Polyglot Conference Global 2021 Proposals

Air Alphabet: Speaking with Your Eyes — Kati & Henning van der Hoeven

If unable to move or to speak, how could you communicate with others?

Besides speaking, there are also different ways that a person can use to communicate.

They can use their hands, for example, to write, draw, point, using sign language. However, all those systems require some ability to move.

One can also use their eyes as a means of communication. Not just by making gestures with their eyes or blinking, but to actually speak with their eyes.

Kati has Locked-In Syndrome, which means that she is almost entirely paralyzed. Moreover, she cannot speak either. Kati talks with her eyes.

The life of a disabled person is challenging and sometimes even bleak. It is even more so if the person cannot speak. Being able to communicate can make a whole lot of difference. It can even turn a horrendous nightmare into a beautiful dream.

¡No se Dice "Se Kayo Embasho"...Se Dice "Se cayó al piso"!: Komo Superar los Predjuisios Lingvísticos enverso el Ladino i sus Avlantes — Dr. Carlos Yebra Lopez

En esta prezentasyon darsare sovre el ladino o djudeo-espanyol, lingua diasporika i minorizada avlada en la mas grande parte por los djudyos ke fueron arondjados de la Peninsula Iberika al kavo del sekolo kinze. Por kavza de la stigma de la ekspulsion, ansi ke su status de lingva minorizada (espesialmente en komparasion kon la norma estandar del espanyol moderno), del punto de vista istoriko i lingvistiko el ladino i sus avlantes sufrieron i kontinuan en sufriendo todo un alay de predjuisios ideolojikos, mizmo komo los avlantes de munchas otras linguas minorizadas en todo el mundo. En partikolar, uno de los predjuisios ideolojikos mas frekuentes es el de ke el ladino es un espanyol mal avlado/eskrito. Para abediguar en la lucha kontra este modo de diskriminasyon, en 2017 fragui Ladino 21 endjunto kon el sefaradi Benni Aguado i el lingvisto espanyol Alejandro Acero. El buto de Ladino 21 es dokumentar, amostrar i fiestar el ladino en el sekolo 21 tal i komo se avla en el mundo oyendia. En este filmiko espyegare de ke el ladino no es espanyol moderno, i de ke no esta mal avlado/eskrito. Eskaparemos en diziendo ke el ladino es una lingua autonoma ke kale respektar komo independiente del espanyol, i ke respektar una lingua sinyifika respektar a sus avlantes. Konoses otras linguas en perikolo de ekstinsion? Kualo puedes azer para ke no se diritan ni la lingua ni su komunita de avlantes?

Как звучать как носитель русского языка? — Пугачева Наталья

Вы хотите говорить по-русски как носитель русского языка? Использовать такие слова и выражения, которые мы используем в повседневной жизни? Понимать людей на улице, в театре или в кафе? Тогда все это мы сможем с Вами узнать на нашем уроке. Конечно, Вы знаете стилистически нейтральную лексику русского языка, но наша цель – выучить такие слова, выражения, конструкции, которые позволяют нам говорить как носители русского языка. В двух словах, мы узнаем «живой» русский язык с точки зрения теории и практики. Присоединяйтесь! Мы вместе всё «разложим по полочкам»!

The Language Learning Landscape in Australia: Observations by Two Australian Language Lovers — Bec Howie & Penny Wilson

Australia is a hugely multicultural place that is richer for the waves of immigration that have brought people here from all around the world. Despite the diversity of cultural and linguistic groups that live together in this country (and the fact that before immigration, Australia was home to hundreds of indigenous languages – sadly only a fraction remain spoken today), we have seen first-hand that languages other than English simply have not been valued for various reasons, leaving a long-lasting perception with many Australians that languages are not a priority, too hard to learn, or not important when English is so dominant. In this presentation, we’ll provide an insight into our observations of the ‘language learning landscape’ here in Australia, our experiences of learning other languages at school and university in Australia, how things have changed and what we’d like to see in the future.

Everything You Never Wanted To Know About Old Norse — Todd B. Krause

The Vikings not only broke the mold of the adventuring seafarers of the Medieval European North, but they also inherited and uniquely preserved aspects of a shared Germanic culture. The language they spoke, Old Norse, exhibits a similar tendency: vehicle of some of the most technical and innovative poetic styles of the day, yet repository of a fantastic heritage linked to other Germanic languages and beyond. In this talk we discuss how we can use the history of this Scandinavian culture to understand the language, and how we can use the language to understand history. Cultures all across Medieval Europe record the dreadful impact of raiders upon unsuspecting commoners and clergy and kings. Less lauded is the impact these same Scandinavians had on the languages of the cultures they encountered. We will investigate the influence of Old Norse upon languages across the seas, like Old Russian and Old English. Were Old English and Old Norse mutually intelligible, like some ancient texts really suggest? Just as important, this ancient Scandinavian culture and shared language did not come from nowhere. How do we understand the interrelatedness of cultures and their languages? Using the tools of historical linguistics, we will delve deeper into history to investigate less common questions: what features does Old Norse have in common with Hittite? Is the Old Norse word for “salmon” really the same as the Tocharian word? As we venture across space and time with the Vikings and their language, join us and find out.

Accepting Breeds Better Communication — Tatiana Taranova

Being used to the fact that it’s difficult for my students to cope with some phenomena of English grammar that do not exist in Russian language I’ve invented the whole arsenal of different methods, metaphors, analogies to help them understand the material. Not until much later did I understand what that thing that impeded the process was. During one of the lessons a student of mine asked a question that made me change my approach to language teaching. Trying to pronounce / θ / sound» she said: «Which Russian sounds is it similar to? Is it more like /f/ or /s/». She was refusing to accept that there could be some other notions in other languages that existed independently of her first language. Why is it so difficult for language learners to accept and put up with the fact that other languages have different sentences structures, or some nouns’ genders don’t coincide with those of the nouns in L1 or might not have any grammatical gender at all. You, experienced language learners, might not be familiar with these thoughts. But a lot of my students do think so and you might recognise your students here as well. So why don’t we, when teaching or learning a language start with introducing it to the students or perceiving it as a living being with its soul, character, it’s peculiarities? Introduce it like that, discover and celebrate all the differences and accept them without questioning the way we accept other people, without judging and comparing.

Learning a language outside of the classroom — Ana de Medeiros

This presentation will be delivered as an interview by Ana de Medeiros of Bernadette Clinton and Raquel Tola Rego and will speak about the wider Hackney Project and the ways in which children have been enabled to learn Spanish outside of the curriculum time. The outcomes for each year are agreed but schools have been free to decide on their own curriculum organisation. This flexibility has allowed schools to embed the Spanish in a way that suits their own circumstances and to decide on their own staffing arrangements. The Spanish lessons have only been one part of the picture of how pupils are exposed to the language. Schools run Spanish Days, a Hispanic Week, use local and national resources and agencies and embed Spanish into the everyday so that the children see language learning as a living and evolving subject which can be part of a life-long learning project rather than a subject only to be studied in the classroom. A real audience for pupils is provided by each school having a partner school in a Spanish-speaking country. Participants: Bernadette is the MFL Consultant for Hackney Education Services, implementing Spanish in all Hackney schools. Raquel has more than 10 years’ experience teaching Spanish in EYFS, KS1 and KS2. She is pioneering the Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) programme in Hackney Ana is a strand co-lead in the Language Acts and Worldmaking research project – Languageacts.org

Languages as a key factor for my personal and professional development — Olga Koeva

To what extent can knowledge of languages contribute to enhancing of one’s world view (e.g. to getting more familiar with a certain culture)? How can mastery of foreign languages lead to better understanding of a style of music or a genre of literature? I would like to answer exactly these and many more questions in order to examine why the knowledge of all the languages I speak is an essential factor for my personal and professional development. Many aspects can be included: making new friends, understanding the values of a certain culture, having better access to music scores, reading literature in the original language or improvement of my academic writing and understanding of many linguistic topics. Languages have always played a pivotal role in my life and I thus cannot imagine my life without learning and improving languages. I even think in different languages which are not necessarily my mother tongues. As a bilingual and a polyglot speaking 13 languages including my both mother tongues (Bulgarian and Russian), I would like to tell the participants of the Polyglot Conference 2020 about my experience related to languages and to explain why languages are so essential to me and have become the windows into my world.

Tim Keeley - My Story – A Life Lived in 30 Plus Languages (Part 1 in RU, UK, BE, & PL) — Tim Keeley

I am in the process of writing “My Story” in multiple languages. It is my goal to compare similar languages in the process. This video is in Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, and Polish (including text in English).

The Linguistic Divide of the Two Koreas — Judy Um

At the end of World War II, when Japan surrendered to the Allies in 1945, the Korean peninsula was split into two zones of occupation; North and South Korea. Ever since, the two Koreas have developed into two separate worlds, not only politically and ideologically but also linguistically. Over the past seventy years, the Korean language has greatly varied mainly due to opposite political ideologies. South Korea, upon adopting western values and market economy, has coined neologism and loanwords, whereas North Korea, has implemented a stringent linguistic policy that limits the use of foreign words and Chinese characters. The linguistic difference between the two Koreas is a window into the clash of ideologies, cultures, and leadership. Despite various differences between the two Korean languages, it is still possible to understand one another. However, the lexical and expression gap makes it difficult for many North Korean refugees in South Korea to adjust to society as their accent often makes them victims of discrimination. In this presentation, I will briefly review the history of the political divide, discuss the causes of the linguistic differences and demonstrate the differences by relating them to political, ideological, and cultural roots. I wish to utilize this as an opportunity in which language lovers, Korean learners and history/ politic fans ponder upon the values of languages, not merely as a tool of communication, but rather, a window into the world.

Exploring The African & Indigenous Roots of The Spanish Language in Latin America & The Caribbean — Tamara Marie

In the language learning community, the Spanish language is generally understood as fitting into one of two very broad categories: Peninsular Spanish from Europe and Latin American Spanish. The problem with this classification is that it ignores the diversity that developed within the Spanish language as it traversed the globe. The goal of this presentation is to give insight into how history and culture shaped the Spanish language as it arrived in the West, including its interaction with both the Africans that were taken with it and that of the native people of the Caribbean and Central and South America that were already there when the Spaniards arrived. We’ll examine the African and indigenous roots that influence the Spanish spoken in Latin America to this day, and explore the richness of the language’s Caribbean dialects which are often overlooked or labeled as “improper” Spanish.

Empowering Both Language Learners & Teachers Through Language Coaching Techniques — Marjolein Benschop

Language learners often become demotivated at some point during their language learning process. They may come to think they are simply not suited to learning languages, or perhaps that their teacher is unskilled and uses ineffective teaching methods. The teacher, on the other hand, can also feel frustrated and even insecure when a student does not learn as fast as they had hoped. There are a number of factors that should be explored when considering these challenges in the language learning context. To this end, this talk will address the potential benefits of language coaching, a new area in the language learning field. I will explain how language coaching can be used in the classroom to empower both the language learner and the teacher by focusing on smart goals, motivation, accountability and personalized strategies. I will discuss practical techniques that both language learners and language teachers can draw upon to facilitate the language learning process, making it more efficient and effective in and outside the classroom. In this way, I hope to provide tips and suggestions aimed at improving student and teacher satisfaction.

