Elle Charisse - Podcast Details

Shows

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe172. Speaking Manx Gaelic with Dr. Erin McNultyHello Language Lovers! In this episode of Speaking Tongues, I’m so excited to welcome Dr. Erin McNulty, a researcher specializing in the sociolinguistics of minoritized languages at the University of Glasgow. I’m so excited that we’re finally getting a chance to talk about Manx and I hope you are too because this is a very linguistics & language revitalization focused episode. Our conversation explores Erin's journey with Manx, from her early experiences learning the language in primary school to her current research on its revitalization. We discuss the unique challenges and triumphs of Manx as it trans...2025-08-041h 11

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe171. Speaking Taino with Ra Jikotea Niaku'no of Wuru Taino Tekiro’uoHello Language Lovers! In this episode of Speaking Tongues, I am so very honored to talk with Ra Jikotea Niaku'no, a Taino Boricua artist and educator, about Taino language, culture, and heritage. Ra shares her journey, rooted in the islands of Borikén (which you also may know as Puerto Rico), as she navigates the complexities of identity and language in a post-colonial context.Throughout our conversation, Ra discusses the multifaceted nature of language in Borikén, where Spanish, Taino, and African influences intertwine. She highlights the importance of preserving Taino language and how it has evolved, in...2025-07-281h 06

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe170. Speaking Syrian Arabic with Paul Nabil MatthisHello Language Lovers! In this episode of Speaking Tongues, we are thrilled to welcome Paul, a Syrian-American author and musician based in Philadelphia. In this episode, we’re talking about his fascinating journey navigating his cultural identity through language, music, and food. Paul shares his experiences growing up in Texas’s linguistic landscape, the challenges of maintaining his Arabic, and the incredible diversity of Syrian culture.From his childhood memories of summer trips to Syria to the complexities of dialects and the beauty of Arabic, Paul talks with us about his ongoing relationship with his heritage language. We a...2025-07-2159 min

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe169. Speaking Thai, Tigrinya, French & Portuguese with Languages Through MusicHello Language Lovers! In this episode of Speaking Tongues, we are thrilled to welcome back the endlessly talented and effortlessly cool Desta Haile, founder and director of Languages Through Music. With a rich background in music and multicultural experiences, Desta shares how her journey through various languages has shaped her identity and teaching philosophy. This is our second chat with Desta and if you’re curious, scroll all the way back to episode 47 for our first conversation!Desta's linguistic journey began in Thailand and her global childhood experiences in Barbados, Belgium, Ivory Co...2025-07-141h 05

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe167. Speaking Korean, Latin, & Ancient GreekHello Language Lovers! In this episode of Speaking Tongues, we’re so excited to welcome language enthusiast, teacher, freelancer and card game extraordinaire Tiara to talk about her language journey through Latin, Ancient Greek & Korean. For this conversation, Tiara joined us all the way from Daegu in South Korea. Tiara discusses the challenges and joys of learning multiple languages, including the unique experience of studying Latin and its connection to her understanding of Italian and Spanish. She reflects on her time in college, where she navigated the complexities of learning both Latin and Ancient Greek simu...2025-06-301h 02

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe164. Speaking GalicianHello Language Lovers! In this episode of Speaking Tongues, we’re discussing the linguistic and cultural heritage of Galicia with Dani, a passionate Galician language teacher and content creator. Dani shares his journey of embracing his bilingual identity and the challenges faced while navigating the complexities of Galician and Spanish in a rapidly changing linguistic landscape.In this episode we discuss:🌟 Dani's bilingual upbringing in Galicia, where he learned both Galician and Castilian Spanish, and how his early experiences shaped his relationship with these languages.🌟 The social stigma surrounding the Galician language and the impa...2025-02-241h 07

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe163. Speaking Ijaw & YorubaIn this episode of Speaking Tongues, we embark on a fascinating journey through the linguistic and cultural tapestry of Nigeria with Raphael, a multilingual storyteller and podcaster. Raphael shares his unique experiences growing up in Jos, Nigeria, navigating the complexities of language and identity amidst a rich backdrop of diverse cultures. In this episode we discuss: 🇳🇬 Raphael's first language journey, starting with English and Ijaw, and his experiences learning Yoruba, Hausa, Pidgin English, and a bit of German and French.🇳🇬 The impact of growing up in a multilingual environment and how differen...2025-02-1759 min

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the GlobeFrom the Archive: Speaking ArmenianThis episode was originally published as Episode 109. Speaking Armenian on July 25, 2022. In this episode of Speaking Tongues, we're having a conversation on the diverse world of the Armenian language and culture with our guest, Liana, a writer, journalist, and creator of "Dining in Diaspora." Liana shares her journey from Iran to the United States and her experiences within the Armenian community in Southern California. In this episode, we discuss: 🇦🇲 Liana's immigration story from Iran to the U.S. and how she navigated the Armenian community in Los Angele...2024-12-111h 01

Unbreakable MompreneursUnderstanding ADHD & the Myths with Elle O'Flaherty🎙️ Unbreakable Mompreneurs: ADHD and Entrepreneurship with Elle O'Flaherty In this enlightening episode, Charisse Walker sits down with performance optimization speaker and ADHD coach Elle O'Flaherty to explore the powerful intersection of ADHD and entrepreneurship. They dive deep into how ADHD, often misunderstood, can actually be a unique advantage in business, fueling creativity, risk-taking, and hyper-focus. Elle shares her personal journey from federal attorney to executive coach and offers practical strategies for leveraging ADHD strengths. Together, they discuss the different types of ADHD, how the education system falls short for ADHD students, and the importance of embra...2024-12-0824 min

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the GlobeFrom the Archive: Speaking Egyptian ArabicThis episode was originally published as Episode 94 on March 28, 2022 This week, we're diving into the fascinating world of Egyptian Arabic and ancient Egyptian cuisine with Dr. Menna El Dorry, an Egyptologist and archaeobotanist. Dr. Menna shares her expertise on the intersection of language, history, and food in Egypt, offering us a unique glimpse into the past and present culinary traditions of this remarkable country. In this episode, we explore: 🇪🇬 Dr. Menna’s journey with languages, including Egyptian Arabic, English, German, French, Italian, and Spanish. 🇪🇬...2024-12-0458 min

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the GlobeFrom the Archive: Speaking SardinianThis episode was originally published as Episode 119 on November 14, 2022. This episode of Speaking Tongues wades into the fascinating world of the Sardinian language & culture with our guest Dalila. We explore the unique characteristics of Sardinian, its historical influences from Catalan and Spanish, and how it stands apart from Italian. Dalila shares insights into the grammar, highlighting differences between Sardinian spoken in the north and south, and the linguistic variations across Sardinia's micro-regions. In this episode, we discuss: 🇮🇹 The rich history of Sardinian, tracing its evolut...2024-11-2759 min

