Unreleased Talks

Transforming top limiting beliefs in language learning to supportive perspectives in an engaging format of metaphorical associative cards. Beliefs are thoughts that we firmly believe, consciously or subconsciously, and we do not even question them. Our beliefs about the language we learn, its culture, the process of language learning, our possibilities to integrate the language into our lives, our abilities, our responsibility for the result – they all project our result. They program our failure or our success. They also project the process of learning – too difficult and unpleasant, or exciting and efficient. When we become aware of our limiting beliefs and transform them to supportive ones, we can boost our progress in language learning by 6 times and even more. Therefore, this is a really strategic question to explore every time we learn a language. We can do it with a coach or with special metaphorical cards that the team of professional coaches of Language Coaching Academy has developed. These are 80 cards with top 80 limiting beliefs in language learning – on one side and corresponding 80 supporting beliefs on the reverse side, including questions that help us expand our view about those thoughts. Anna Bakova will share effective ways to transform limiting beliefs into supportive ones, including how to work with this set of metaphorical cards.

Pontians are an ethnic Greek subgroup, indigenous to the region of Pontus, in north-eastern Anatolia and the eastern Turkish/Caucasus region. Pontian Greeks had been forced out of their homeland about a hundred years ago, nevertheless, Pontic Greek, the oldest surviving Greek dialect, is still spoken in Greece, Turkey and Russia. It was formed over millennia since the Ionian colonization along the southern Black Sea shores around the 8th c. BC. According to linguistic research, the dialect was influenced by the vocabulary of the Genoese and the Venetians of Trebizond. It is also worth to mention that the individual Pontic Greek varieties have been exposed to strong influences of the respective umbrella language and have been developing differently due to the wide spatial distance. Pontic Greek is currently spoken by about 778,000 people worldwide. Although many Pontian Greeks had immigrated to northern Greece, today only about 200,000 to 300,000 are considered active speakers of the language. Pontic Greek has a rich oral tradition, including folklore dances and songs which are particularly popular in Greece especially in weddings and on Easter Sunday. There is also some limited production of modern literature, including poetry collections, novels, and Asterix comic books translated into Pontic Greek. A few examples of song lyrics as well as information on morphology comparing to modern Greek will be included in the presentation. Last but not least 3 testimonies of native speakers of similar ages from both regions can be found in the research.

This talk looks at the language Luo which is mainly spoken in Kenya and Tanzania. This research was done for the dissertation of my Linguistics postgraduate degree. I mainly explored how languages like English and Swahili affected how people pronounce certain words in Luo.

What we refer to as ‘India’ today is an English name given, after a river that flows outside the country. Two notable ancient language families have given birth to modern day Indian languages: Indo-Aryan Languages (Hindi is a well known descendant) and Dravidian (Tamil is well known descendant). We will focus on the Dravidian tapestry in this talk, this rich plateau that I’ve had the privilege to be raised in. I speak 3 out of 4 Dravidian languages, all of which are classified as classical Indian languages (there are 6 in all of India). To qualify, a language needs to be more than 1500 years old, have a body of ancient literature that’s not borrowed, and have distinction from a modern offshoot. While the oldest Kannada inscription is from 450 AD, the primary mode of preservation for Kannada has been folklore. As a child, I memorised a lot of ancient Kannada poetry, works of a poet ruler “Bassava” which include stories, and moral values, excerpts of which will be in my talk. I shall also spend time talking about the rich diversity of the Kannada state, Karnataka, home to languages like Tulu that my dad speaks, Kodava, an endangered language from Kodagu, that has more in common with Tamil, but is spoken in Karnataka, Urdu that was installed during the reign of a Persian dynasty and Konkani which is an Indo- Aryan languages spoken in the coastline of Karnataka and celebrates Portuguese borrowings from the 1500s. I may not have the time to go into similarities between modern day kannada, telugu, tamil and Malayalam, but this is an avid sport we practice at home, as my dad is Tamil, my mum Malayalee and I the Kannada boy.

Why should we waste limited government resources and try to keep minority languages on life support when many of them are going to die over time anyway? It may sound plausible that health spending e.g. is more important than culture. But the German constitution states that nobody should be discriminated because of their language and that Germany advocates for justice in the world. One may wonder whether this applies to its native minorities, too. This talk will look at the example of the Frisian minority in Northern Germany. In the large majority of schools Frisian is a voluntary after school subject if it is offered at all. Public service broadcasting in the language is almost non-existent. Could this constitute cultural imperialism, be discriminatory and thus be anti-constitutional? If so, whose fault is it? For a minority of 10,000 speakers a number of organisations are competing for 350,000 Euros of public money p.a. On the other hand the Western Isles Council in Scotland took the progressive decision to make Gaelic medium education the default position and parents have to opt out if they want their children to be educated in English. The BBC run a Gaelic language radio and tv station and overall ca. 30m Euros are invested in the language p.a. Is that too much for 60,000 speakers? Also learn a bit about the cultures and a few words of Gaelic and of the biggest Northern Frisian dialect of Fering from the quadrilingual island of Feer/ Föhr.

In diesem Vortrag nehme ich euch mit an die Uni, ich zeige euch, was die Germanistikstudenten in Ungarn lernen. Ich finde Sprachwissenschaft spannend und hoffe, dass auch ihr Spaß daran haben werdet. Ich erzähle euch, wofür man kontrastive Linguistik gebrauchen kann und wie man zwei Sprachen vergleicht. Ungarisch und Deutsch sind ziemlich unterschiedlich, sie gehören zu verschiedenen Sprachfamilien und zu verschiedenen Sprachtypen. Trotzdem gibt es viele Ähnlichkeiten, denn die gemeinsame Geschichte in Europa hat ihre Spuren in der Sprache hinterlassen. Zum Schluss analysieren wir drei ungarische Sätze, die hoffentlich für euch alle nützlich sein werden, wenn wir uns schon hier in Ungarn treffen. Ich spreche langsam und habe viele Bilder, damit ihr mich auch dann verstehen könnt, wenn euer Deutsch noch nicht auf dem höchsten Niveau ist.