A Brief Glimpse into Balinese — Edmundo Luna

Balinese is an Austronesian language of the Malayo-Sumbawan subbranch (Adelaar 2005), primarily spoken by 3.3 million people (as of 2000) on the islands of Bali, Lombok, and transmigrant communities in Sulawesi and elsewhere. In this presentation, I will discuss the ramifications of Austronesian alignment in Balinese, as even though its verbal morphology is not as robust as a Philippine-type language, strong hints are still present, especially when one considers the covariation between possible word orders and verb affixation. I will also discuss the lexical stratification present in Balinese, and the consequences that has for any potential language learners. Finally, I will introduce some basic vocabulary and phrases anyone who visits Bali will most likely hear.

Tips for Learning Languages with Completely Different Grammar and Culture. -Apply a Japanese Speaker's Case to Yours — Yukiyo Odate

Tips for learning languages with completely different grammar and culture. -Apply a Japanese speaker’s case to yours- I would like to talk about some tips for learning a language which is completely different from your own native language. This presentation will be focused on what I believe are 3 main points, which language learners should know, if they would like to learn faster and learn a language in a culture respected manner, before learning a new language. Those 3 points, 1, Mindset of learners, 2, Cultural differences in terms of high context/ low context, and 3, Grammar differences showing interlanguage transition and steps will be introduced with examples of Japanese speakers who usually have difficulties in learning English. Those factors may be obstacle from learning faster, communicating well with less misunderstandings, or getting to a more advanced level. Several conversation cases in high context and low context between husband and wife, and boss and subordinate in Japan will be introduced, too. There is always a gap between what learners know and what they are actually able to use. The presentation includes the introduction of my practical way of self-training of the language learning applied interlanguage and exercise cases of interlanguage between Japanese and English. This will be very helpful for Japanese speakers who would like to learn English and at the same time, it may be also helpful for English speakers or Latin language speakers who would like to learn Japanese.

Can Speakers of Malay/Indonesian and Speakers of Polynesian Languages Understand Each Other? — Brian Loo Soon Hua

Bahasa Indonesia and Polynesian languages like Ka ‘Ōlelo Hawai‘i and Te Reo Māori are distant relatives spoken in different parts of the vast maritime territory occupied by the Austronesian language family, one of the world’s largest language families. Many of these languages are spoken in isolated areas extremely distant from their genetic relatives and are therefore not in direct contact. For instance, the distance between Sumatra and New Zealand is greater than the distance between Ireland and Western China. If we take Malagasy, spoken on Madagascar off the coast of East Africa into account, the Austronesian languages are (at least in pre-Columbian times) the most widely-dispersed language family on Earth. The question is: Can Indonesians understand speakers of Polynesian languages such as Hawaiian and Maori? During this talk, Brian will explain a few of the complex sound changes and semantic shifts that hinder mutual intelligibility between some of the major languages in this remarkable language family. He will analyse some vocabulary as well as attempt to show that languages like Indonesian and Hawaiian have a lot more in common that we think. The results might surprise you! Brian is the resident “language guru” at uTalk and is also a moderator with The Social Element. In his spare time he likes writing and hiking as well as cooking traditional Malaysian food, the spicier the better.

Indigenous Languages and Their Contribution to the Global Lexicon — Emily Martyn

No-one knows exactly how speech evolved, which were the world’s first languages, or the precise migratory movements that led to the languages of the world today. Yet human languages are not islands. Words have been borrowed from one language to another since the dawn of time. Among these, indigenous languages have contributed a surprising amount of vocabulary to our modern global lexicon. Did you know that words like “chocolate”, “chili”, “avocado” and “tomato” come from Nahuatl? Or that “savanah”, “canoe”, “hurricane”, “iguana”, “papaya” and “potato” come from the Arawak languages of the Caribbean? Etymology has left us a trail of clues to follow that help us uncover the linguistic legacy left by our ancestors. Come prepared to open your minds (and ears!) to the surprising semantic links that span centuries and continents. Discover what this teaches us about our origins and how this legacy has a daily impact on your life. We will make use of an analysis of translations into 150 languages from the uTalk corpus to uncover hidden linguistic links, as well as tapping into our combined experience of studying and working in international environments.

O Vocabulário do Samba — Branca Andrade e Adriana Cardoso

O carnaval, considerada a maior festa popular brasileira, possui um universo próprio que engloba inúmeras tradições, música, danças e vestimentas, além de léxico próprio. Essas características distinguem essa festividade de qualquer outro fenômeno cultural desse país. No presente trabalho serão apresentadas, em forma de documentário, as principais características do carnaval e do “mundo do samba”, incluindo seus personagens, ritmos, formas de manifestação, fantasias, símbolos e danças predominantes. Serão apontadas informações históricas e um pouco da situação atual do carnaval, tanto “de rua” quanto o celebrado nas “avenidas do samba”. Serão comentadas também algumas palavras e expressões típicas desse contexto que permitirão melhor entendimento desse “universo” e da identidade cultural deste gênero musical e festa. O carnaval se tornou a manifestação cultural brasileira considerada mais democrática, uma vez que une todas as classes sociais por três dias, feriados oficiais, do ano. Trata-se do período em que é concedida a todos os “foliões” a liberdade de “serem quem quiserem”. Neste período as cidades ficam lotadas de pessoas fantasiadas em manifestações permeadas por alegria e diversão. E para entrar neste mundo basta querer.

Repressed Literacy and History — Phoebe Vitharana

Living in Central New York state, I am surrounded by a rich history of the Underground Railroad and fights for voting equality (suffragist movement). In the past, literacy and words were in chains as were slaves and the right for all to vote. It was most common for slaves and females to be illiterate. The exceptions are heroes in the unjust history of the slaves escaping through the Underground Railroad such as Harriet Tubman whose house is a part of a small historical tourism, especially in the pleasant summer of Central NY. I am sharing a personal narrative that represents my world region. Protesting through words to manifest the history of a cracked foundation/civil rights is a powerful tool that makes a movement grow. It can be impromptu like my participation in front of a Suffragist museum called the Jocelyn Gage house (PICTURE). It was a bit like being reborn into a year like 1968 that was full of protestors worldwide. Exposing rights through words of peaceful protest is empowering. It is what I would like to demonstrate to the world and part of that world being my son. (PICTURE). Supporters this time as opposed to the protesters in the Rodney King riots of the 1990’s Los Angeles, were much more mixed. It takes words to collect and sustain our convictions that civil rights matter, and thus BLM (key slogan examples). History remains alive through the words of protestors and local heroes that color regional history.

Relaciones entre los idiomas, los lenguajes de programación y las matemáticas — Matías Barmat

En primer lugar, se hará una breve introducción de las estructuras en común que comparten los lenguajes naturales, los lenguajes de programación y las matemáticas. En segundo lugar, vamos a repasar los paradigmas más comunes en informática, y explicaré con un ejemplo práctico cómo los idiomas pueden ser fácilmente computables y decodificables desde un punto de vista morfosintáctico. Finalmente, exploraremos el principio de relatividad lingüística a través de los índices de Greenberg.

Language and Disadvantage in Education — Kuntal Chatterjee

Language and Disadvantage in Education is a socio-anthropological analysis based on Irish and Bengali speech communities from specific regions. This presentation highlights the history of colonization, accounts of language supremacy, and other relevant details that solidified the cultural communities and dramatically changed the cultural perception for the larger public discourse. An important aspect of this presentation is based on the discussions of the constitutional provisions for language protection, standardization, and revitalization efforts by the federal government, in addition to language teaching and language accessibility in relation to academic spaces. Lastly, by analyzing the cultural aspect of Prestige, this discussion concludes with the promotion of Bilingualism, Organizing Summer Schools for Language Learning, and the importance of getting involved in policymaking.

The Best of Two Worlds: How Living in The UK Made Me More… Italian — Ermy Pedata

I am Italian (from Naples in the South of Italy) and I have lived in the UK for over 6 years whilst working here as a language coach. As an expat, I would like to compare and contrast both of my worlds, the “Italian world” and the “English world”, by sharing my experience of adapting to a completely different physical environment, learning a new language and exploring a different way of living life. I would like to share the “Italian way” and the “British way” of doing things and celebrate the best of both cultures. Living in the UK has gifted me with amazing experiences including being able to speak two languages fluently (English AND Spanish), teaching my native tongue and sharing my culture with Italian aficionados, exploring new places and finding like minded people I have built everlasting friendships with. It has allowed me to evolve and grow in a way that I would have never imagined possible. At the same time, my Italian habits, my “Italian attitude” to life, my Italian soul, have never left me and they are something I am proud to share (especially with the Brits!) and that I will forever treasure. I can nowadays say that I am living the best of both worlds and my aim with this presentation is to share just this.

What Is Special about Aramaic — Eric Reymond

The Aramaic language began as just one of many Semitic languages spoken in the Fertile Crescent thousands of years ago. Through a series of accidents, it became a crucial link between different peoples across Asia and even into Africa. The presentation isolates some of the interesting features of Aramaic that make it historically and culturally important, including the morphology of the language; the early alphabet that was used to write the language and its trajectory through different cultures; and the use of the language as a lingua franca in various empires. Aramaic morphology is slightly simpler than that of its near cousin, Hebrew. This relative simplicity may have contributed to (or be the result of) its use among so many different non-Aramaic speaking peoples and groups. The Aramaic alphabet, very close in appearance to other first millennium BCE alphabets like Phoenician and Hebrew, was the basis for later alphabets like the Arabic alphabet. The use of Aramaic in the Assyrian empire set the stage for Aramaic’s use as a common language of administration and diplomacy for later empires like those of the Babylonians and Persians. This, in turn, led to Aramaic’s use among most peoples throughout the Middle East in the first millennium CE, much like Arabic is used today.

The Digital Transformation of Language Learning — Piero Colagrosso

This presentation describes how digital technology and artificial intelligence have the potential of transforming and revolutionizing the way that we learn languages.   The presentation also demonstrates a concrete example of this potential by describing the features of an advanced digital language learning platform which has been under research and development for the past four years.   This advanced language learning platform leverages digital technologies and artificial intelligence to create a virtual immersive environment where, assisted with digital tools, a person can accelerate language learning through exposure to compelling and comprehensible video and audio content in the target language.   The digital platform enables a user to import this content from online sources and provides automated digital language tools which turn this material into “comprehensible input” which can be used as the basis of a compelling, engaging and effective language learning experience.