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the GlobeFrom the Archive: Speaking Latin American SpanishThis conversation with Mauricio of @babelsolutions was originally published on March 21, 2022 as Episode 93: Speaking LatAm Spanish Episode 93 takes us on a linguistic journey through Central and South America, Mexico, and the Caribbean, offering insights into the rich tapestry of Spanish dialects across these regions. In this episode, we discuss: 🌎 Mauricio’s upbringing between Argentina and Peru, and how this duality shaped his understanding of Spanish. 🌎 The three geographical blocks of Spanish-speaking regions and why Chile and Argentin...2024-10-231h 01

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe155. Speaking MarathiHello Language Lovers! Welcome back to a new episode of Speaking Tongues. This week, we're pumped to dive into Marathi language and culture with Uma, a writer, literary translator, and film enthusiast. In this conversation, Uma shares a wealth of knowledge about linguistic traditions in South Asia and shares her personal journey with translating her mother tongue, Marathi. In this episode, we explore: 🇮🇳 Uma’s linguistic background, growing up in Mumbai and learning multiple languages including Marathi, English, Gujarati, and Hindi. 🇮🇳 The linguistic diversity of Mumbai and how different languages influence each...2024-08-121h 03

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe154. Speaking EkpeyeHello Language Lovers! Welcome back to a new episode of Speaking Tongues. This week we’re celebrating Ekpeye language and culture with Franca, founder of the Speak Ekpeye Fluently Language Initiative, an NGO dedicated to the revitalization and promotion of the Ekpeye language. In this episode we discuss: 🇳🇬the intricacies of the Ekpeye language, its tonal and descriptive nature used when communicating in the language 🇳🇬It’s similarities and differences to the Igbo language, and how despite often classified as a dialect of Igbo, the traits that make Ekpeye stand out as its own lang...2024-08-0558 min

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe152. Speaking Shona & NdebeleHello Language Lovers! Today, we’re thrilled to talk with Fari, a language lover and multilingual originally from Zimbabwe, joining us from Vancouver. Fari’s diverse linguistic journey has given her a unique perspective on the languages and cultures of Southern and Eastern Africa. In this conversation, we discuss: 🇿🇼 Fari’s first language, Shona, and her journey learning other languages such as Zulu, Ndebele, Swahili, Spanish, and more. 🇿🇼 The interconnectedness of Bantu languages and how understanding one can help you understand many others. 🇿🇼 Cultural nuances and respect embedded in the Shona language, especially whe...2024-07-2258 min

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe151. Speaking HausaHello Language Lovers! Welcome back to a new episode of Speaking Tongues. This week, we’re thrilled to bring you a conversation about the Hausa language with Amina, an online Hausa teacher joining us from Nigeria. You know how much we love linguistic diversity and I’m so happy to share this conversation exploring the intricacies of Hausa language and the rich cultural tapestry of northern Nigeria. In this conversation, we discuss: 🇳🇬 The linguistic landscape of Nigeria, highlighting the diversity with over 100 languages and the three widely spoken ones: Hausa, Yoruba, and Igbo. 🇳🇬 The structure and...2024-07-1559 min

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe150. Speaking Babanki & Cameroon PidginHello Language Lovers! Welcome back to a new episode of Speaking Tongues. This week, we’ve reached episode 150 and I’m so proud to share this conversation about Babanki & Cameroon Pidgin with Pius Akumbu. Pius is a Cameroonian linguist working at LLACAN, a laboratory of the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) that specializes in the study of the languages and cultures of Africa. He is also one of the language revitalization mentors of the Endangered Languages Project (ELP). In this conversation we discuss: 🇨🇲 Pius’s first language, Babanki, also known as Kejom, and how it is used...2024-07-081h 05

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe148. Speaking Silbo Canario & Canarian SpanishHello Language Lovers and thank you for joining me for this episode of Speaking Tongues. Today, we’re talking about a language that I have really wanted to feature on the show for a long time! Gara is joining us from Tenerife to talk about Silbo Canario and Spanish spoken in the Canary Islands. With a deep passion for preserving and promoting the unique linguistic heritage of her homeland, Gara brings a wealth of knowledge and firsthand experience to our conversation. Gara shares her knowledge about how this form of whistled communication varies across different parts of th...2024-06-2441 min

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe147. Speaking KhroskyabsHello Language Lovers and welcome back to a new episode of Speaking Tongues. Today we’re talking about Khroskyabs with Yulha. Yulha is native speaker of this endangered language, from the Tibetan Plateau. She has been working on documenting and revitalizing her mother tongue since her high school and she is optimistic of her work moving into a positive direction. In this conversation, we discuss: Life and tradition in Tibet and the meaning of “Tibetan-ness” Using language in Tibet and the role Buddhism plays in language standardization Oral traditions and storytelling within her community, and collecting sayings...2024-06-171h 13

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe146. Speaking KannadaHello Language Lovers. Thank you for joining me for this episode of Speaking Tongues, the podcast in conversation with multilinguals. Today, we’re talking with Joshua about Kannada, one of the several languages he grew up speaking in his native Karnataka. Joshua is an Indian expat living in France and owes a lot of finding his dream job to his language learning skills. He is from South India and speaks 9 languages at various levels. He works at L'oreal in Paris and makes videos on youtube about his language learning journeys among other topics in his free time. He's among th...2024-06-1059 min

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe144. Speaking Georgian and Mingrelian 🇬🇪Hello Language Lovers! Thank you for joining me for this episode of Speaking Tongues, the podcast in conversation with multi linguals. Today, I’m speaking with Gvantsa about her languages of Georgian and Mingrelian. Gvantsa is a Master's student at the Technical University of Munich. Although she speaks several languages, her linguistic journey is particularly marked by a deep connection to Georgian, her native language, and Mingrelian, a language she has been intimately familiar with through family. In this episode we discuss: 🇬🇪 Georgia’s relationship to the other Kartvelian languages 🇬🇪 Changes of Georgian throughout the cou...2024-04-011h 07

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe143. Speaking MandarinHello Language Lovers! Thank you for joining me for this episode of Speaking Tongues, the podcast in conversation with multilinguals. This week, I’m joined by Emily of Language Travel Adoptee to talk about her language story and her journey of connecting to Mandarin Chinese In this episode Emily talks to us about: 💫 Her adoption story and her journey to deciding that she was ready to share it with the world 💫 A reluctance she faced in connecting to her past and to the Chinese language 💫 Healing and feeling her way through feelings of...2024-03-251h 00