Ya antes de la pandemia, nuestro mundo ha ido cambiando hacia un mundo cada vez más digitalizado. Esto significa que nosotros, como profesores de idiomas y estudiantes de idiomas, tenemos y debemos adaptarnos. En esta ponencia, intentaré hacer un análisis rápido de TikTok como plataforma general, pero más profundamente como plataforma de aprendizaje y, más aún, de aprendizaje de idiomas. ¿Cuáles son los argumentos a favor y en contra? ¿Cuáles son los miedos y cómo podemos superarlos? ¿Cuáles son las características de estos vídeos? ¿Cómo podemos incluirlos en nuestro recorrido tradicional de aprendizaje de idiomas? ¿Qué hay que tener en cuenta a la hora de consumir y producir vídeos de aprendizaje de idiomas en una plataforma como TikTok (o Instagram)? ¿Cómo podemos utilizar las redes sociales para mejorar nuestro aprendizaje y enseñanza de idiomas?

Embark on a 30-year journey with Luca Lampariello, the esteemed polyglot, at the Polyglot Conference in Budapest. Through passion and immersion, Luca unveils the keys to achieving native-language fluency. Discover the transformative power of cultivating a deep love for languages and immerse yourself in interactive examples and practical advice. Luca shares personal experiences, highlighting the role of immersion in language acquisition, while addressing challenges faced along the way. Gain invaluable tips to optimize your language learning process, from vocabulary acquisition to mastering grammar. Join Luca Lampariello, an influential figure in language learning, and unlock the secrets to lifelong language fluency.

Join me for a brief talk as we delve into lesser-known languages from around the world, starting in California, flying over to Northern Japan, and finally sailing to the Andaman Isles of India.

My session will focus on ways early childhood educators can run a culturally strong and culturally supportive classroom in partnership with the families that they serve.

A passport is not a teaching qualification! In this talk, international speakers of English will come together to discuss definitions, provide diverse perspectives and share experiences of the pervasive act of native speakerism in the ELT industry, and ways we can combat it.

There’s been a lot of speculation about the future of translation and localization with the advent of AI and automated processes. We’ll discuss what do we need to do as an industry, and as individuals supporting the work, supporting ourselves working in this field. #futureproofL10N

It is the need of the hour to teach and learn English not as a language that belongs to a handful of countries in power, but as one that belongs to the world.

Come and join me as I take you through my unique journey and relationship with all the languages in my ever-expanding sandbox. Find out how language learning has shaped my worldview and how I navigate through life.

Many post-secondary institutions have #internationalization listed as one of their strategic goals, but what does that mean and how is it achieved. This session will look at internationalization through teaching, particularly through English as a Medium of Instruction (#EMI).

XR can enhance language learning, providing students with immersion and simulation of realistic language environments. By expanding the range of activities, students can gain hands-on experience, and master topics that can be learned as skills, instead of abstract knowledge.

The dissonance caused by learning a new culture and language can be one of the most disorienting things that humans can go through. How can one respectfully and responsibly learn a new language without doing harm to those around them or losing themselves in the process? Join Jessica Kumar, Invisible India Podcast host and lifelong Hindi learner as she guides us through being aware of our own motivations, practicing cultural humility and decolonizing the language learning process.

In this session I’ll share about the two brands I run: #BLOCArtPeru and #TailoredToursPeru which are good examples on how arts and culture can be shared through different approaches for a local and international audience. #TTPeru #BrendaOrtizClarke #BLOCArtPlatform #Artrepreneur

The world is multilingual. Your voice, though unique is valid and international. We have to trust the power of communication and connection with the global world #translation #culture #podcast #oral #technology #humans #artificialintelligence

In this storytelling session, Pona Tran, a Chinese Canadian educator, shares how the evolution of basic technology has helped her immigrant family regain connections to relatives, and how it has supported her efforts to preserve her heritage language. When her family members first immigrated to Canada in the late 1980s, the only ways to reconnect with family “back home” were calling cards and letters. But with time, correspondence slows down, and connections may be lost. In his late 60s, Pona’s father learned to use social media to reconnect with his family in Vietnam, who speak Teochew (a dialect of Chinese). Technology has helped the extended family remain close despite geographic, linguistic, and cultural barriers, and acts as a bridge to preserve their heritage language overseas.

The dissonance caused by learning a new culture and language can be one of the most disorienting things that humans can go through. How can one respectfully and responsibly learn a new language without doing harm to those around them or losing themselves in the process? Join Jessica Kumar, Invisible India Podcast host and lifelong Hindi learner as she guides us through being aware of our own motivations, practicing cultural humility and decolonizing the language learning process.

When families emigrate, what challenges do they face in passing on their language and culture? Why are some communities successful whereas others give up and adopt English only? How can we support immigrant parents and communities to support learning at home? #normalizemultilingualism #learnheritagelanguages

Language learning and the spread of certain manners of speaking were often dictated to the texts that were circulated in classrooms, and the limited international media that has covered certain regions. However, with social media, there is now an influx of information and samples of local varieties and dialects of languages. Rather than starting comment wars about what is true, pure, or accurate use of language, there is now an opportunity to embrace the differences by describing the unique variations and why they exist.