Creating Your Simple Book — András Orisek

My tips on how to radically complete and transform a language learning book allowing quicker progress. 1. Highlighting important content. Practicing the core of the lessons. 2. Omitting not needed words. 3. Omitting complex, irrelevant sentences. 4. Related words: learning just a part of them, learning the rest later. 5. Being careful of synonyms. They are confusable. 6. Focusing on the most important exercises. This spirit of simplification in the learning process will help you think simple and start to speak easier. In the presentation I show you some personal examples taken from my language books.

Batas (Border) Communication — Selmina Rumawak

As far as batas communication (BC) is concerned, little has been known regarding the usage of Tok Pisin (TP) by Indonesian merchants (IM) at Pasar Perbatasan (Border Market), Skouw. I consulted with Volker and enquired about previous studies on BC, and he stated: “I don’t think there has been much, if any, actual study of batas communication” (Personal communication, Volker, January 2018). Professor Siegel confirmed this “As far as I know, Prof Volker is right about little if any research having been done in this area” (Personal communication, Siegel, March 2019). Thus, actual studies on BC is probably rare, or, might even be under-researched. My primary aim is to report on the evidence of Papua New Guinea’s (PNG) lingua franca being used by IM at the market for transactions with PNG customers and also share some trilingual billboard images at the border. From my observation, a frequent code mix of TP, Bahasa Indonesia, and English were prevalent. I will show some examples of the conversations I have recorded, and pictures I captured; the other language data will be retrieved from the internet. For instance, there was a conversation between an Indonesian merchant (IM) and a PNG Customer (PNG C). IM: “em foti kina tasol difrent prais long em” (This is only forty kina with a different price). PNG C: “tru ya” (that is true).

The Multiple SLA Investments of Garfield, an Exceptionally-Multilingual American — Dr. Roger W. Anderson

This oral history project both investigates and seeks to honor the incredible life of one multilingual man, Garfield (pseudonym), an American war veteran, lifelong language learner, polyglot, and adjunct language instructor.

Within the area of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) polyglots are severely under-studied, particularly with regard to questions of investment (Norton & Darvin, 2015).  Born into a predominantly monolingual family in rural America, Garfield came to know 15 languages, having studied 50 others over the course of his lifetime.  The question raises itself:  what propelled and sustained this exceptional amount of language learning?  

This project drew from two audio-recorded phone interviews totaling 10 hours.  The initial interview solicited Garfield’s life-long trajectory of language learning, while the second interview sought Garfield’s verification of emerging themes.  The conversations were transcribed and analyzed qualitatively using the software Transana.  

Recurrent themes were identified.  Among the preliminary findings are that economic factors were primal to his study.  Specifically, growing up in poverty, and later as a returned vet, being homeless, , shaped Garfield’s perception of language-learning materials as precious objects.  

A second area of emerging themes is Garfield’s need to prove himself in the eyes of others.  From fearing the special needs classroom after a childhood coma, to encountering bureaucratic obstacles as an adult, Garfield used SLA as a tool to prove his worth.

Findings offers insights into the structures that hinder and facilitate this particular polyglot’s SLA.  

Teaching Multilple Languages With A Plurilingual Curriculum — Claudia Pellegrini

As an English teacher at a high school in South Tyrol (Italy) I have collaborated with engaged teachers of other languages (German, Italian, French, Spanish, Russian, Latin, and Ancient Greek) in numerous European and local multilingual projects. Yet only after a long piloting phase did my school implement an adapted version of the Mehrsprachencurriculum Südtirol (Schwienbacher, Quartapelle, & Patscheider, 2017) in the school curriculum. Several common language curricula have recently been developed in Europe to create synergies in language instruction and language learning, e.g. the Curriculum Mehrsprachigkeit (Reich & Krumm, 2013) and the Gesamtsprachencurriculum PlurCur (Allgäuer-Hackl, Brogan, Henning, Hufeisen, & Schlabach, 2015). These multicompetence approaches break with the tradition of teaching languages separately and propose a joint work of language teachers to create synergies and new qualities in both learners and teachers. They underline the importance of multilingual awareness and aim at boosting multilingual competencies by applying recent findings in multilingualism research to language learning and teaching in school contexts. First, an overview of the linguistic situation in South Tyrol (a region in the north of Italy with three official languages: German, Italian, and Ladin) and its school system will be given. Next, the theoretical holistic background of the Mehrsprachencurriculum will be outlined and some teaching units developed within its framework will be presented. The window into my world will be from my perspective as a teacher and as a doctoral student of multilingualism and polyglottism through the lens of The Dynamic Model of Multilingualism (Herdina & Jessner, 2002).

Framing Your Future Self — Candace Powell

As a budding business analyst and language enthusiast, Candace draws from her professional experience in IT Service Delivery to adapt analysis tools and techniques from the business world into conscious and efficient language learning.

Sharing simplified Business Analysis frameworks that she has applied to her own endeavor with Persian, she uses personalised data to address common challenges with language learning and how to overcome them.

Xenophobia as an Obstacle to Learning or Speaking a Foreign Language — Svetlana Erozgen

One of the reasons for foreign language anxiety is suppressed xenophobia to the culture of the native speakers. Hostility to foreigners is based on an ancient defense mechanism – the desire to preserve the integrity and inviolability of oneself and one’s kind. ⠀ “Strangers”, “foreigners”, “others”, “them” are perceived as a source of potential danger and evil. ⠀ These prejudices are unjustifiably negative attitudes towards a group or its individual members based on distorted and incorrect generalizations. The brain refuses to be “like those strangers” from speaking “their” language and becoming one of “them”. Recently, the word xenophobia has often been used as a synonym for racism or nationalism, which is criticized in the society and thus so difficult to admit. ⠀ This also includes sexism, homophobia, religious prejudices, ageism, lookism, dislike for people with disabilities, some kind of occupation, etc. To discover it deep inside and admit is it to take the first step to breaking free from the stereotypes and learning a foreign language.

App Design for the World: Considering Languages, Scripts and Digital Literacy — Lindie Botes

The majority of the world’s internet users are mobile-based. Creating apps and mobile sites that cater to various cultures, languages, levels of digital literacy and writing systems is key. As a UI/UX designer and language learner, I’m particularly interested in this intersection of languages and design. The focus of this talk is how through language and visuals, designers and developers can create apps to better support and empower a global, multilingual audience.

 First, I’ll take a look at how different countries approach app design, exploring the super-app in Asia to crowded interfaces in Japanese and less-information dense apps in other markets. I’ll provide examples of see how apps cater to different writing directions and spacing. How also can designers use accessibility to cater for the use of screen-readers?

 Then, I elaborate on how localising an app for different countries is more than just using Google Translate on the screens. How can we convey cultural nuances through language usage? Language needs to be linguistically and culturally accurate to create simple experiences where users feel heard, understood, and engaged. I’ll also show examples of how changing words affects the way users interact with apps, like changing complex language or adding words to buttons. Explore with me how language in app design plays an important role in catering to people with varying degrees of digital and linguistic literacy.

Le masculin ne l’emporte plus ! — Suzanne Zaccour

Le masculin ne l’emporte plus ! Formation sur la langue inclusive Contrairement aux croyances populaires, la question du genre de la langue n’est pas un enjeu récent. Aux 17e et 18e siècles, des philosophes et grammairiens français s’attaquent à la langue féminine. Ils éliminent les noms féminins de professions savantes, comme « autrice », « philosophesse » et « poétesse ». Ils décident également que le masculin l’emportera sur le féminin au niveau grammatical. En réponse à cet héritage masculiniste, des féministes ont entrepris de se réapproprier la langue en développant diverses stratégies de féminisation. Dans cette communication, nous révélerons les origines de la masculinisation de la langue et aborderons les bénéfices de la féminisation. Nous présenterons les principales stratégies de féminisation et permettrons aux participant.es de s’y exercer afin d’améliorer leur français non sexiste! Nous aborderons brièvement l’enjeu de la langue non sexiste dans certaines autres langues.

Afrika, Vuselela Ulimi Lwebele! Africa, Revive The Mother Tongue! — JFK Mulder

Worlds in Words — Ana Ilievska Zavrsni

Language dances with our imagination, it creates an incredible range of emotions and feelings. It is so much than just a communication device; it is a way to understand the world around us, defining our reality and what it means to be human. It operates with its tools called words. What is a word? What is a name? Can a word create an identity? Do bilingual people also have two countries, not just two languages? Do they belong more to their motherland? Does translation change the meaning? Are we more emotional in our mother tongue and if we are why?
We derive parts of our identities from words that are being thrown around us. They mean particular things to us or our national identities, but those same words might mean something slightly different for other people and other nationalities. The way we understand them makes who we are. What happens if suddenly your name is changed or even the name of your country changes, does that influence on your identity as well.
Those are my questions as a bilingual – born in one country and raised in another. Constantly asking myself about identity and how different people identify themselves.

Oral Corrective Feedback — Gabrielle Faucher

This is my Master’s thesis research, titled : The use of oral corrective feedback in online ESL lessons. In this research, I aim to observe the practices of corrective feedback in online language lessons, particularly in conversational practice. Participants will be English teachers who have experience in online teaching through video call, and who work for an open language teaching platform. Through lesson recording and observation, I will analyse the amount of feedback provided, which type of mistakes gets the most, and what corrective strategies are used. Later, a stimulated recall interview with the participants will allow for post-reflection on the reasoning behind the feedback and corrective strategies used. The main objective is to broaden the view on not only the “right way” to give oral corrective feedback, but rather how foreign language teachers actually make those decisions in interactive context, balancing the wish for students to participate in speaking activities and the need for accuracy. Considering that most polyglots participate in language conversational practice, whether it be as tutors or as learners, the observation of the correctional techniques is of high interest. After all, we all want to be corrected in order to improve!

Worldmaking in the Time of Covid-19 — Catherine Boyle & Renata Brandao

This session will be dedicated to the project ‘Worldmaking in the Time of Covid-19’, which has united a multilingual group of students and researchers to explore how the pandemic has been narrated across the globe. The premise of the research is simple. It is that we narrate everything. We construct the world around us by telling its stories, shaping the language we use to describe what is happening to us; language that is used and adapted in the media in response to moments of crisis. This language in turn shapes how we see the world. This is what we call worldmaking. Language barriers prohibit the real understanding of experience in diverse societies and lead to misunderstanding, xenophobia and violence, and this is heightened at times of global crisis. In the project, our multidisciplinary team was tasked with digitally mining sources from Arabic, English, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Russian, Portuguese and Spanish. The linguists are engaged in translating the most salient terms and are using digital tools to compare and analyse the ways in which the pandemic has been narrated. By sharing the findings of the project, including the methods for digitally gathering the information, this presentation, which will include the multilingual voices of the researchers, will shed light on questions of the global responses to the pandemic. The presentation is founded in the certainty that we need a clear understanding of these multilingual and multicultural articulations at the present moment in an already volatile geopolitical situation. (249 words)

How To Get Your Motivation Back After Falling On Rough Times — Benny Lewis

The Nahuat of El Salvador & Central American Lenca — Gary Ordóñez

Although this topic might not apply for “Mexico”, I’m excited to talk about Mexico’s neighboring languages. El Salvador is part of the cultural region “Mesoamerica” , to which Mexico, and part of Central America used to belong to as well.
Nahuat (also known as Pipil Nahuat) is one the variants within the family of Nahuatl family and is very much related to the southernmost Nahuan variaties like the ones in Veracruz and Tabasco. Salvadoran Nahuat is in risk of dying out with around 300 native speakers, although the numbers and vitality of the language have looked up these last years with new speakers and language revitalization from different efforts. This nahuat has been influenced culturally and linguistically by the neighboring languages such as Mayan. Therefore, I’d like to present a general overview of the Nahuat language, its culture, its similarities and differences between the Nahuas found in Mexico and its unique features not found in its other sister languages, all from a linguistic point of view with special cultural comments. I also want to talk briefly about the other two languages and their culture, Lencan and Cacaopera, that have gone extinct in El Salvador and belonged to the Lencan family and to a still living family, Misumalpan, respectively. They have totally different grammar and very interesting features, which is exciting for linguistics enthusiast.