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe142. Speaking Belize Kriol 🇧🇿Hello Language Lovers. Thank you for joining me for this episode of Speaking Tongues. This week, I’m thrilled to bring you this conversation with Belizean linguist, Silvanna Udz. Silvaana Maree Udz, Ed.D., is a founding member of di National Kriol Council of Belize. In addition to ongoing Belize Kriol language outputs, she also spent seven years as an assistant professor teaching English in Taiwan, at Ming Cuan University, researching di embryonic standardization of East Asian Englishes. Before that she worked at the University of Belize and at its pre-amalgamated colleges, teaching either full time or part...2024-03-181h 01

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe141. Speaking BasqueHello Language Lovers! Thank you for joining me for this episode of Speaking Tongues, the podcast in conversation with multi linguals. This week, we’re talking with Eukene about her language of Basque. Eukene is a Ph.D. candidate in Linguistic Studies at the University of Miami. She is an advocate of minority languages and cultures. Her work focuses on the language variation in young Basque speakers and ethnolinguistic identities and attitudes towards Basque, both in the Basque Country and the Basque diaspora of Idaho. In this episode we discuss: - The perceptions of Basque be...2024-03-111h 02

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe140. Speaking Algerian ArabicHello Language Lovers! Thank you for joining me for this episode of Speaking Tongues, the podcast in conversation with multilinguals. In this episode, we’re talking to Meriem about her Algerian language and culture, as well as architecture and design. Meriem is an Algerian-born, Doha-raised designer currently based in the US, coalescing cultural experiences into multidisciplinary design exploration and fabrication. In this episode, we discuss 🇩🇿The distinctions of spoken Arabic spoken in Algeria among other Arabics spoken in North Africa 🇩🇿 Contrasts between Algerian and Gulf spoken Arabic 🇩🇿 How the French colonization of Algeria has affect...2024-03-041h 01

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe139. Speaking KtunaxaHello Language Lovers! Thanks for tuning in to this new episode. This week we’re speaking with Aiyana (IG@ktunaxapride) about her language of Ktunaxa. Aiyana Twigg is Indigenous, belonging to two nations in Canada, the Ktunaxa Nation and Blackfoot. She grew up within the Ktunaxa Nation in Tobacco Plains and graduated from University with a passion to revitalize her Indigenous language Ktunaxa. In this episode we talk about Growing up in the community and her journey to wanting to learn more about the Ktunaxa language The efforts being taken to revitalize Ktunaxa and...2024-02-261h 07

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe138. Speaking Catalan 🇦🇩Hello Language Lovers! This is episode 138 and I’m thrilled to bring you this conversation with Taylor @centralpolyglot about Catalan language and culture in Andorra. Taylor is a Fulbright scholar currently living in the European microstate of Andorra and in this episode, we talk about: 🇦🇩 Her path to the Fulbright program that led her to living in Andorra from her upbringing in Missouri 🇦🇩 Variations of Catalan spoken around the country 🇦🇩 Andorran pride in being the only country with Catalan as an official language 🇦🇩 Some of the most popular pastimes and activities that people partake in 2024-02-1951 min

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe136. Speaking Haitian Creole & Jamaican PatoisHello Language Lovers! Today we are speaking with Maggie, a content creator based in Toronto about her languages of Haitian Creole and Jamaican Patois Maggie is a perfect person to have this conversation with as she is so well versed on creole languages spoken not just in the Caribbean but all over the world. In this episode we talk about How Jamaican stands out in the Caribbean through culture and language The way language is spoken differently in different parts of Jamaica Growing up in a Haitian Creole speaking household and...2024-02-051h 06

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe135. Speaking Spanish & ItalianHello Language Lovers! Today we’re talking about Spanish (spoken in Spain) & Italian with Jamal. In this episode, he talks to us about Making the switch from using academic Spanish to conversing in everyday Spanish His favorite conversation words in Spanish Learning Italian - specifically the Roman vernacular - while living in Spain How personas can change when speaking different languages The ways he was able to learn Italian solely through conversation Octopus lasagna. What?! Big thank you to Jamal for sharing your languag...2024-01-2959 min

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe134. Speaking FrenchHello Language Lovers! Today, we’re talking about French - a language that many of you know I’m learning - with Julie, the founder of Towanda Language School. Julie is a language teacher and learner who loves to bust myths around language learning. She talks to us in this conversation about how language has helped her make connections as she’s traveled all over the world. In this episode some of the topics we discuss include The French connection to the Arabic language A few different ways that French is used around the fra...2024-01-2259 min

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe133. Speaking Cantonese & WelshHello Language Lovers! It’s a new year and a new season of Speaking Tongues. Today, we’re welcoming Israel to talk about his languages of Cantonese and Welsh. Israel is a composer by day and a polyglot/language enthusiast/YouTuber/podcaster by night (though nowadays usually in reverse) from Hong Kong, based in Manchester. His interest in languages was sparked by his musical ear, and extends to a variety of language families; more recently, he's been drawn towards issues surrounding language, social change, and identity. Topics discussed in this episode include: Why everyone should learn...2024-01-151h 02

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe130. Speaking Dominican SpanishHello Language Lovers! Thank you for joining me for this episode of Speaking Tongues- the podcast in conversation with multilinguals. This week we’re staying a lot closer to home and talking about Dominican Spanish and Dominican culture in NYC with Anny of LaLorenzona. In this conversation Anny talks to us about growing up and navigating language between bilingual school and English only school. We talk about the way Dominicans in New York City speak Spanish with a rhythm that compliments the flow and pace of the city. Anny talks to us about encountering biases that people hav...2023-05-151h 03

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe129. Speaking TaiwaneseHello Language Lovers! Thank you for joining me for this episode of Speaking Tongues- the podcast in conversation with multilinguals. This week, we are having a deep and impactful conversation about Taiwanese language, heritage, culture and identity with Erica of Kuishimbo and the World Languages Project. What I love about this conversation is not only the way Erica tells a story, but also that we are taking a closer look at how language, the loss and gain of it, the way it’s used and weaponized, even criminalized can have lasting effects on generations of families in soci...2023-05-081h 04

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe128. Speaking DogriHello Language Lovers! Thank you for joining me for this episode of Speaking Tongues- the podcast in conversation with multilinguals. Today, we’re learning a ton about the Dogri language with linguist and educator, Dr. Devina Krishna. When I tell you I was pumped to learn about Dogri and Dr. Krishna did not disappoint. In this conversation, we talk about how the Dogri language was once considered a dialect of Punjabi but now recently seen as a language independent of Punjabi. Dr. Krishna breaks down the grammar of Dogri and I’m so excited to learn about the tonal quality of th...2023-05-011h 05

