Language Chats

The Language Learning Landscape in Australia: our observations

In this episode, we share with you some of our general observations about what we like to call ‘the language learning landscape’ in Australia. For as long as we’ve known each other, we’ve been talking about elements of this in bits and pieces - our experiences of learning languages at school and uni, which languages were perceived as being ‘useful’ or ‘good for your career’ while others were seen to be an ‘unusual choice’ (!), the power and prominence of English despite the many languages used in our communities, and where languages other than English fit into our education systems. This is just an introduction, as this is a BIG topic and we’ll be going into a bit more detail in future episodes!What are your observations of ‘the language learning landscape’ in Australia? Let us know your thoughts!

Russian, French and long-term goals in mind: A chat with Evan Walters

In this episode, we’re chatting with another language lover living in Australia - Brisbane-based Evan Walters studied French at school and has been learning Russian for the last five years. We chat about his language learning story, his different motivations for learning French and Russian, the role of long-term goals and routine, and the place of travel in his language learning.Are you an Australian language lover who would like to share your story? We’d love to hear from you! Get in touch with us here.

Goals, progress and the unexpected: language learning in 2020 so far

There’s been a lot of changes to life in 2020. Bec and Penny chat about their language goals and progress so far this year and the impact of Covid-19. Bec has discovered she enjoys her ‘blended learning’ approach for German and Penny is intent on not being too hard on her self and celebrating her weekly French class.More: www.languagelovers.com.au/podcast

Online Language Lessons (Part 2): Getting the preparation right

Just a couple of episodes ago, in Episode #019, we chatted about whether online lessons could be a good option for you as a language learner. In the meantime, COVID-19 has impacted the world in a huge way - many of us are spending a lot more time than usual at home, travel is out of the question and online learning for young people as well as adults has become more than just an interesting option, but a fact of life.As Bec gets ready for her first experience of finding and booking some one-on-one online lessons for German, we talk about getting prepared for your first online language learning sessions with a tutor, including some practical considerations as well as a few ideas for how to make sure you get the most out of your time.

Bite-sized language podcasts for busy people: A chat with Mark from Coffee Break Languages

While Bec was in Scotland recently, she had the opportunity to meet and speak with Mark, the founder of Coffee Break Languages (also known as the Radio Lingua Network). Bec got to chat with Mark about his own story as a language lover and how Coffee Break Languages came to be, as well as the podcasts and other products that Coffee Break Languages offers to language learners all around the world.Have you listened to any of the Coffee Break Languages podcasts? Which one would you like to start with, or listen to next? Tell us what you think - we’d love to hear from you! Episode LinksCoffee Break Languages

Online language lessons (Part 1): Is this right for me?

In this episode of Language Chats, Penny and Bec chat about how online language lessons work, the pros and cons of learning online and some tips on how to choose your teacher or tutor. Penny is a long-time convert to online language lessons and challenges Bec to give it a go!Do you take language lessons online? Let us know how you find it!

Putting your language skills to work: Using another language for your job

Have you dreamed about using your language skills in your job? In this Language Chats episode, Bec shares her experience of using French in the workplace. Bec shares how a bilingual office operates in Australia as well as some tips about how to make the leap and work in an environment using your second language.Do you use your language skills in your job? Get in touch and let us know! We love hearing from you.

Discovering languages around the world with Language Stories: A chat with Lindsay Williams

Lindsay Williams is a polyglot from the UK and learns, teaches, blogs, vlogs, eats, sleeps, and breathes everything language.Languages were never really a thing for Lindsay until she decided to take Spanish at GCSE because she wanted to translate Shakira songs. Since then, it’s been a growing passion that has led to her making languages her business.Lindsay Does Languages was born in 2012 as a local company in the heart of little old England offering private language tuition. Since then, Lindsay Does Languages has evolved to offering coaching packages and online courses both for language learners and online language tutors.In this episode of Language Chats, Bec and Penny talk to Lindsay about one of her big language creations - Language Stories. Lindsay and her husband travel the world for Language Stories, to share the stories of the the multilingual, bilingual and monolingual people they meet along the way. Listen, watch and read about Language Stories here.

Language Travel - What is it and how to get the most from it

Penny and Bec chat about language travel in this episode - what it is and how to get the most from it!Penny is a long-term fan of language travel and has been on language trips to to Vietnam, China and Taiwan as part of her Vietnamese and Chinese learning. With an upcoming French language trip planned for New Caledonia, Bec asks Penny why she loves language travel so much.Penny loves the face-to-face connections that language travel allows you to have, the opportunity to use phrases, words and structures that you’ve learned in a real-life setting, soaking up the culture, food, history of the place and exposing your children and partner to a new language and culture too (so that they can see how amazing learning languages can actually be)!Have you been on a language trip? Or are you considering going on one? Let us know! We love talking about language learning travel - so hit us up with any questions!Links:New Caledonia French Language Trip - May 2020 held by Penny from Lingo MamaLanguage Trips including Vietnam in November 2020 held by Penny from Lingo MamaLanguage Trip information Language Trip blogs by Lingo MamaGerman retreats held by Kerstin from Fluent LanguageSpanish retreats held by Katie from Joy of LanguagesSpanish retreats held by Maria from Embodied SpanishFrench retreats held by Jessica from French Sunny SideItalian retreats held by Katie from Joy of Languages

Does Grammar Scare You?

How do you feel about grammar? Does it scare you like it does Penny? Or are you grammar-lover like Bec?In this episode we chat about the technical terms that can be off-putting and ways to overcome our fear of learning grammar.What’s your experience been with learning grammar? Are you a grammar lover or a grammar phobe?