My Ten Years With Michel Thomas — Dr. Harold Goodman

Navigating Your Voice in Multilingual Pursuits- Skills Workshop — Sarah Lobegeiger de Rodriguez

The word is out! Speakers rated as more charismatic and interesting have better voice tone. Mastering a healthy voice position across your languages is, therefore, a fruitful pursuit. In this presentation, Sarah will share some voice strategies so that you can build your message impact. This presentation will expand your horizon and help you to consider a new tool stack to add colour, life and interest to your communication! You’ll also learn some easy voice warm-up exercises to boost your vocal health.

言語を通じて、世界観を広げよう エルサルバドルの小さい町から日本へ — Aracely Portillo

このプレゼンテーションでは、外国語を学ぶことがどのように自分自身の世界観を広げることができるかについて私のストーリーを通じて、話したいと思います。そして、私がどのように言語に興味を持つようになったのか、どれくらい人生に影響を与えたのかについても話します。
子供の時、私の世界はとても小さく学校と家だけでした。町を出る機会も少なかったです。しかし、もっと広い世界に触れるきっかけとなったのは高校の時、私の日本語の先生と出会ったことでした。私の国では日本企業はほとんどなく、仕事につながることがない外国語で、日本のコミュニティもありません。それで、周りの人は私が日本語を勉強していることに理解してくれませんでした。それでも、私にとってチャレンジだったので、勉強し続けました。そして勉強したおかげで２２歳のとき初めて飛行機に乗って、日本へ行くことができました。その後、日本語教師となり、今は日本に住んでいます。
私はチャンスの少ない町に育ったにも関わらず、外国語を通じて、たくさんの経験を積むことができたと思います。言語を学ぶことは私の人生の流れを変えたと言っても過言ではありませんし、私自身の経験から確信しています。それは多くの人々にとって人生をより良い方向へ変えることができると信じています。

文法文化が全く異なる言語を習得するためのコツ - 日本語話者のケースを自分に適用してみましょう- — 大舘　幸代

Languages and Cultures, Racism and Bias — Janina Klimas

The world is having a long overdue reckoning with race and treatment of people of color. Languages and multicultural education have never been more important than in this moment. As we know, languages don’t only offer us the words and codes to understand and create messages to share with people. Languages offer us a unique view into the lives of the people who use those words and codes. In this presentation, I will share the story of my grandfather, Benner C. Turner, the grandson of slaves. Despite earning two degrees from Harvard, he was never admitted to the bar in his home state of Georgia. He opened the first law school exclusively for blacks in the U.S., and eventually became president of the university. He had some very controversial views on segregation. His life experience at that time offers perspective on a world that doesn’t celebrate other cultures. Languages and cultures are inextricably intertwined. The polyglot community does important work to promote intercultural understanding through sharing their stories, tips, research and strategies with people wanting to learn more languages. This work promotes the understanding of other cultures and people. They are multicultural educators. In addition to talking about the work the community does without necessarily intending to, ways to actively support and expand this work with intentionality will be discussed through talking about The Wandering Scholar–a foundation that funds study abroad for students from underrepresented backgrounds. The work on anti-discrimination being done by the Anne Frank Foundation, further work we can do, as well as ways we can actively participate in their projects and learn languages at the same time will be shared.

Chenelle's Polyglot Story: Learning Languages as a Legally Blind Person — Chenelle Hancock

Learning languages through my ears and not my eyes is a detailed account of my experience as a visually impaired language learner who learns languages through audio methods in  conjunction with very little braille.  I discuss my journey of learning languages from  My university years up until my early 40s while successfully creating a podcast  show  that is based   around my experience as someone who is visually impaired learning  languages  with very little audio materials independently using my iPhone in conjunction with voiceover.  while interviewing blind and visually impaired language learners, industry experts in polyglots from all over the world.

Diving into Literature in Your Target Language — Judith Meyer

Do you love discovering new worlds through books? The experience is even better when reading books in your target language, since you will gain access to completely different worlds than the ones you’re used to and you will greatly improve your language knowledge at the same time. If you’re still daunted by the idea, I will outline the steps you can take in order to start reading books and even literature classics in your target language. I will advise on when to do it, which kinds of books are the most suitable to get started, and how to improve your reading speed and enjoyment. I myself have read more than a dozen books each in Chinese and in Modern Greek, so I’ll also cover how to deal with the extra difficulty of extensive reading in a foreign writing system.

Skillful Management of Children’s Emotions is Key to Raising Multilingual Kids Successfully — Tetsu Yung

Description: Parents often ask about how to teach children a language when they refuse to speak it. This is an extremely difficult situation to which experts do not have a definitive answer, and they often offer solutions that basically boil down to: Be creative, don’t use force, and/or reduce your expectations. Given the severity of this situation, in our family, we have been trying our very best to avoid finding ourselves in that situation altogether by carefully managing our children’s emotions. Thus far, none of our 4 children, ages 8, 6, 3, and 0, has ever refused to speak any of the 5 languages (English, French, Japanese, Mandarin, and Spanish) that we are raising them in. Here, I will share our thought process, along with some of our strategies and outcomes so far. In addition, I will tell you why, at 8 years old, we are already very close to reaching our language objectives for our first child, Ronnie.

Community Building and Language Learning — Jonathan Richardson & Jill Blackston

This presentation explores how friendships and bonds within the language learning community deepened thanks to a group of New York City Polyglots during the Corona Virus Pandemic. Additionally, the presentation looks at lessons learnt from this experience about how to become better Polyglots and, well, better people generally through friendships with other language learners.

How Can Polyglots Become Translators? — Juliano Martins

Being a polyglot can bring much more opportunities than simply being able to talk to people on the streets of foreign countries, reading books in other languages and having fun abroad. All countries are connected and interacting with each other, with an intrinsic communication necessity that will always exist. Therefore, translation is one of the most important tools in a globalized world. Polyglots love practicing languages, and working with translation can be a dream come true for many of them, who will be able to have constant contact with languages, people and cultures, while developing a promising career, working anywhere for clients from all over the globe. In this talk, we will learn how to transform a passion for languages into a passion for making communication possible for other people and how to make it a fulfilling, lucrative job that you can do in the comfort of your home. We will also learn how to find and increase the number of clients, making them loyal customers of your linguistic services. The translation market is growing each year. You just need to know how to infiltrate it and take advantage of an endless flow of words that need to be translated.

Introduction to Sranan Tongo (Surinamese Creole) — Kevin Sun

Due to Suriname’s peculiar history as a British colony that was taken over by the Dutch, isolating it from the influence of standard English, the English-based creole language of Suriname is one of the most conservative (or least “de-creolized”) English creoles. Additional layers of Portuguese, African and Dutch influence have produced a language that presents a unique snapshot of the troubled early years of colonialism in the Western Hemisphere. Thanks to Sranan’s English roots and straightforward grammar, this workshop – which will include assisted reading of original Sranan folktales and other texts – should be able to give participants a solid footing in the fundamentals of this language, while providing resources for further independent exploration.

A Universal Model For Learning Languages — Alessio Tixi

The presentation explores the role of self-perception and personality in language learning, with particular reference to Jungian psychodynamic models. Data from over 1000 language learners will be presented in order to critically assess connections between different language learning approaches and personal preferences. Some of the core questions will include: Are personality based preferences important when it comes to language learning and if so, how important? Are specific approaches and resources more beneficial to certain personality types more than to others? How apt are existing models to help us establish such connections? These questions will lead to the introduction of a simple model that suggests how even great differences across learners might be reconciled and live within the same framework. The purpose of the presentation is partially informative (sharing data and work done) and partially thought-provoking, as the model suggested is a work in progress that does not currently fully satisfy even the authors themselves!

Engaging with Racial Differences: Languages Curriculum & Resources Oriented Strategies — Amira Mills & Elena Borelli

From a diversity perspective, all students should receive an education that continuously affirms human diversity’ (Plessis, Pierre & Bisschoff, Tom. (2007). Diversity and complexity in the classroom). The concept of diversity encompasses acceptance and respect, as it entails recognizing our individual differences. These can include race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religious or political beliefs, or other ideologies. Diversity is the exploration of these differences in a safe, positive, and nurturing environment. Direct engagement with ‘human diversity’ and differences could prove to be a more effective strategy towards diversity competence than the simple identification of the differences. Such engagement can be actively represented in language curriculum design and resources selection with a view to increase classroom inclusivity. In the first part of the presentation, a brief review of theoretical approaches to inclusivity, diversity inclusivity and diversity competence will be discussed. The second part will look at how language classes can be structured to promote such engagement, embedding resources that proactively eliminate discrimination and discuss some pedagogical strategies that foster and promote inclusivity.

Faroese: A Language on the Edge of the World? — Hilbert Vinkenoog

The Faroe Islands can be found rising out of the grey waves of the North Atlantic, situated between Scandinavia, the British Isles and Iceland. The native language spoken on the 17 inhabited islands is Faroese, the second part of the Insular North Germanic duo beside its more famous cousin Icelandic. In this talk I’d like to introduce this unique language to you, and answer a few questions in the process. When did people come to the Faroe Islands and which languages were they speaking? How similar were these developments to those on Iceland, and what effect did smaller immigrant populations speaking Gaelic, Old English and Danish have, and how did Modern Faroese come back from the brink to become the language it is today? And given all this, should we see Faroese as a language on the edge of the world?

How To Be Fluent In Chinese - Stop Learning How to Write — Ivan Yong Wei Kit

If you are an adult learning Chinese as a foreign language, you may have been overwhelmed by the difficulty of having to learn all 3 skills; 1.Speaking 2. Reading 3. Writing It’s a common problem even for Chinese descendants who have never learned Mandarin when they were young. Mastering all 3 skills will slow you down and cause one to lose motivation. The simple hack is really to stop doing number 3 — stop learning how to write the Chinese characters.