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe127. Speaking Fiji BaatHello Language Lovers! Thank you for joining me for this episode of Speaking Tongues- the podcast in conversation with multilinguals. Today, I’m so honored to have this conversation about Fiji Baat, also known as Fiji Hindi with Ang and Ash of the NoTies1879 Podcast. I think Ang and Ash are so very cool and extremely chill and In this episode, they talk to us about the painful history of indentured labor in Fiji that led to many Indians from all over India being brought to Fiji, which you can hear more about this history on their pod...2023-04-241h 20

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe125. Speaking Colombian SpanishHello Language Lovers! Thank you for joining me for this episode of Speaking Tongues- the podcast in conversation with multilinguals. This week, joining me in conversation is Janny from MiLegasi and The Latina Mom Legacy Podcast to talk about her Colombian Spanish language and culture. In this episode, Janny talks to us about her upbringing between Florida and Medellin, Colombia. We talk about the pride that Colombians carry when speaking and representing their language all over the country. She tells us about ways that her family had been able to stay close to their Colombian roots through t...2023-04-1057 min

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe124. Speaking TurkishHello Language Lovers! Thank you for joining me for this episode of Speaking Tongues- the podcast in conversation with multilinguals. This week I’m talking to Elysse DaVega about learning and speaking Turkish. This episode was recorded before the devastating earthquake that affected Türkiye and Syria and that’s why you won’t hear us mention this current event during this conversation. But here’s what you will hear in this conversation. Elysse tells us about the methods she used to learn Spanish and why she might not recommend others to learn this way (even though I think i...2023-04-0353 min

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe123. Speaking Aymara, Quechua & Bolivian SpanishHello Language Lovers! Thank you for joining me for this episode of Speaking Tongues- the podcast in conversation with multilinguals.This week my guest Shana Infofuentes joins me to talk about her languages of Aymara, Quechua & Bolivian Spanish. In this episode we talk about so much more than just the languages of the region, as Shana tells her story of being part of the largest Quechuan and the largest Bolivian community in the U.S. located in the Washington D.C. area. We talk about the special bond she had with her grandmother that forged a deep...2023-03-271h 00

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe122. Speaking Bislama & NafsanHello Language Lovers! Thank you for joining me for this episode of Speaking Tongues- the podcast in conversation with multilinguals. This week we’re having a conversation with Ana and Nick about Bialsma & Nafsan - two languages of Vanuatu. Ana Krajinovic (Kra-yee-novich) & Nick Thieberger (Tee-berger) joined me in what I liked to call a 360 episode - Me being in NYC, Ana in Germany and Nick in Australia - how cool is that? In this episode, we talked about their work as linguists in the Pacific nation of Vanuatu. We learn how the Bislama language came to be na...2023-03-201h 14

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe121. Speaking Bengali & ItalianHello Language Lovers! Thank you for joining me for this episode of Speaking Tongues- the podcast in conversation with multilinguals. We are back this week after an extended hiatus with Urmi to talk about her languages of Bengali and Italian. In this episode, Urmi talks with us about growing up between two cultures and languages — being of Bengali heritage while growing up in Italy. She tells us about being among the first Bengali families living in Sicily and observing the growth of the community over the years. We talk about using both of these languages on a da...2023-03-1351 min

Love, Joy, and LanguagesEpisode 33: Curiosity, Inclusion, and Representation in Language Learning Spaces - Interview with Elle Charisse of Speaking Tongues PodcastI recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Elle Charisse, the host of Speaking Tongues Podcast. Elle is a change maker in the language learning community as someone who notices issues like gaps in representation, conversations being ignored, communities being overlooked, and she does something about it, letting her curiosity of the world and of humanity guide her to creating a space for all languages, all cultures, all histories, and all voices to be heard. In our interview, Elle shares a bit about how she grew an interest in languages growing up in New York City...2022-12-121h 03

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe120. Speaking Duala & AboHello Language Lovers! Thank you for joining me for this episode of Speaking Tongues- the podcast in conversation with multilinguals. This week, I’m joined by Diane and Epée, architects and coauthors of The African Dwelling: From Traditional to Western Style Homes about their languages of Duala and Abo. Diane and Epée are both polyglots with many languages spoken between them and this was an exciting conversation for me to hear them switch so effortlessly between several of them. In this episode Epée explains naming traditions in Duala and how he was given his names...2022-11-211h 16

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe119. Speaking SardinianHello Language Lovers! Thank you for joining me for this episode of Speaking Tongues- the podcast in conversation with multilinguals. This week I’m happy to bring you all this conversation with Dalila about her Sardinian language. In this episode, Dalila tells us about the language and its influences from Catalan and Spanish. We talk about the grammar of Sardinian, how it differs from Italian and what it has in common with English. Dalila talks about the differences between Sardinian spoken in the North and in the south of Sardinia and how micro regions of Sardinia have li...2022-11-1459 min

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe118. Speaking NahuatlHello Language Lovers! Thank you for joining me for this episode of Speaking Tongues- the podcast in conversation with multilinguals. This week, I’m so happy to share this conversation with Kwi and Daniel about the Nahuatl language. In this episode, we start with a land acknowledgement and call to action to support indigenous communities. Kwi and Daniel talk with us about how they each grew up with the Nahuatl language and how they have learned more about their cultures growing up. We talk about the construction of Nahuatl and variants within the language. We talk about th...2022-11-071h 08

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe117. Speaking Punjabi & UrduHello Language Lovers! Thank you for joining me for this episode of Speaking Tongues- the podcast in conversation with multilinguals. This week, I’m so happy to share this conversation with Khawar, the founder of Somos, about his heritage languages of Punjabi and Urdu. Now, Somos is a startup which provides affordable language education and supports language teachers, by allowing them to earn a living from their wages. In this episode, Khawar tells us about his heritage and lineage from India, through Kenya and into the UK. He talks about growing up hearing these two languages peppered wi...2022-10-3152 min

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe116. Speaking FinnishHello Language Lovers! Thank you for joining me for this episode of Speaking Tongues- the podcast in conversation with multilinguals. This week we’re talking about all things Finnish with Saga of Finnish Learning on Instagram. I had a lot to learn about Finland and I was so happy that Saga and I had such a fun conversation. In this episode, we learn what the word Suomi means and when it is used. Saga tells us about the grammar, pronoun usage and cases in Finnish and we learn about the agglutinative nature of the language. We share so...2022-10-2455 min

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe111. Speaking GujaratiHello Language Lovers! Thank you for joining me for this episode of Speaking Tongues- the podcast in conversation with multilinguals. Joining me this week in conversation about Gujarati language and culture is Jenny Bhatt, writer, translator and founder of Desi Books. In this episode, Jenny talks to us about growing up in Mumbai and many of the languages that are spoken and heard in this cosmopolitan city. We talk about the unique nature of Hindi as it’s spoken in Mumbai and the Gujarati dialects heard not only in Mumbai but in regions of Gujarat. We discuss Gu...2022-09-191h 02

