Youtube Channel

• Pronunciation of Iceland’s Famous Volcanic Glacier:

  • The Icelandic Volcano Tongue Twister (April 20th, 2010) (DennisMenice10)
  • Secret Life of Walter Mitty - What is "Eyjafjallajökull"? (ID X)
  • Eyjafjallajökull (imdb)

8: Arabic: Great Language, Low Profile

Salam!

This episode discusses how Arabic varieties around the "Arab world" differ from each other and where a beginner should start their journey with a fascinating yet not fully appreciated language. Therefore, we interrogate which variety one should learn and how long it takes to learn Arabic. And last but not least, we risk asking the taunting question: isn't "darija" -the ugly duckling of the Arabic dialects- underrated? We share our views on these highly controversial topics and a few fun facts surrounding this West Semitic language.

And for those who took the leap and joined our community, you'll be able to learn some basic phrases in Arabic, along with Raffaele, in the aftershow! Yallah!

Show Notes

• Introduction to Arabic (in English):

La langue arabe: Son histoire étonnante et fonctionnalités (Paul, Langfocus)

Arabic Language (Britannica)

• Comparison between dialects:

Moroccan DARIJA (An Arabic Dialect??) (Paul, Langfocus) Arabic Dialects - Which Arabic dialect to learn? (Al Andalusi)

• Resources to learn Arabic (Levantine):

Read & Write ANYTHING in Arabic in only 6 lessons! Alphabet #1 (LearnArabicwithMaha)

Learn Lebanese (with Dalia) (Instagram)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLnr17rEFrQ(Language Simp)

• The Alphabet:

Arabic Alphabet Explained by an American (Language Simp)

• Challenge:

Saying the Arabic Alphabet for 10 Hours Straight (Language Simp)

• Fun Facts:

Transliteration and texting in Arabic - Why So many numbers? (talkinarabic)

• Arabic in Easy Languages

What makes you happy? (Easy Egyptian Arabic 23)

We Asked Egyptians What They Were Doing! (Easy Egyptian Arabic 36 with Tim from Easy Dutch)

What Are Your Hobbies? (Easy Tunisian Arabic 13)

7: ¿Tú o vos? Which Spanish should you learn?

In this episode, we meet José, a polyglot from Bolivia who moved to Spain and currently studies linguistics, but only when he's not creating content for Easy Spanish.

We discuss how Spanish varieties around the world differ, and what is voseo. But most importantly, we answer the ultimate question for those who want to learn Spanish: which variety should you study?

Finally, should grammar be the priority when you learn a new language? Does grammar even exist? We share our views on these hotly debated topics and more!

Show Notes

• Easy Spanish
  • Easy Spanish YouTube Channel
  • Easy Spanish Podcast
  • Easy Spanish Winter School 2023
• Wikipedia
  • Bolivia
  • Saint Seiya
  • Spanish language
  • Spanish dialects and varieties
  • Voseo
  • Kingdom of Naples
  • Rioplatense Spanish
  • Italian Argentines

6: No Fear, No Hurry: How Long Does It Really Take to Learn a Language?

In this episode, we delve into the dark depths of the etymology of words like Halloween and Samhain! But fear not, it’s just an excuse for us to talk about Celtic languages and some words that creeped into the English language!

We also covered a hotly debated topic: can you really learn a language in 3 months? And if not, how long does it really take to do so? We’ll check what scientific studies say, but we will also share our own opinions and experiences.

Show Notes

• Wikipedia
  • Hogmanay
  • Halloween
  • Samhain
  • Languages of Scotland
  • Scots Language
  • Scottish Gaelic
  • Celtic Languages
  • Welsh Corgi dog
  • Whisky, etymology
  • Book series read by Raffaele: The Warlord Chronicles by Bernard Cornwell
• Benny Lewis, Fluent in 3 Months
• Steve Kaufmann, Lingq, The Linguist (YouTube)
• Language Learning Timelines (Foreign Service Institute, US Department of State)
• What are the hardest languages to learn (Voxy)
• Five Factors That Determine How Long it Takes to Learn a Foreign Language (Study and Go Abroad)
• How to learn any language in six months, Chris Lonsdale, TEDx (YouTube)
• Omniglot
• A short passage from a movie in which a young Chinese guy enters a bar in Ireland, speaks Irish, and… (YouTube)

5: Big Fat Greek Worms: Discovering the Ingenious Language with Dimitris

In this episode we celebrate a new milestone: the Easy Greek YouTube channel has reached 50k subscribers! We invited Dimitris to learn a little bit more about his passions but also his family, heritage and languages.

We also discussed the history of the Greek language and its influences on today's Europe and why his students decided to learn the language of mythology and philosophy.

Finally, Dimitris shares his approach to raising multilingual children and his language-learning tips for grown-ups.

Show Notes

• Easy Greek Videos:
  • How to Make Spanakopita Like a Greek Mum | Easy Greek 92
  • Do Modern Greeks Know Ancient Greek? | Easy Greek 12
  • Modern Greeks Try to Read Ancient Greek | Easy Greek 56
  • The Greek Alphabet 1: Pronunciation | Super Easy Greek 3

• Little Kook, Athens (Tripadvisor)
• Strange Brew, Athens (Tripadvisor)
• Saganaki (Wikipedia)
• History of Greek (Wikipedia)
• The Ingenious Language, Andrea Marcolongo (Amazon)
• Book Review (The Guardian)
• Easy Greek Podcast 94: Οι κατηγορίες των Easy Greekers
• Big Fat Greek Wedding, "Give my any word" scene with Mr Portokalos
• The word for orange (fruit) in many languages, map (Maps on the Web)
• In Greek mythology, apricots were believed to be "golden apples" (Jogobella)
• Greece-Italy relations (Wikipedia)
• "Una faccia, una razza" (Greek Reporter)
• One person, one language (Wikipedia)

4: Journey From Berlin to Rio With Our “Multiple” Personalities

Can our personalities shift when speaking a different language? Do we suddenly become more punctual when expressing ourselves in German and more joyful when communicating in Brazilian Portuguese? In this episode, we take you on a journey from Berlin to Rio, talk about music for our tip of the week, and present you with three of the most interesting untranslatable words in Portuguese. To your headphones!

Show Notes

Easy German & Easy Brazilian Portuguese Video Collaboration

• Germany vs Brazil (Easy German 470) (Easy German)

• What Do Brazilians Think About Germans? (Easy Portuguese 67) (Easy Brazilian Portuguese)

Untranslatable Words

• Korean "Noonchi" explained (Kozziecom)

• Saudade (Eurolondon)

• Xodó & Cafuné (Caminhos Languages)

Languages and personality shift

• Switching languages can also switch personality (Reuters)

• How switching languages can change your personality (New Scientist)

Illustration of the three untranslatable words via Brazilian Music

• Dominguinhos - "Eu Só Quero Um Xodó"

• Elba Ramalho - Ai Que Saudade D'Ocê (Live)

3: Cari’s "Big" Business : Past, Present and Future of Easy Languages

In this episode, we invite you to meet Cari. You'll get to hear the following:

• The story of the birth of Easy Languages, told by Cari, and how it all started with Janusz and Cari.
• The meaning of a mysterious German idiomatic expression.
• Something you didn't know about Cari, and you learn exclusively in our podcast.
• And for our Patrons, a special bonus in German with Cari!

Show Notes

Easy German

• Easy German website
• Easy German Podcast
• Easy German LIVE

Cari

• Cari's personal website

Easy English

• Easy English Podcast
• Janusz on Easy English