The Polyglots of Ancient Near East — Olga Olina

The ancient Near East – a vast territory spanning Mesopotamia, Anatolia, ancient Egypt and the Levant – was home to many early civilizations. The wheel and the first currency systems were invented here, as well as the foundations of astronomy, physics and mathematics. Though of different descent, and each with their own language and history, the inhabitants of this region developed a mutual understanding which enabled them to flourish and trade despite the highly limited natural resources. These people were the first polyglots, in one of the cradles of modern civilization. Due to the limited materials available to researchers for the study of multilingualism in ancient times, it is difficult to specify the exact status of the many languages spoken in the ancient Near East. Some information, however, can be inferred from bilingual attestations discovered by archeologists. Though the extant sources of many languages are very scarce, there is a number of languages – such as Sumerian, Akkadian or Hittite – with a rich surviving textual tradition. In this talk I will introduce you to the peoples populating the ancient Near East, as well as their languages and literary tradition. I will explore when and why the first writing systems emerged, and examine the contents of the earliest written records. By setting focus on bilingual attestations I will give an account of multilingualism in the ancient Near East.

My Motivation – Your Motivation — Heidrun Tóth-Loesti

Motivation is essential for learning. You polyglots are mostly motivated, but quite a few of my students in school are not. Polyglots learn languages because they want to, students not necessarily. Polyglots often learn on their own, students rely on their teacher. Polyglots find their own best learning methods, students have to do what the teacher asks them to do. But the main difference between polyglots and school students might be motivation. Is it possibly to take some polyglot motivation and spread it in the classroom? Or else … an unmotivated student has to stay in class, while an unmotivated polyglot just disappears from the polyglot scene? I haven’t done much research yet on motivation, I’d like to approach the topic the “easy” way: by telling my story and by asking you to tell me your stories. I will show you how my motivation for learning languages has changed over time. And I will ask you a few questions about your motivation. I would like you to send me your answers via Facebook or email. Maybe I can find some points which are useful for my students. I plan to do some research and make another presentation about the results I got from you. My presentation will be trilingual (first part in German – second part in Hungarian – third part in English), all with English subtitles.

How Many Languages Are Spoken In Iran? — Mahya Mirsadeghi

Out of about 7000 known living languages spoken in the world, about 70 are spoken in Iran. The Persian language, also known as Farsi is the national language of the country. However, there are other languages and dialects spoken in the country. For instance, Turkic languages and dialects (spoken by 18% of the population), Kurdish (10%), Gilaki and Mazandarani (7% combined), Luri (6%), Arabic (2%), and Balochi (2%). In addition to above spoken languages, Hebrew, Armenian, Assyrian, and Georgian, are spoken by less than 1% of the total population of Iran. Where is Persian/Farsi spoken? Today, three countries recognize Persian as their state language: Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan. A significant number of speakers of Tajiki Persian also live in Uzbekistan (4.4% of its total population). Large Iranian communities exist abroad, in countries like the USA, Germany, UK, Canada, etc. In the past, some three or four hundred years ago, the usage of Persian was even more widespread. It served as a lingua franca in the east at the court of the Mughal emperors and in the west at the courts of the Ottoman sultans. Today, in these three countries, more than 120 million people speak Persian as their first or second language. By the number of its speakers and its influence, it is the most widespread language in the Middle East along with Arabic.

Sanskrit: Seeing My Life Through A Window — Vikhyat Kethamukkala

I would talk about the impact that Sanskrit and Vedic tradition have made in my life, transforming me from a passive language enthusiast into a passionate and motivated linguistics student. Particularly, I feel that I could talk about the importance of immersion in my other languages, and the benefits of it, and maybe how one could replicate without going to the country of origin. I could also talk about hybridized foreign language classrooms, and how to integrate technology and polyglot language learning methods into how schools should reform and teach [language] (this is an area of interest for research based around bilingual acquisition and hybridized foreign language classrooms). A portion of my study area is dedicated to Sanskrit memorabilia from where I started to where I am now; this is a very special area of physical environment that I would love to show through a sort of integrated timeline. I also have a pretty extensive bookshelf for other languages, as well as wicker baskets chocked-full of notebooks, so that could be something I present about as well. My website, although still in its rudimentary development, is also a digital space where I feel liberated, and can speak my mind. I constantly post about my goals for the future, collegiate ambitions, cultural perceptions of things, approaching language learning, etc. I’ll also be starting an interview segment on linguistics including YouTube polyglots as well as PhD students in many subfields of linguistics. This could be something that I could allude to for my Sanskrit-centric presentation. There are other topics I could talk about, but I’m sure people have already talked about them in the past: maintaining languages, getting over the fear of speaking, how long does it take to learn a language, social media influence on language learning, revival movements, etc.

Chipileño: un idioma italiano en México — Sara Maria Hasbun

Les presento la historia de Chipilo: un pueblo Mexicano no muy lejos de Cholula. Al fin del siglo diecinueve, vinieron inmigrantes desde Venecia, y llevaron también a su idioma. En 2018 yo viajé a Chipilo para aprender más sobre la historia de éste idioma. En ésta presentación también voy a hablar sobre mi manera de aprender un idioma sin muchos recursos.

The Minority Languages of China — Sara Maria Hasbun

China is home to hundreds of languages, from seven major language families, and nowhere is the linguistic situation more complex than at the borders. No fewer than 14 other countries border China, and their languages predictably spill over and mix in ways that have much to tell us about the history and social makeup of this complex region.

Introduction to Lezgi Part 1: History & Background — Piotr Kozłowski

Introduction to Lezgi Part 2: Weird Grammar Stuff — Piotr Kozłowski

Introduction to Lezgi Part 3: Language Activism — Piotr Kozłowski

Michel Thomas Hindi taster lesson — Akshay Bakaya , Benny Lewis & Damon Dominique

Benny Lewis and Damon Dominique learn their first words of Hindi with Michel Thomas Method teacher and author, Akshay Bakaya in a live lesson, recorded on Zoom. You will join in as the third student to get a flavour of Hindi and the Michel Thomas Method. You will start speaking immediately by figuring out the answers for yourself, and learning from Damon’s and Benny’s mistakes and successes. Sit back, relax and learn.

Decolonizing Language Through Global Media Activism & Transracial Allyship — Chesline Pierre-Paul

Together we’ll into the ubiquity of White supremacy as a core tenet of Euro- and Americano-centric political & educational rhetoric around language. Upon acknowledgement of these colonial realities, we’ll look into alternative paradigms that center language at the intersection of race, culture, and self-identity where global media activism & transracial allyship serve to establish anti-colonial resistance through powerfully unsettling creativity & transdisciplinary intelligence. By the end of this talk, we will empowered to know: 1) how to use language to activate advocacy over privilege; 2) use language activistically to establish anti-colonial radical resistance; 3) become mini language intrapreneurial activists. Learn to be power through creatively disruptive activism and be accountable to the standard of social justice anti-racism impresses upon us to reestablish. Today.

Polyglot in the Newsroom: How Working in the Media Helps Me Maintain Languages — Alma Milisic

News production has become faster than ever. For every event that occurs in the world, there is a busy newsroom trying to inform the audience as accurate and as quickly as possible. With eyewitnesses sharing their experience first-hand on their Social Media accounts, and the news outlets becoming more and more multilingual, one particular question is always expected to come up: “is there anyone in the newsroom who speaks this language?” The need for journalists who can produce, edit, translate, localize, subtitle, dub and adapt their own news in various languages for various platforms is becoming the new norm in online news production. In this video in five languages (Arabic, Spanish, Bosnian, Turkish and English), I will share my journey as a polyglot journalist and media translator and explain how I navigate my daily work in multiple languages in the newsroom and remotely. تعدد اللغات في غرف الأخبار: كيف لعبت غرفة الأخبار بالحفاظ على اللغات التي أعرفها يتطلب انتاج الأخبار سرعه ودقه متناهيه في نشر الخبر، ولأن الخبر غير مرتبط ببلد أو لغة معينه يبقى نجاح أي مؤسسة إخبارية يتطلب ذلك. عندما يحصل الحدث يكون البحث على الصحفي الذي يتكلم عده لغات في غرفة الأخبار أكثر الحاحا وخاصة للمؤسسات التي تبث بأكثر من لغة لاستقصاء ما حدث ولنشر الخبر بعده لغات وبأسرع وقت ممكن وبدقة. في هذا الفلم الذي سأعرضه بخمس لغات (العربية والإسبانية والبوسنية والتركية والإنجليزية) سأبين كيف أقوم بذلك في عملي اليومي في غرفه الاخبار وعن بعد

My Story – A Life Lived in 30 Plus Languages (Part 1 Zulu) — Tim Keeley

I am in the process of writing “My Story” in multiple languages. This video is in Zulu (including text and introduction in English). Narrated by Sethabile Dlamini

My Story – A Life Lived in 30 Plus Languages (Part 2 Zulu) — Tim Keeley

I am in the process of writing “My Story” in multiple languages. This video is in Zulu (including text and introduction in English). Narrated by Sethabile Dlamini

My Story – A Life Lived in 30 Plus Languages (Part 3 Zulu) — Tim Keeley

I am in the process of writing “My Story” in multiple languages. This video is in Zulu (including text and introduction in English). Narrated by Sethabile Dlamini

My Story – A Life Lived in 30 Plus Languages (Part 4 Zulu) — Tim Keeley

I am in the process of writing “My Story” in multiple languages. This video is in Zulu (including text and introduction in English). Narrated by Sethabile Dlamini

My Story – A Life Lived in 30 Plus Languages (Part 5 Zulu) — Tim Keeley

I am in the process of writing “My Story” in multiple languages. This video is in Zulu (including text and introduction in English). Narrated by Sethabile Dlamini

My Story – A Life Lived in 30 Plus Languages (Part 6 Zulu) — Tim Keeley

I am in the process of writing “My Story” in multiple languages. This video is in Zulu (including text and introduction in English). Narrated by Sethabile Dlamini

My Story – A Life Lived in 30 Plus Languages (Part 7 Zulu) — Tim Keeley

I am in the process of writing “My Story” in multiple languages. This video is in Zulu (including text and introduction in English). Narrated by Sethabile Dlamini

My Story – A Life Lived in 30 Plus Languages (Part 8 Zulu) — Tim Keeley

I am in the process of writing “My Story” in multiple languages. This video is in Zulu (including text and introduction in English). Narrated by Sethabile Dlamini

My Story – A Life Lived in 30 Plus Languages (Part 9 Zulu) — Tim Keeley

I am in the process of writing “My Story” in multiple languages. This video is in Zulu (including text and introduction in English). Narrated by Sethabile Dlamini

My Story – A Life Lived in 30 Plus Languages (Part 10 Zulu) — Tim Keeley

I am in the process of writing “My Story” in multiple languages. This video is in Zulu (including text and introduction in English). Narrated by Sethabile Dlamini