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe110. Speaking LingalaHello Language Lovers! Thank you for joining me for this episode of Speaking Tongues- the podcast in conversation with multilinguals. This week, we’re talking about the Lingala language and Congolese culture with Melissa, the founder and teacher behind Lingala Lessons. In this episode, Melissa tells us about growing up in Paris speaking both Lingala and French and how this often felt like living in two different countries- France and DRC. She tells us about how her parents made the effort to reinforce Lingala and their Congolese roots at home and how Black American tv shows were im...2022-09-121h 00

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe109. Speaking ArmenianHello Language Lovers! Thank you for joining me for this episode of Speaking Tongues- the podcast in conversation with multilinguals. This week, we’re talking about Armenian with Liana, a writer and journalist and creator of Dining in Diaspora, A book and multimedia project documenting the Armenian experience in America through food. In this conversation, Liana talks about immigrating to the U.S. from Iran as a child and settling into the vast Armenian community in Southern California. We talk about the Armenian language changes through the diaspora and the other languages that have influence on diaspora sp...2022-07-251h 01

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe107. Speaking Hebrew, Arabic & PersianHello Language Lovers! Thank you for joining me for this episode of Speaking Tongues- the podcast in conversation with multilinguals. We are back after a short break this week to talk about Hebrew, Arabic and Persian with Erin who is a Western & Central Asian linguist and academic, a translator and teacher. In this episode, Erin and I talk about her beginnings as a linguist through the Spanish and French languages and how she came to studying Arabic and Semitic languages. She tells us about the grammar and spoken similarities between Arabic and Hebrew and about loan words...2022-07-111h 14

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe100. Speaking with Elle CharisseSpeaking Tongues Podcast is independently produced and thus far a labor of love. My dream is to continue to produce this show independently and I hope to raise enough money to be able to do so. If you enjoy episodes of this show, which has become my livelihood, please consider pledging financial support through Buy me a Coffee. Link below! Speaking Tongues Podcast: Follow on IG: @speakingtonguespod Follow on Twitter: @stpodcasthost Like our Facebook Page: @speakingtonguespod Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJFOPq3j7wGteY-PjcZaMxg 2022-05-091h 11

The Fluent ShowElle Charisse: Escape from New YorkElle Charisse is a language podcaster (she hosts Speaking Tongues), language lover, and foodie. She's a New York woman through and through! We discuss why and how life in New York is different from the movie version we're often sold how to engage with New York's wealth of languages and native speakers respectfully what a "woman of the world" is and who the most glamorous woman in Elle's life is how reading books, learning languages, and eating food from other places all gives us that happy escapist buzz If you want to hear more episodes...2021-10-0456 min

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe42. Speaking DanishThis week I’m so happy to bring you this truly awesome conversation I had with Kris Broholm of Actual Fluency about the Danish language. Kris was delightful to talk with and I learned a lot about the Danish culture and language. In this episode, Kris tells us some of the nitty gritty things about the language including Danish pronunciation, some fun facts about counting in Danish and we learn a thing or two about the grammar. We also talk about the similarities and differences between Danish and other Scandinavian languages. We discuss why English becomes the li...2021-02-011h 11

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe41. Speaking Brazilian PortugueseFor this episode, you long time listeners will find something different. For the first time in doing this show for one year now, I have two guests in one show. This week, I am joined by my friends over at Diversilingua Podcast, Diego & Renata and they are talking to us about Brazilian Portuguese. Diego & Renata are both members of a polyglot club in Brazil and in this episode, they are telling us some strategies for understanding new vocabulary in other languages, the differences between spoken Portuguese in Brazil, Portugal, Angola & Mozambique. We are learning about the Brazilian...2021-01-251h 03

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe40. Speaking Levantine Arabic with NASMA of NY!Today, I’m speaking with Carol, a Levantine Arabic teacher and the founder of NASMA of New York and the host of Levantine Arabic Made Easier Podcast. Friends this conversation was so much fun because as you know by now if you’ve listened for a long time, I love the Arabic language and am always happy to learn about Arab culture from my arabic speaking friends. In this episode, we talk about the lebanese school system, living in an international city in the Gulf, the differences in dialects of Levantine Arabic from country to country and the a...2021-01-181h 11

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe39. Speaking Martinique Creole & FrenchToday, my guest is Mickael, founder of FrenchClass NYC and we are talking about creole spoken in Martinique and French spoken in France. Actually, in this episode, we’re talking about a multitude of topics that include the perception versus reality of people of color in France, diversity and the expression of black voices in France. I’m asking Mickael about representation of French Caribbean culture in Paris and we’re even discussing the similarities and differences among French, creole and French spoken in the diaspora. If you want to hear Mickael’s advice for learning t...2021-01-1158 min

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe38. Speaking YorubaOn this first episode of the new year, I’m speaking with Anike, a writer, storyteller from London about her heritage language of Yoruba. In this conversation, we’re not just talking about Yoruba language, friends. Oh no no…. We’re talking about Nigerian heritage and the culture of British Born Nigerians & how their culture is expressed in the UK. We discuss the connection between storytelling and language, the links between Yoruba language and culture throughout parts of the Caribbean and how proverbs in the Yoruba language relate to the Yoruba culture and lifestyle. And one more...2021-01-0456 min

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe37. Speaking JapaneseMy guest today is Yoko, the creator of Foodstory, a Japanese food experience that offers cooking classes in Los Angeles & Culinary Tours in Japan. In this episode, I talk with Yoko not just about the Japanese language and vocabulary but also about the culture. We discuss the differences between men’s and women’s vocabulary, dialects throughout Japan and the influence of indigenous people in Hokkaido. She even gives a surprising tip for anyone wanting to learn or improve their Japanese language skills. But because we also like to talk about culture on this show, Yoko...2020-12-141h 05

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe36. Speaking DanishThank you for joining me for this episode of Speaking Tongues- the podcast in conversation with multilinguals. My guest today is Sarah, joining me from London to talk about the Danish language. This is the first time I’ve featured Danish on the show and I’m really excited to have had this opportunity to learn a bit about it from Sarah’s perspective. In this episode, Sarah tells us about growing up in a house with Danish speaking parents and how she ended up learning Danish abroad while studying in Denmark. We talk about similarities between the Da...2020-12-0757 min

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe35. Speaking French, Norwegian & IrishThank you for joining me for this episode of Speaking Tongues- the podcast in conversation with multilinguals. Today I’m speaking with Tyler, a language lover who began his road to speaking a second language as an adult and if you love to read or love literature, you’re going to love this conversation. In this episode, Tyler tells us how his mormon upbringing helped spark his curiosity with foreign language and travel. We talk about how Tyler developed his love of the French language through literature and a wedding trip to Europe that pushed him to go a...2020-11-301h 05

