Language Mastery

Kerstin Cable (formerly Hammes) is the creator of the Fluent Language blog, author of Fluency Made Achievable: The Fluent Guide to Core Language Skills, and co-host of the The Fluent Show. She is a native German speaker, but has reached a native level of fluency in English, and abilities in a number of additional languages, including French, Italian, Latin, Spanish, and Russian. She is a great language teacher with an infectious passion for languages and charming sense of humor. 

In today's show, I talk with Kris Broholm of Actual Fluency, an excellent podcast and blog boasting an impressive number of interviews with brilliant language experts, zany polyglots, etc. (over 50 episodes as of writing), including many of my heroes and a few guests who have been on the Language Mastery Show. In his own words, Kris is not an expert on languages, linguistics, or learning, is not a great student, and is not gifted at language learning. While I think he is certainly being humble, I love how he shows that anyone can learn a language regardless of one's level of introversion, aptitude for learning, location, age, etc. Unlike many who come to language learning as just a hobby, languages helped pull Kris out of severe depression and transform his life. 

In today's show, I chat with the man, the legend, the one and only, Italian polyglot Luca Lampariello. Over the past 20 years, Luca has reached a very high level in 9 foreign languages: English, French, German, Spanish, Swedish, Russian, Dutch, Portuguese, and Mandarin Chinese. Luca is full useful tips and strategies, which he shares in depth at his excellent site: LucaLampariello.com. 

Aaron Myers is the man behind The Everyday Language Learner, a wonderful blog that aims to help the average Joe (and John, and Rosemary, and...okay, you get the idea) learn a foreign language in fun, effective, efficient way. Above all else, Aaron strives to empower learners by showing people HOW to learn, not just WHAT. 

Donovan Nagel is an Applied Linguistics graduate hailing from rural Queensland, Australia (the amazing soundscape you hear in the background of our interview) and the man behind the language learning site and community, The Mezzofanti Guild, and the Arabic learning site, Talk in Arabic. Donovan named the site after one of his heroes, Cardinal Giuseppe Gasparo Mezzofanti (1774 – 1849), a hyperpolyglot who Donovan felt a strong connection to given their mutual background in theology, Greek, Hebrew, and Arabic, and the fact that they both focus on learning via contact with real people. 

Kevin Morehouse is the man behind Language Hero, a site dedicated to helping language learners start their journey, find allies, and stay the course. Kevin is a certified Italian teacher and soon to be certified in Spanish as well. 

Richard Simcott is an accomplished British hyperpolyglot based in Skopje, North Macedonia. He has actively studied more than 50 languages to date, and works in 14 of them on a regular basis! His impressive linguistic feats have led HarperCollins to call him “one of the most multilingual people from The United Kingdom.” In our conversation, he shares how he got into languages, how he learns and maintains so many, and what you can do to learn one (or many!) foreign languages yourself. 

Benny Lewis is a fun-loving blogger, YouTuber, author, language hacker, and technomad from Ireland (hence his nickname "Irish Polyglot"). He is the creator of the most popular language learning site in the world as of writing, Fluentin3Months.com and the author of Fluent in 3 Months: How Anyone at Any Age Can Learn to Speak Any Language from Anywhere in the World. He has demonstrated again and again that it's possible to reach conversational fluency in a matter of months, not years as most believe. 

Ellen Jovin is variously described as a "linguaphile," a "language-crazed writer," a "grammar freak," a "former freelance writer," and a professional trainer specializing in communication skills. On the first of July in 2009, Ellen began an impressive language and culture project called "Words & Worlds of New York" with the goal exploring the myriad languages spoken in The Big Apple. 

With seven languages under his linguistic belt and an academic background in Applied Linguistics, Olly Richards of I Will Teach You a Language has proven that he can both talk the talk and walk the walk. His infectious passion for all things language is a breath of fresh air in the increasingly cynical language learning blogosphere. 

Keith Brooks is the man behind Pardon My Norwegian, a site dedicated to "everything cool from Norway from the eyes of a Kentuckian." Prior to "marrying" the Norwegian language, Keith sampled a number of a potential languages in a project called 37 Languages. His "speed dating" or "taste testing" approach to choosing just the right "significant linguistic other" got picked up by PRI's The World in 2009 ("Blogging the Love of Language"), and Keith was asked back again in 2010 to report on which language he finally chose to settle down with ("A Language Speed-Dater Gets Serious"). 

Susanna Zaraysky is a self-proclaimed "language geek," a speaker of 7 languages, and the author of Language is Music: Over 100 Fun & Easy Tips to Learn Foreign Languages. She has been featured on CBS, BBC Radio, CNN, NBC, and Univision, and now thanks to me, the world's most famous podcast! (Wink, wink.) In our interview, we discuss the weaknesses of traditional language education, the power of music in language acquisition, the importance of developing a resonance for one's target language and culture, and the fact that you can learn any language, anywhere. 

Paulino Brener is an educator, performer, social media manager, and one of the few people I know who has managed to successfully blend ALL of his passions—foreign languages, teaching, crafts, social media, and performance arts—into one. All while getting paid to do so! In our interview, he discusses creative ways to harness one's passions in foreign language learning, whether as a teacher or a learner. 

In my interview with Jason West, the creator of English Out There, we discuss the weaknesses of traditional English schools, methodologies, and materials, and how his approach aims to overcome them. I especially enjoyed his effective, no-nonsense approach to language learning, his efforts to bridge the gap between traditional classroom-based learning and independent study, and his willingness to share before-and-after speech samples of his students. 

Arkady Zilberman is the creator of Language Bridge and a former simultaneous interpreter in Russia. He focuses on overcoming what is perhaps the greatest impediment to adult foreign language learning success: cross-translation to and from one's native language. 

Randy Hunt is on a mission to learn a new language fluently every year. His current project is Italian, with Lithuanian as a side-project saved for weekend fun. Randy has his language-learning head screwed on tightly, and I firmly agree with his contention that learners can reach “conversational fluency” (the ability to talk with native speakers on a variety of topics) in a year if you spend enough time doing the right things. As we both have observed, most learners neither spend enough time nor do the right things. 

In his own words, Dr. Orlando Kelm is "a lucky guy" professionally. Not only does he get to spend his time with two languages (Spanish and Portuguese), but he is also the Associate Director of Business Language Education for the UT Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER), a part of the McCombs School of Business. He is also the co-author of a new book on intercultural relations called When we are the foreigners: What Chinese think about working with Americans. 

With 11 languages under his belt (Update: now 20 as of 2021), Steve Kaufmann is an extremely accomplished language learner. His extensive language learning wisdom in shared in his book titled The Way of the Linguist: A Language Learning Odyssey and his online language learning system called LingQ. 

Author, linguist, and fighter Antonio Graceffo “pulls no punches” (pun intended) when sharing his views on how to learn a foreign language effectively. His language learning wisdom stems from formal training as an interpreter and translator at Germany’s prestigious University of Mainz, coupled with over a decade of living, learning, and working in South and East Asia. Antonio speaks numerous languages (French, German, Italian, Khmer, Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, Thai and Vietnamese), and has used his language skills to good ends. On top of a stunning trail of articles and books, Antonio continues to fight the human rights atrocities in Burma.