My Story – A Life Lived in 30 Plus Languages (Part 11 Zulu) — Tim Keeley

I am in the process of writing “My Story” in multiple languages. This video is in Zulu (including text and introduction in English). Narrated by Sethabile Dlamini

My Story – A Life Lived in 30 Plus Languages (Part 12 Zulu) — Tim Keeley

I am in the process of writing “My Story” in multiple languages. This video is in Zulu (including text and introduction in English). Narrated by Sethabile Dlamini

My Story – A Life Lived in 30 Plus Languages (Part 13 Zulu) — Tim Keeley

I am in the process of writing “My Story” in multiple languages. This video is in Zulu (including text and introduction in English). Narrated by Sethabile Dlamini

My Story – A Life Lived in 30 Plus Languages (Part 14 Zulu) — Tim Keeley

I am in the process of writing “My Story” in multiple languages. This video is in Zulu (including text and introduction in English). Narrated by Sethabile Dlamini

Can Language Learning Decrease Racism? — Walaa Abuelmagd

Racism arouses a lot of heart and brain emotions, never the least among immigrants. It may bring up episodes in one’s life or in the lives of those around her/him. At least one in five immigrants in Norway report discrimination, according to a recent report from the authorities. The most frightening and threatening is the act of ignorance we counter in our daily lives. Intolerance is nothing but a sign of inadequate education, lack of awareness and prejudicial opinions formed in the absence of evidence. To learn the language of the host country can often be on top of the list of barriers that skilled immigrants face when they move abroad. And rightly so: Language forms the base of your socio-cultural inclusion, your career, and your whole experience understanding a new culture and society. In my presentation, I present here my thoughts and own experiences with learning a new language in a new country and how it helped me to thrive abroad, both emotionally and professionally.

Beyond the phoneme - improve your pronunciation using suprasegmental phonetics and articulatory settings. — Dave Huxtable

Speech is an intricate dance. We control our lips, tongues, soft palates, vocal cords and lungs independently of each other. Sometimes they move in unison, sometimes the changes are staggered. As we move from one ‘sound’ to another, there are myriad states and positions in between. Alphabets, including the IPA, provide just snapshots at different stages of the movement, capturing some information and ignoring the rest. Just as different styles of dance have different stances – a straight back here, loose arms there, wrists relaxed, knees bent etc. – so different accents have different default postures for the various speech organs. Relaxed lips can be spread or have different kinds of rounding, the resting position for the tongue can vary, sets of muscles can be tense or lax. These default postures are known as articulatory settings. Your pronunciation of your target languages will be much better if you learn to recognise and imitate their articulatory settings. At the same time, we can gain a deeper understanding of how to pronounce words and sentences by seeing how airflow, voicing, nasalisation, secondary articulation etc. do not chop up into segments as easily as our alphabets would have us believe.

Language Aptitude: Behavioral & Neural Predictors — Professor Narly Golestani

What makes someone good at learning new languages? Are there specific aspects of aptitude, whether linguistic or non-linguistic, that confer an advantage for specific aspects of language learning? Are there neural (i.e. brain functional or structural) differences between people who speak one, a few or even many languages? And if so, to what extend might these have arisen from learning these languages, versus from potential predispositions? These are some of the questions we plan to explore in our upcoming research project at the University of Geneva, funded by the ‘Evolving Language’ National Center for Research Competence (https://www.evolvinglanguage.ch/ ). In this presentation, I will talk about our work, about some of the findings in the field, and will open a call for volunteers to participate in our study. You will be able to see your brain in action!’

Decolonizing Language Through Global Media Activism & Transracial Allyship — Chesline Pierre-Paul

Together we’ll into the ubiquity of White supremacy as a core tenet of Euro- and Americano-centric political & educational rhetoric around language. Upon acknowledgement of these colonial realities, we’ll look into alternative paradigms that center language at the intersection of race, culture, and self-identity where global media activism & transracial allyship serve to establish anti-colonial resistance through powerfully unsettling creativity & transdisciplinary intelligence. By the end of this talk, we will empowered to know: 1) how to use language to activate advocacy over privilege; 2) use language activistically to establish anti-colonial radical resistance; 3) become mini language intrapreneurial activists. Learn to be power through creatively disruptive activism and be accountable to the standard of social justice anti-racism impresses upon us to reestablish. Today.

México en tu casa - Taller: hacer guacamole — Nayeli Mulato (ZALOA Languages)

“México en tu casa” es una serie de talleres creados por ZALOA Languages para la Polyglot Conference. Ya que no podemos vernos físicamente en Cholula este año, ¡con estos talleres te llevamos México hasta tu casa! En este taller, Nayeli te muestra cómo preparar un delicioso guacamole mexicano: aquí te explica cuáles son los ingredientes que necesitas, cómo darle sabor al guacamole e incluso un truco especial de su abuela mexicana para no llorar cuando cortas la cebolla 😉 Si quieres descargar la receta en PDF: https://zaloalanguages.com/talleres-polyglot-conference/ ¿Qué tal tu guacamole? Compártenos una foto en tus redes: etiqueta a la Polyglot Conference y usa el hashtag #mexicoenmicasa ¡Buen provecho! 😉

México en tu casa - Taller: dibujar un códice — Osvaldo Zuñiga (ZALOA Languages)

“México en tu casa” es una serie de talleres creados por ZALOA Languages para la Polyglot Conference. Ya que no podemos vernos físicamente en Cholula este año, ¡con estos talleres te llevamos México hasta tu casa! Los códices son la forma no-verbal con la cual los antiguos hablantes del náhuatl se comunicaron. Se trata de manuscritos pictográficos que cuentan historias mediante símbolos y elementos importantes. Si algún día vienes a México, encontrarás estos códices en muchos lugares prehispánicos o en museos, son una parte muy importante de la cultura mexicana. En este taller, el maestro del náhuatl Osvaldo te lleva a un viaje al México antiguo: te muestra cómo dibujar el códice “xóchitl” (=flor) que también es un mes del calendario azteca y te explica cómo colorearlo con ingredientes naturales como los antiguos mexicas solían hacerlo. Si quieres descargar la lista de materiales en PDF y ver otros códices: https://zaloalanguages.com/talleres-polyglot-conference/ ¿Cómo quedó tu códice? Compártenos una foto en tus redes: etiqueta a la Polyglot Conference y usa el hashtag #mexicoenmicasa

México en tu casa - Taller: bordado mexicano — Nayeli Mulato & Anja Spilker (ZALOA Languages)

“México en tu casa” es una serie de talleres creados por ZALOA Languages para la Polyglot Conference. Ya que no podemos vernos físicamente en Cholula este año, ¡con estos talleres te llevamos México hasta tu casa! En este descubre la importancia del bordado en México, la diversidad de tipos de bordados, elementos más importantes y lo mejor, aprende a hacer tu propio bordado mexicano al estilo Tenango. No te preocupes, no es necesario tener experiencia, acompaña a Nayeli y Anja y juntos haremos paso a paso este proceso, además de compartir una conversación muy interesante sobre este aspecto de la cultura mexicana, que te hará apreciarlo mejor en tu próxima visita a México. Aquí encontrarás la lista de materiales: https://zaloalanguages.com/talleres-polyglot-conference/ ¿Cuál fue el resultado de tu bordado? ¿Todavía estás en el proceso? Compártenos una foto en tus redes: etiqueta a la Polyglot Conference y usa el hashtag #mexicoenmicasa

México en tu casa - Taller: Maquillaje de la Catrina (día de muertos) — Anna Hernández (ZALOA Languages)

“México en tu casa” es una serie de talleres creados por ZALOA Languages para la Polyglot Conference. Ya que no podemos vernos físicamente en Cholula este año, ¡con estos talleres te llevamos México hasta tu casa! Este taller será relacionado a una de las tradiciones más fascinantes en México, “El día de Muertos” esta es una fiesta inigualable en la que los mexicanos celebran la muerte y recuerdan de forma muy especial a las personas que han muerto. Parte muy importante de esta celebración es “La catrina” es una imagen especial que es parte de todos estos días por eso, en este taller vas a aprender a realizar tu maquillaje de catrina, para que puedas acompañar la celebración desde donde estés. Anna te va a guiar para que puedas maquillarte, mientras te cuenta más sobre está celebración que es única en el mundo. Aquí encontrarás la lista de materiales: https://zaloalanguages.com/talleres-polyglot-conference/ ¿Cómo quedo tu maquillaje de catrina? Compártenos una foto en tus redes y etiqueta a la Polyglot Conference y usando el hashtag #mexicoenmicasa

México en tu casa - Taller: bailar salsa — Ventura Perez (ZALOA Languages)

“México en tu casa” es una serie de talleres creados por ZALOA Languages para la Polyglot Conference. Ya que no podemos vernos físicamente en Cholula este año, ¡con estos talleres te llevamos México hasta tu casa! La música y el baile son una forma de comunicación corporal que expresan emociones y que forman parte importante de la cultura en México, si hay fiesta, hay baile. En este taller nuestro amigo Ventura de la academia de baile 1Step en Cholula te comparte su método para aprender a bailar salsa. Para guardar la sana distancia recomendada en estos tiempos de la pandemia, te muestra cómo bailarlo sin pareja. ¡Diversión garantizada y la preparación perfecta para algún día bailar en México! Si quieres ver nuestra recomendación de música para bailar salsa: https://zaloalanguages.com/talleres-polyglot-conference/

Introduction to Welsh — Dafydd Morse (italki)

Do you know that the language Welsh is one of the oldest languages in Europe–potentially up to 4000 years old? Originated from the Celtic language, it came to Britain around 600BC. Centuries of history formed and seasoned the Welsh language and its unique culture. For instance, the world famous Eisteddfod is a festival of Welsh literature, music and performance that dates back to at least the 12th century. Born and raised Welsh, Dafidd, here, will give you a full immersion of Welsh culture from its language, cuisine, poetry, music, sports etc. So, are you ready to be Welsh in just 45 minutes? Dafydd on italki

Introduction to Swahili — Glory Kimonge (italki)

Tanzania, a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region, is the union of two countries Zanzibar and Tanganyika since 1964. Swahili is the official language of Tanzania and is also spoken in Kenya, Uganda, Congo etc. Born and raised in Arusha Tanzania, Glory Henry Kimonge was a former tour guide, game warden, now a Swahili language teacher. She will share a brief history of Tanzania, introduce the world famous sceneries and some interesting facts about the main tribes in Tanzania. In addition, she will teach the basics of Swahili language, ways of greetings, cultural influences behind the language from Portuguese, British, German etc. Glory on italki

Introduction to ASL — Anirban Dasgupta & Amy Milau Dasgupta (italki)

Do you know there are up to 300 different types of sign languages in the world? American Sign Language (ASL) is the predominant sign language in the United States and most of Anglophone Canada. Also, it is widely learned as a second language, serving as a lingua franca. Currently living in India, Amy and Anirban Dasgupta met through ASL. In this video, they will introduce the language structure and share new perspectives towards learning a language. They will break down sign languages–how to visualize signs, how to layer background information into details, how to incorporate facial expressions etc. Anirban on italki Amy on italki