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe34. Speaking Ladino with The Hyperpolyglot ActivistThank you for joining me for this episode of Speaking Tongues- the podcast in conversation with multi linguals. Today I’m speaking with Dr. Carlos Yebra-Lopez of Ladino 21 and The Hyperpolyglot Activist, about the endangered Judeo-Spanish language also known as Ladino. In this episode, Carlos gives us all an overview of Ladino starting from its origins and its spread throughout the diaspora. If you’re only slightly familiar with Ladino or unaware of it, as I was, this is a great conversation to help you understand the language and how it continues to be spoken and to thri...2020-11-231h 09

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe33. Speaking Swahili, Kikuyu & ShengThank you for joining me for this episode of Speaking Tongues- the podcast in conversation with multilinguals. This episode we are talking with Wairimu, creator of Mwalimu Wairimu about Swahili, Kikuyu and Sheng. Friends, I loved having this conversation and in fact we talked for over two hours and I still didn’t get to talk about all of the things that were looming in my mind -- but more on that later. Wairimu tells us about growing up and being encouraged by teachers to speak English in school instead of her native Kikuyu. We talk about he...2020-11-161h 11

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe32. Speaking Wenzhou, French and MandarinThank you for joining me for this episode of Speaking Tongues- the podcast in conversation with multilinguals. Today we are going on a linguistic journey around the world speaking Wenzhou, French and Mandarin with Lihui Ke, the founder and creative director of Kerisma Knits, a family owned, Los Angeles based knitwear design company. In this episode, Lihui tells us some of her story from her time growing up in China, moving to Paris at a young age, moving once again to New York City before ultimately settling in Los Angeles. I was so happy to have this c...2020-11-0954 min

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe31. Speaking Mexican SpanishThank you for joining me for this episode of Speaking Tongues- the podcast in conversation with multilinguals. Today’s conversation we are talking about Mexican Spanish with the founder of Speak Like a Mexican. In this episode. Ricardo talks to us about some specific things that make Mexican Spanish stand out from Spanish spoken in other regions of the world. We talk about how he’s able to teach Spanish to foreigners through tourism and we learn about some amazing connections to indigenous language through Spanish and which regions of the country fuse Spanish with some indigenous lang...2020-11-0250 min

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe30. Speaking PapiamentoThank you for joining me for this episode of Speaking Tongues- the podcast in conversation with multilinguals. Today’s conversation we are heading back to one of my favorite regions in the world to talk about Papiamento with Keisha Weil, a PhD candidate and Linguistic Anthropologist. In this recording Keisha was talking to me from Aruba where Papiamento is widely spoken and she has been conducting her research in the language! In this episode, Keisha tells us why Papiamento is considered a creole language and we learn why it is significant that Papiamento is one of the of...2020-10-261h 25

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe29. Speaking French with The French Wine TutorThank you for joining me for this episode of Speaking Tongues- the podcast in conversation with multilinguals. Today’s episode is quite the departure from the norm in one specific way! My guest today is Katie from The French Wine tutor and we are talking all about the French language, French culture and of course, French wine. This is the time you may want to pause here, go grab a glass of wine and come back and listen to the episode in order to get the full experience. In this conversation, Katie talks about her start as a...2020-10-1953 min

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe28. Speaking Spanish, French & ItalianIn today’s conversation, I’m talking with Juliana of The Language Mindset about her journey through three romance languages- Spanish, French and Italian. In this episode, Juliana --who is so full of adventure!- guides us around the world from her time studying abroad in Europe college to her very immersive experience with Spanish in Buenos Aires! Juliana talks to us about how she started The Language Mindset and some of her methods for teaching very young children and adults alike. Juliana and I have knowledge of the same languages so we spent some time this epis...2020-10-121h 00

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe27. Speaking HindiToday’s conversation is one of firsts because this is the first time we’re speaking about a language from India and my guest today, Vivek, is the first guest that I’ve recorded with over a huge time difference! I’m so grateful to Vivek for being able to make the time to coordinate our schedules for this conversation. In this episode, I learned a LOT and I think Vivek was the perfect person to have this conversation with. He’s very passionate about the Hindi language and his profession as a teacher. As a linguist, he’s found...2020-10-0556 min

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe26. Speaking SicilianToday I’m talking with Nadia and this is my third episode talking about Sicilian. If you notice and listen to each of the episodes, all three of my guests have had different perspectives on the Sicilian language. This is one thing I love about this show is that no matter how many times we talk about one language, we’ll always have different stories to share our experiences. In talking with Nadia today, she tells me about Sicilian spoken in Agrigento, her experience with Italians living in America, some movies and books that you could watch and...2020-09-2854 min

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe25. Speaking Cantonese, French & PortugueseWelcome back to another episode of Speaking Tongues. Today I’m speaking with Acacia, the founder of Ethnic Ties, a travel company specializing in pre-departure preparation so you can have an authentic and comfortable travel experience. But that’s just one role that this entrepreneur has. She also hosts language meetups and she’s developing a Black Travel App which she’ll tell us more about in the episode. One thing that I think is really cool about Acacia’s language journey is how she has been able to connect with her heritage language and the languages that she’s...2020-09-211h 07

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe24. Speaking Sicilian & ItalianToday I’m back with another episode of Sicilian conversation and this time, I’m talking with Ari, a writer and translator who lives near Messina. If you remember earlier this summer we had another Sicilian conversation and you might be wondering why we’re hitting Sicily so hard and the answer is-- because Sicily is a very old language, influenced by many cultures over centuries and I feel that it’s impossible to have just one Sicilian perspective on the culture. Also, I’m in love with Sicily and I want all of you to fall in love with it as...2020-09-1444 min

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe23. Speaking Bahamian EnglishToday we’re doing things a bit differently. Usually, we’re talking about languages other than english and but today we’re talking about The Bahamian dialect of english with the founder of iisabahamianbey, Kache Knowles. I’ll mention in a minute why this episode is so close to my heart but first I want to talk about why this episode is an important milestone not just for this podcast but also why it’s so important to have this conversation. English is spoken all over the world in many countries as a first language and with t...2020-09-071h 16

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe22. Speaking BasqueThe Basque language is one of the most unique languages in the world. Spoken in parts of Northern Spain and Western France, Basque is considered a language isolate - meaning that it is unrelated to any other language and many believe that it predates the Spanish language. In today’s conversation, I’m talking about Basque with Naroa who grew up in the Basque country speaking Basque at a young age. I had so many questions for her and in this episode she tells us about the unique features of the Basque language and culture & how the lang...2020-08-311h 04

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe21. Speaking British English with Quintessentially EnglishToday I’m bringing you the eighth and final episode in this summer’s “Summer School” series where all summer long we have been having conversations with language teachers. In today’s episode I’m speaking with Melissa, an English teacher and the founder of Quintessentially English. I wanted to do something different with this episode and if you’ve been listening for a long time now you’ll notice that this is the first conversation that I’ve had about the English language. What makes this interesting to me is that though we are both talking about English, we...2020-08-241h 06

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe20: Speaking Italian with Speak ItalianoHello Language Lovers! Thank you for joining me for another episode of Speaking Tongues, the podcast in conversation with multi-linguals! I’m your host, Elle Charisse. Today I’m bringing you the seventh episode in this summer’s “Summer School” series where all summer long we are having conversations with language teachers. In today’s episode I’m speaking with Linda, an Italian teacher and the host of the Italian language podcast, “Pensieri e Parole”. We cover quite a bit of ground in this conversation. Linda and I discuss Italian dialects and spoken Italian in the nor...2020-08-171h 05

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe19: Speaking Spanish with Maria Ortega GarciaHello Language Lovers! Today I’m bringing you the sixth episode in this summer’s “Summer School” series where all summer long we are having conversations with language teachers. In today’s episode I’m speaking with Maria, a Spanish teacher in Ireland and an Embodied Spanish Coach. I really enjoyed connecting with Maria as we discussed methods for learning another language. As you will hear in this episode, she has been able to coach her students through the written word and helped them to develop their own voices when communicating in Spanish. She helps her students...2020-08-101h 11

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe18: Speaking Brazilian Portuguese with Divergent EnglishHello Language Lovers! Today I’m bringing you the fifth episode in this summer’s “Summer School” series where all summer long we are having conversations with language teachers. In today’s episode I’m speaking with Duda, an english teacher in Brazil and the founder of Divergent English. I first met Duda months ago when she reached out to me on Instagram to tell me about her language classes. Since then, we’ve had a chance to work with one another on several workshops for her students and it’s been a blast! Her students are so...2020-08-031h 00

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe17: Speaking Sicilian with Languages in ProgressToday I’m bringing you the fourth episode in this summer’s “Summer School” series where all summer long we are having conversations with language teachers. In this episode, I am speaking with Ilaria, a professional language teacher and instructor and the founder of Languages in Progress. Ilaria is originally from Sicily and today she’s telling me all about the Sicilian language, some bits about Sicilian culture and if you listen all the way through, you’ll get to hear us speak with one another in Italian. Ilaria is incredibly talented so aside from Italian and Sicilian, she...2020-07-271h 06

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe16. Speaking Yoruba with Ase IreHello Language Lovers! Thank you for joining me for another episode of Speaking Tongues, the podcast in conversation with multi linguals! I’m your host, Elle Charisse. Today, I have the honor and privilege of introducing you to Dr. Funlayo E. Wood-Menzies. Dr. Wood-Menzies is a leader in her community, a scholar-priestess of Ifá-Òrìsà and a teacher of the Yoruba language and that is just a short list of her work! Iya Funlayo, as she is also known, earned her PhD in African and African American Studies and Religion at Harvar...2020-07-201h 49

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe15: Speaking Hebrew with The KefarHello Language Lovers! Today I have the honor of bringing you the second installation in this summer’s “Summer School” series, where all summer long we’re having conversations with language teachers. In this episode I’m speaking with T’helah, a Hebrew teacher and the founder of The Kefar. The Kefar is an online Hebrew education platform that teaches the language in an accessible, engaging and culturally responsive way. In this episode, T’helah and I talk about growing up in NYC and the languages we were exposed to growing up here. We talk about her meth...2020-07-131h 10

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe14. Speaking French with French Sunny SideHello Language Lovers! Today I have the pleasure of bringing you the first episode of this summer’s “Summer School” series where for the next two months, each episode will be a conversation with a language teacher. In this first episode of the series, I’m talking with Jessica of French Sunny Side. Jessica is a french language teacher and mindfulness coach who helps her students to find their authentic voice in the French language. In this episode we discuss her early experiences with language learning growing up in Belgium, her experience with the Vietnamese language...2020-07-061h 12

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe13. Speaking Japanese with the co-founder of Miso Studios!Hello Language Lovers, Today, I have the pleasure of talking with Melita Issa of Miso Studios, an NYC/ Tokyo design studio with a focus on hospitality. dining and multi-family design interiors. Melita is an interior designer who has lived and worked in Japan off and on throughout her career. In this episode, we talk about how she developed a love for Japanese language, Japanese culture, Japanese design and Japanese food. We talked about youth culture, work culture, design aesthetics and of course, one of my favorite things... Japanese food! It's a love story, guys! One...2020-06-291h 10

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe12. Part II - Speaking Hungarian, Spanish, Catalan, Basque, & GreekThank you for joining me for Part II of my conversation with Kuba- an incredible language lover and polyglot who speaks Polish, Hungarian, Spanish, Catalan, English and is learning Basque and Greek. In Part I of this episode, we spoke about his native Polish and in this episode we're talking about how Kuba became fluent in Hungarian, living life in a bilingual society & we share some observations on Catalan identity. Kuba talks about his experience with actively and passively learning Basque, Greek and French and if you're quick enough you'll catch a brief mention of Occitan. At the time...2020-06-221h 08

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe12. Part I - Speaking PolishHello Language Lovers, I'm excited to bring this episode to you today and guess what! It's another two part episode. Today my guest is Kuba, a true polyglot, originally from Poland who speaks not only his native Polish but has also learned English, Spanish, Hungarian, Catalan. He's learning Basque and he's starting to learn Greek and so we had a lot to discuss. In this first episode, we talk about his native Polish language and this conversation touches so many things from digraphs and cases in the Polish language, learning English, the Polish music genre known as...2020-06-151h 02

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe11. Speaking German, French & Spanish with the founder of Black Girls Learn Languages!Today, I have the pleasure of speaking with someone who is not just a learner of language but also a leader in language. My guest today, Shahidah, aka Language Bae, is the founder of Black Girls Learn Language, a multi-platform digital community for black women who are passionate about languages. In this episode, Shahidah talks about her journey to fluency in German, her experience with French as a student and tells us about her true passion for the Spanish language. In February of 2020, Black Girls Learn Languages celebrated their three year anniversary as an online platform that c...2020-06-081h 06

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe10. Speaking Lebanese ArabicWell, here we are friends, we've reached Episode 10 of Speaking Tongues and I'm so happy to have made it this far. Sure, I know that 10 is not a large number but for a show that's had some hiccups getting started, I'm truly happy to be here at number 10 and I'm looking forward to the next 10 with all of you. My guest on today's episode is a truly, truly special person and a very good friend of mine. Rena is originally from Lebanon and currently lives and works in NYC as an interior designer. Full disclosure, we were...2020-05-251h 09