Introduction to Burmese — Aye Myat Mon (italki)

Myanmar is a country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Bangladesh and India. Burmese is Myanmar’s official language. The Burmese speaking population is close to 40 million people by 2020. As a Sino-Tibetan language, Burmese is largely monosyllabic and analytic, with a subject–object–verb word order, thus, very unique from most languages in the world. In this video, Aye Myat will share the difference in Burmese language structure and pronouciation from those of English. She will also introduce the culture of Myanmar and teach some unique phrases of Burmese cultural and social value. Aye on italki

Introduction to Igbo — Millie Anozia (italki)

Igbo is a principal native language of the Igbo people, an ethnic group of southeastern Nigeria. It is one of the largest languages of West Africa, spoken by 18 million people. Igbo belongs to the Niger-Congo language family and is spoken among natives of Caribbean countries like Jamaica, Haiti, Belize, Barbados etc. In this video, Millie Anozia will introduce the history, cuisine, and culture of the Igbo people. She will also teach the Igbo alphabet of 36 letters and explain the cultural context behind common words/phrases. Millie on italki

Introduction to Basque — Irati Garcia (italki)

Basque is the only preromantic language that persisted even when the Latin died out. It is one of the oldest languages in Europe that dates at least back to Neolithic times. It is now spoken in Basque Countries in adjacent parts of Northern Spain and Southwestern France. The ban of the language from 1939 to 1975 caused significant decline in its speakers over the years. Irati García, a Basque teacher, is passionate about reviving the language Basque. In this video, she will not only introduce the agglutinative quality of the language but also share the religion, art, mythology, and traditions of the Basques. Irati on italki

italki - A Window Into Our World — Kevin Chen (italki)

Kevin Chen is the co-founder of italki.com, an online language learning platform which connects language learners and teachers through video chat. In this video, he will share his perspective on the education system nowadays and how COVID-19 has changed the traditional way of learning. Moreover, members from italki will also share their stories on language learning. Now, let’s see through the window of their world: Sign up to italki today and get $10 towards your language classes on us!

Never Stop Learning — Gerry Weitz (italki)

Gerry Weitz is a passionate language lover who shares his language learning journey which started at the age of 17 when he embarked on a cultural immersion trip to Israel. In this video, Gerry will share some advice for anyone who is nervous about learning a new language. For seasoned learners, you can learn what inspired him to take on a new challenge. On any given day, Gerry could be taking Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Russian, and Arabic lessons one after another! He will talk about the similarities of these languages and how much easier it has been to learn a new language with the foundation he has developed after learning the other ones. Sign up to italki today and get $10 towards your language classes on us!

My Story – A Life Lived in 30 Plus Languages (Part 1 Mandarin) — Tim Keeley

I am in the process of writing “My Story” in multiple languages. It is my goal to compare similar languages in the process. This video is in Mandarin (including text and an introduction in English).

My Story – A Life Lived in 30 Plus Languages (Part 1 Nepali) — Tim Keeley

I am in the process of writing “My Story” in multiple languages. It is my goal to compare similar languages in the process. This video is in Nepali (including text and an introduction in English).

My Story – A Life Lived in 30 Plus Languages (Part 1 Hindi and Nepali Comparison) — Tim Keeley

I am in the process of writing “My Story” in multiple languages. It is my goal to compare similar languages in the process. This video is in Hindi and Nepali (including text and an introduction in English).

Earth Speakr - Hosting Kids To Speak Up For The Planet In Their Language — Earth Speakr - Hosting Kids To Speak Up For The Planet In Their Language The Earth Speakr Team

Learners Helping Learners Learn — Steve Kaufmann

How language learners can share their languages, their cultures, their interests, and their knowledge to empower a broad base of language learners and potential languages learners to acquire the gift of fluency in other languages, major and minor.

Chemo Brain - Språkinlärning trots cancer — Márcia Eliasson

Jag fick en aggressiv bröstcancer i oktober 2018 (4 tumörer, trippel negativ). Jag gick igenom cellgiftsbehandling, operation och strålning. Mina kognitiva förmågor påverkades och jag hade många problem med bland annat koncentration, inlärning och minnet. Men jag hittade min väg genom kampen och använde några strategier för att fortsätta utveckla de språk jag hade lärt mig. Efter behandlingen så var jag utmattad, men jag kom i kontakt med tekniker baserade på neurovetenskap för att hjälpa min återhämtning och sätta hjärnan på rätt spår igen. Idag får jag fortfarande en förebyggande behandling mot cancer, jag kämpar fortfarande med någon form av trötthet, men jag fortsätter att lära mig språk och jag har kunnat börja en ny karriär som språkcoach för att hjälpa andra att övervinna sin rädsla inom språkinlärning och inse att deras väg till ett nytt språk kan vara enklare än de tror.

I den här föreläsningen kommer jag att dela med mig av tankesättet (mindset), motivationen och metoderna som hjälpte mig att hålla kärleken till språk vid liv, samtidigt som jag kämpade mot cancer. Om du tillämpar eller delar med dig till andra åtminstone en insikt från föreläsningen så har jag nått mitt mål. Välkommen!

Title: Chemo brain – Learning Languages Despite Cancer Talk in Swedish, with subtitles in Swedish, English and Portuguese I had an aggressive breast cancer in October 2018 (4 tumors, triple negative). I went through chemo, surgery and radiation. My cognitive abilities were affected and I had a lot of issues with concentration, learning and recalling information, among other things. But I found my way out of the struggle and used some strategies to keep developing the languages I have learned. After the treatment, I was burned out, but then I got in contact with techniques based on neuroscience to help me recover and put my brain back on track again. Today I’m still receiving preventive treatment, I still fight with some sort of fatigue, but I keep learning languages and I was able to start a new career as a language coach to help people overcome their fears within language learning and to realize that their way to fluency can be easier than they believe. In this talk I will share with you: the mindset, motivation and methods that helped me to keep the love for learning languages alive, while fighting against cancer. If you apply or share at least one insight from this talk with others, then my goal will be achieved. Welcome!

मम जीवनम् वातायनेन दृश्यमानः (Sanskrit: Seeing My Life Through A Window) — Vikhyat Kethamukkala

I would talk about the impact that Sanskrit and Vedic tradition have made in my life, transforming me from a passive language enthusiast into a passionate and motivated linguistics student. Particularly, I feel that I could talk about the importance of immersion in my other languages, and the benefits of it, and maybe how one could replicate without going to the country of origin. I could also talk about hybridized foreign language classrooms, and how to integrate technology and polyglot language learning methods into how schools should reform and teach [language] (this is an area of interest for research based around bilingual acquisition and hybridized foreign language classrooms). A portion of my study area is dedicated to Sanskrit memorabilia from where I started to where I am now; this is a very special area of physical environment that I would love to show through a sort of integrated timeline. I also have a pretty extensive bookshelf for other languages, as well as wicker baskets chocked-full of notebooks, so that could be something I present about as well. My website, although still in its rudimentary development, is also a digital space where I feel liberated, and can speak my mind. I constantly post about my goals for the future, collegiate ambitions, cultural perceptions of things, approaching language learning, etc. I’ll also be starting an interview segment on linguistics including YouTube polyglots as well as PhD students in many subfields of linguistics. This could be something that I could allude to for my Sanskrit-centric presentation. There are other topics I could talk about, but I’m sure people have already talked about them in the past: maintaining languages, getting over the fear of speaking, how long does it take to learn a language, social media influence on language learning, revival movements, etc.

ViennAthens 2020 - Diskussion über Flucht und Migration — Christos Marantos & Simos Batzakis

DOCUMENTARY PREMIERE (Not an official conference video)

Original language German/ Greek Subtitles: English, German, Greek The film “ViennAthens 2020 – Diskussion über Flucht und Migration” is aiming to raise awareness about the challenges that migrants and refugees are facing, discussing issues like human rights, racism, and policies in Europe. In the framework of the festival “ViennAthens 19 – Eden is west?” film screenings, lectures, and round table discussions took place having as main theme migration and environment. ViennAthens was founded to become an intercultural bridge in Europe having as a goal to embrace diversity and recognize differences and similarities as equally valuable in the common European home. ViennAthens, reflecting one of the main routes of refuge, connects two cultural centers: on the one hand, Vienna is a place of high quality of life, economically strong, with a particularly rich cultural environment and unbroken cultural and artistic creativity. On the other hand, Athens is the cradle of western culture and the birthplace of democracy. Many thanks to our friends from Vienna and Linz for their sponsorship! ViennAthens 2020

Polyglot Science — Xaver Funk

Full Title: Peculiar Motivation or Efficient Language Network? Reviewing the Polyglot Science In recent years, scientific investigations of bi- and multilingual people have lead to interesting findings in the field of neurolinguistics and second language acquisition. Yet, the research on polyglots remains really scarce. However, there still are a handful of studies that focus on this quite peculiar population, asking questions about their language abilities and how their brain differs from monolinguals. This talk will review these and thereby provide insight into what we currently know and don’t know about polyglots and their brains.

School's out for Covid: How can the Polyglot Conference community support online schooling? — Tracy Mehoke

In the spring of 2020, school systems, parents, teachers, and students had a matter of days or weeks to react and adapt as school systems around the world announced closures due to COVID-19. Due to the sudden and disruptive nature of the COVID response, many teachers and school systems are at a loss for the effective online teaching methods and relevant research to apply to their present situation.

En lucha contra la violencia lingüística: Conversatorio con Respond Crisis Translation — Laura Rodríguez O´Dwyer & Ariel Koren

Michel Thomas Method Arabic taster lesson — Tamara Marie, Jane Wightwick & Mahmour Gaafar

Tamara Marie of Learn Spanish con Salsa learns her first words of Arabic with Michel Thomas Method teachers and authors, Jane Wightwick and Mahmour Gaafar, in a live lesson, recorded on Zoom. You will join in as the second student to get a flavour of Arabic and the Michel Thomas Method. You will learn start speaking immediately by figuring out the answers for yourself, and learning from Tamara’s mistakes and successes. Sit back, relax and learn.

Your chance to win a free Michel Thomas Method course:

Want to continue learning? To enter our competition to win a free Foundation language course, share your learnings after the lesson on social media using the hashtags #mtmarabic and #michelthomas. Record yourself saying a sentence you learned in the course or share why you want to learn the language.

Michel Thomas Method Greek taster lesson — Conor Clyne, Hara Garoufalia-Middle & Howard Middle

Conor Clyne of the Tsar Experience learns his first words of Greek with Michel Thomas Method teachers and authors, Hara Garoufalia-Middle and Howard Middle , in a live lesson, recorded on Zoom. You will join in as the second student to get a flavour of Greek and the Michel Thomas Method. You will learn start speaking immediately by figuring out the answers for yourself, and learning from Conor’s mistakes and successes. Sit back, relax and learn.

Your chance to win a free Michel Thomas Method course:

Want to continue learning? To enter our competition to win a free Foundation language course, share your learnings after the lesson on social media using the hashtags #mtmgreek and #michelthomas. Record yourself saying a sentence you learned in the course or share why you want to learn the language.

Michel Thomas Method Japanese taster lesson — Ed Davidson, Emma Green & Helen Gilhooly

Ed Davidson of La Ferpection and Emma Green of Teach Yourself Languages learn their first words of Japanese with Michel Thomas Method teacher and author, Helen Gilhooly, in a live lesson, recorded on Zoom. You will join in as the third student to get a flavour of Japanese and the Michel Thomas Method. You will learn start speaking immediately by figuring out the answers for yourself, and learning from Ed’s and Emma’s mistakes and successes. Sit back, relax and learn.

Your chance to win a free Michel Thomas Method course:

Want to continue learning? To enter our competition to win a free Foundation language course, share your learnings after the lesson on social media using the hashtags #mtmjapanese and #michelthomas. Record yourself saying a sentence you learned in the course or share why you want to learn the language.

Michel Thomas Method Korean taster lesson — Desta Haile, Gareth Popkins, Jieun Kiaer & Derek Driggs

Desta Haile of Languages Through Music and Dr Popkins of How To Get Fluent learn their first words of Korean with Michel Thomas Method teachers and authors, Jieun Kiaer and Derek Driggs, in a live lesson, recorded on Zoom. You will join in as the third student to get a flavour of Korean and the Michel Thomas Method. You will learn start speaking immediately by figuring out the answers for yourself, and learning from Desta’s and Gareth’s mistakes and successes. Sit back, relax and learn. Your chance to win a free Michel Thomas Method course: Want to continue learning? To enter our competition to win a free Foundation language course, share your learnings after the lesson on social media using the hashtags #mtmkorean and #michelthomas. Record yourself saying a sentence you learned in the course or share why you want to learn the language.

Michel Thomas Method Polish taster lesson — Lindie Botes, Shannon Kennedy, Olly Richards & Jolanta Watson

Lindie Botes, Shannon Kennedy of Eurolinguiste and Olly Richards of I Will Teach You A Language learn their first words of Polish with Michel Thomas Method teacher and author, Jolanta Watson, in a live lesson, recorded on Zoom. You will join in as the fourth student to get a flavour of Polish and the Michel Thomas Method. You will learn start speaking immediately by figuring out the answers for yourself, and learning from Lindie’s, Shannon’s and Olly’s mistakes and successes. Sit back, relax and learn.

Your chance to win a free Michel Thomas Method course:

Want to continue learning? To enter our competition to win a free Foundation language course, share your learnings after the lesson on social media using the hashtags #mtmpolish and #michelthomas. Record yourself saying a sentence you learned in the course or share why you want to learn the language.

: Alex Rawlings, Judith Meyer & Patricia Mac Eoin — Michel Thomas Method Irish taster lesson

Alex Rawlings and Judith Meyer learn their first words of Irish with Michel Thomas Method teacher and author, Patricia Mac Eoin, in a live lesson, recorded on Zoom. You will join in as the third student to get a flavour of Irish and the Michel Thomas Method. You will learn start speaking immediately by figuring out the answers for yourself, and learning from Alex’s and Judith’s mistakes and successes. Sit back, relax and learn.

Your chance to win a free Michel Thomas Method course:

Want to continue learning? To enter our competition to win a free Foundation language course, share your learnings after the lesson on social media using the hashtags #mtmirish and #michelthomas. Record yourself saying a sentence you learned in the course or share why you want to learn the language.

Kerstin Cable, Lindsay Williams & Harold Goodman — Michel Thomas Method Hebrew taster lesson

Kerstin Cable of The Fluent Show and Lindsay Williams of Lindsay Does Languages learn their first words of Hebrew with Michel Thomas Method teacher and author, Harold Goodman, in a live lesson, recorded on Zoom. You will join in as the third student to get a flavour of Hebrew and the Michel Thomas Method. You will learn start speaking immediately by figuring out the answers for yourself, and learning from Kerstin’s and Lindsay’s mistakes and successes. Sit back, relax and learn.

Your chance to win a free Michel Thomas Method course:

Want to continue learning? To enter our competition to win a free Foundation language course and a free Hebrew lesson with Harold, share your learnings after the lesson on social media using the hashtags #mtmhebrew and #michelthomas. Record yourself saying a sentence you learned in the course or share why you want to learn the language.

Steve Kaufmann (LingQ) — Learners Helping Learners Learn

How language learners can share their languages, their cultures, their interests, and their knowledge to empower a broad base of language learners and potential languages learners to acquire the gift of fluency in other languages, major and minor.

Kristen Tcherneshoff & Daniel Bögre Udell — Wikitongues: Every Language in the World

Although speaking your language is a basic human right, half of the world’s 7,000 languages are endangered—and resources for revitalization are scarce. Wikitongues exists to bridge these gaps, expanding access to language revitalization. With a global network of grassroots linguists, we’re building a seed bank of every language in the world and standardizing methods for anyone to get started keeping their language alive. Join us by submitting a video in your language, providing translations, or working with our Language Sustainability Toolkit. Find our oral histories at youtube.com/wikitongues.

Alésia Chevaleret — Language Learning In Spite Of Illness

Due to my chronic illness, I’m unable to focus for long. I moved from Germany to France, thinking it would be a quick fix and not a lifelong struggle. I didn’t speak French and was only able to attend two months of class, nearly reaching a B1. Yet after a couple years moving back and forth, I found I was a C1. I’m sure I progressed because I was immersed, having to communicate with doctors and government officials, and I had an advantage because I took Spanish in school and already mastered German. Then I tried Hungarian, but just being in Hungary wasn’t enough. I’m only able to focus for 30 minutes at a time without crashing for days. I pushed myself to attend 1.5 hour long classes, but my brain hurt from contorting itself into doing more than my capacity allowed. Because post-exertional malaise is also cumulative, if I had class two days in a row, I’d spend twice as long crashed and unable to be productive afterward. Watching films and listening to music is great, but doesn’t really help me learn much. I even spent the Covid lockdown in a hostel with a bunch of Hungarians and still hardly learned a thing. I could listen as hard as I wanted, but I wasn’t going to just intuitively pick it up. I also lack the discipline required to self-study – I need something more structured. Finally, I found a way to adapt my learning to what worked for me.

龙霏林 — 当代艺术与语言

当代艺术与语言 艺术世界越来越来国际化. 这次交流，我会讨论一些艺术家和他们用语言的方式。我希望这次活动会像一门美术课一样，我会先举例子，然后大家有空的时候可以多看那些艺术家的作品。大家在有想法的时候可以记下来，回头我们可以讨论你们的问题和想法。 我参观过世界上的一些艺术览所以根据我的经验选择了要展示的这些艺术品。如果您有其他会用语言创作的艺术家推荐，我会很欢迎。 现在英语是很多领域的通用的语言。不管一个展览在什么国家，很多艺术家选择用英语创作。很多展览的题目和材料都是先用英语写的。如果一位艺术家的英语水平不够，不能表达他的意思，那会不会在作品的意义上产生微妙的差别？观众会不会漏掉一些文化背景？ 大部分的时间，我会用普通话讲话，但是还会用一些葡萄牙语，德语，意大利语法语，英语 和西班牙语。 -龙霏琳 Contemporary art and language The art world is ever more and more global. In this exchange, I will discuss some living artists and the way that they use language in their work. My hope is that this presentation will resemble an art history class in that I will present some example works and then when everyone has time, they can look at the artist’s work more in depth. When you have any thoughts you can write them down and afterwards we can talk about your ideas and questions. I have seen many exhibitions around the world in the Americas, Europe and China. I derived from these experiences to choose to show these art pieces. If you know of other artists who use language in their work in an interesting way, I will be very grateful to hear your suggestions. These days, English is the common language in many fields. It doesn’t matter what country an exhibition is in, many artists are choosing to use English to create their work. Many titles of exhibitions and written materials are written first in English. If an artist’s English level is not good enough to express their meaning, will that create a subtle difference in meaning in the work? Will the audience miss out on some cultural background? Most of the presentation will be in Mandarin Chinese with some sprinklings of Portuguese, Italian, German, Spanish, English and French. – Feilin

¿Por qué deberías aprender español mexicano? — Nayeli Mulato

Soy Nayeli Mulato, apasionada mexicana, que descubrí mi vocación enseñando mi lengua materna mientras vivía en el extranjero, y ahora con más de 6 años de experiencia, creo que ayudar a otros a aprender español es la mejor manera de compartir un poco de mi cultura y difundir mi amor por México. A través de esta charla conoceremos algunas razones por las cuales el español mexicano es especial, a través de ejemplos descubriremos el profundo significado de las frases que se utilizan en el lenguaje cotidiano del país, te mostraré la rica cultura e historia que existe en las frases y los elementos más importantes que se encuentran en la forma de expresarse de los mexicanos, si es posible te daré suficientes razones para motivarte a conocer o aprender el español de mi querido México.

A video tour through Cholula, Mexico — Anja Spilker

This video gives you an insight of what it is like to be in Cholula and to live as a foreigner in Mexico. In this presentation, Anja explains why she has fallen in love with Mexico and gives you a video tour through Cholula taking you to 3 of her favourite spots: la gran pirámide, el zócalo and el mercado where she practises her Náhuatl skills and learns other indigenous languages from Mexico. This is what’s waiting for you once Covid allows us to hold the Polyglot Conference in Cholula!

Wikitongues: Every Language in the World — Kristen Tcherneshoff & Daniel Bögre Udell

Although speaking your language is a basic human right, half of the world’s 7,000 languages are endangered—and resources for revitalization are scarce. Wikitongues exists to bridge these gaps, expanding access to language revitalization. With a global network of grassroots linguists, we’re building a seed bank of every language in the world and standardizing methods for anyone to get started keeping their language alive. Join us by submitting a video in your language, providing translations, or working with our Language Sustainability Toolkit. Find our oral histories at youtube.com/wikitongues.

Helen Abadzi — Language Maintenance: A day In The Life Of An Aging Polyglot

Most conference participants are young, automatize verbal sequences quickly, and find languages easy to learn. But by our early 40s, aging affects processing speed and retention likelihood. By age 65, some of the cognitive prerequisites needed for multilingualism wane considerably. Our memory tracks contain too much info, making retrieval harder, and working memory dims. At the same time, other capacities improve with aging, including executive function. Is it possible to remain a polyglot in older ages? How to maintain old languages and learn new ones in your 60s, 70s, and beyond? Life goals change, creating dilemmas of study time vs. loss of long-held identities. The presentation will review the little-known implicit memory system that creates speaking and reading automaticity. It will discuss the rationale for various maintenance routines as well as the socioemotional issues that arise when performance falters with age.