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe09. Speaking KoreanI'm so happy to bring you this 9th episode of the show and this time, we're talking about Korean with Hanna and guess what? It's another "live" episode since we recorded in a Le Pain Quotidien! Hanna is an interior designer originally from Seoul, Korea currently living and working in New York City. In this episode we talk about the Korean language and we also talk about her experience learning english since moving to NYC several years ago. In this conversation we talk about Korean accents and regional dialects, trying to learn English in the days before...2020-05-1147 min

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe08. Speaking About Hebrew & YiddishToday, I have the pleasure of speaking with Leor, talented designer, musician and a good friend. I wanted to speak with Leor about her relationship with Hebrew although she isn’t fluent in the language at all. You see, one of the goals of this podcast is to celebrate language at any stage we’re in as learners. Though Leor isn’t fluent in Hebrew, her relationship to the language tied into her heritage as a woman of Israeli descent is valuable. I think this conversation is important because while I could only talk to people who have mastered many langua...2020-04-2757 min

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe07. Part II: Speaking Spanish & Brazilian PortugueseHello Language Lovers, Today, as promised, I bring you the second half of my conversation with Amarens, a linguist and the creator of Untranslatable, a multi-lingual urban dictionary where people get to share local idioms, slang and expressions in any language. We last spoke about her native Dutch language and her connection to Frisian and today we're talking about her experience learning Spanish and Portuguese and a few new languages she's presently learning. She also takes the time to share some helpful language learning tools that worked for her and in my opinion, will work for anyone...2020-04-201h 06

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe07. Part I: Speaking Dutch & FrisianIn this episode, I'm speaking today with Amarens, who is a linguist & the creator of Untranslatable a multi-lingual urban dictionary where people get to share local idioms, slang and expressions in any language. In the first part of this conversation, we're discussing Amarens' native Dutch & her connection to Frisian and in the second part of the conversation which you'll hear in the next episode, We'll be talking about her journey to learning Spanish and Portuguese and she's even sharing some incredible tips for everyone out there on their own journey to fluency in a second language. I really hope you...2020-04-131h 08

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe06. Speaking Spanish - Buenos AiresHello Language Lovers, Today I have the honor of talking about Argentine Spanish with one of my long time very best friends. We often discuss the intricacies of Spanish and English with one another and she may not know this but she was one of the few people who inspired me to begin this podcast journey. Our casual conversations inspired me to want to have casual conversations with people from all linguistic backgrounds! I couldn't very well keep all of our thoughts and theories to myself! I had to share them with you all. In...2020-03-301h 02

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the GlobeBonus Episode: Learning GermanAs I said last episode, I'm trying to learn a little bit of German. Now I just want to be clear. I'm not trying to become fluent in German! I went in with a very clear goal - even though I joked about being fluent by December- of just learning enough. Some basic grammar and vocabulary and maybe a handful of helpful phrases. I think this is the approach I'll probably take toward learning new languages going forward. I've put enough pressure on myself trying to learn French and Italian and I still want to stay with those two...2020-03-2310 min

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe05. Speaking GermanI met my next guest as he was planning his upcoming trip to NYC. He's currently completing a screenplay about a frog who comes to visit New York City for the first time. In preparation for his trip, he reached out to me through the magic of the internet for some logistics planning and we connected! When he arrived in New York, I had a chance to show him around town for a few hours and that led to me asking "Hey, wanna be on my podcast?" (aside from asking him the German words for dozens of random things I...2020-03-1636 min

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe04. Speaking Farsi, French & English with a fellow language collector!Today, we're talking to Elie about the several languages she grew up speaking and has learned over the course of her lifetime. Elie is an accomplished lawyer in California and she breaks down her attraction to learning languages and offers some valuable insight for those of us who continue learning as adults!2020-03-021h 03

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the GlobeBonus Episode: Speaking about TravelingThis is a special episode that I wanted to do just to bring the language conversation into a different context. The context of travel! I love traveling and I've often thought about language as I travel. Since I don't get around as much as I want to, I recruited Stephen, my friend who travels extensively to have a conversation with and we decided to speak about the New York Times's 52 Places to Visit in 2020 list! This episode is a bit long but ultimately I hope this conversation will inspire people to travel wherever they want to without being afraid of...2020-02-241h 11

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe03. Speaking VietnameseIn this episode we're talking with Tom about the language he grew up speaking and how coming to the US and having to learn English has impacted his life. He also talks to us about the gradual way that parts of his heritage have made their way into popular culture and he even teaches us a few swear words! We even learn a bit about the alphabet! Warning: this episode includes mature language. Listener discretion is advised.2020-02-1753 min

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe02. Speaking Spanish 101 - Puerto RicoWhen I decided I wanted to start this podcast, I wanted the opportunity to talk with people at all stages of fluency and not just those who are already fluent. My guest Talia is an actress, writer and photographer who talks with me about her ties to her heritage and her ambition to connect with it as it relates to language. Ever the professional, she did this in one take! Apologies for the audio and some of the very New York City sounds heard in the background. Warning: this episode includes mature language. Listener discretion is advised.2020-02-0353 min

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the Globe01. Speaking Norwegian, Korean & SwedishI really can't wait for you all to meet my tri-lingual guest, Jess. Jess is a crazy talented artist and architect and the founder and editor-in-chief of Mmuses Magazine. This was a fun conversation to have and I'm lucky she made the time to be my very first guest. Follow Jess here: www.mmuses.info @mmusesmagazine and @ladies_____________________ (on Instagram)2020-01-201h 04

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the GlobeSpeaking about The PremiereFinally! This first season is so exciting and I've had fantastic conversations with so many people with such diverse linguistic abilities. I look forward to sharing all of these conversations with you. I'll also be recording some solo shows to offer advice and tips for any of you listeners hoping to improve your own second language skills. I'm also actively looking to interview people so if you're interested in chatting about the languages YOU speak, please leave me a voice mail following the link in the show notes and don't forget to rate and review wherever you get your podcasts!2020-01-1501 min

Speaking Tongues Podcast: Celebrating Voices, Stories, and Flavors From Around the GlobeSpeaking about what’s to comeHave you ever wanted to learn a second language? or a third or fourth? Did you grow up speaking on language at home and another one out in the world? In each episode I'll be speaking with someone who speaks English and one or more other language. Some of my guests grew up in a bilingual home. Others have fulfilled dreams of learning a language even though they never spoke anything other than English at home. Some of my guests will have learned English as their second language and others... well, you'll have to listen and find out! We'll discuss...2019-08-1702 min