Social Media as a Tool to preserve Language, Culture, and Narratives — Elizabeth Keyton

In this talk, Eliza discusses the problems that arise when studying a lesser represented language and the cultural implications of these problems. She brings to light the causes for loss of language and language resources, and how that is connected to the loss of cultural knowledge and identity, as well as the elimination of varied and nuanced narratives. Eliza proposes that social media has the power to dilute these constraints, and gives actionable advice that can put the power back into languages and the communities that speak them.

Reviving Awabakal - An Indigenous Language from New South Wales, Australia — Brian Loo Soon Hua

The Awabakal language was the original language of the Newcastle-Lake Macquairie area just to the north of Sydney, New South Wales. Awabakal was the first Australian Aboriginal language to be recorded in detail by Europeans and the corpus of texts consists primarily of grammars, glossaries and Bible translations. The language has been extinct since the mid to late 19th century. Currently being revived, the process involves painstaking research using handwritten texts by untrained lexicographers encountering an unknown language with “exotic” phonological and grammatical structures for the very first time. The language died out before recording instruments became widely available. Awabakal possesses several rare syntactic properties that will be explored during the talk. It has a complex structure, with nominative-accusative, ergative-absolutive and tripartite alignments occurring simultaneously on different nouns and pronouns in the same sentence.

Made in America: Creole Languages Native to the USA — Marissa Blaszko

Too often when we think of “native” or “indigenous” languages in the US we think of only one type–the languages that were spoken and signed in the country before European contact. In this talk we’ll explore 5 creole variations that are indigenous to the US: Gullah Geechee, African American English, Louisiana Creole, Louisiana French, and Boricua Spanish. We’ll explore their roots and cultures, play translation pub quizzes, and finally talk about how the language learning community can support and empower their speakers.

Pelajari Huruf Cina Daripada Nama Orang Cina Malaysia (Learn Chinese Characters from Malaysian Chinese Names) — Ivan Yong

Malaysia, a multi-racial and multi-cultural country with over 50 different ethnic groups, is also bilingual in nature. Malaysians speak Malay, the official language and English as the second language. Chinese or Mandarin is taught in some schools but is not a mandatory subject. Malaysian Chinese being the second largest race in the country speaks Mandarin to a varying degree but all Chinese have kept their culture especially their name.

Malaysian Chinese names are first constructed from Chinese letters, Hanzhi and then transliterated into Romanised letters mimicking the sound of a specific Chinese dialect group (Cantonese, Hokkien, Hakka and etc), unlike the standard mainland Chinese of pinyin. These are often in 3 characters: one for the surname and two for the given name.

Generations of Malaysians both non-ethnic and ethnic Chinese are accustomed to this manner of calling, reading and writing Chinese names. This creates a unique opportunity for the other races to learn Mandarin as each time a non-Chinese Malaysian called out a Chinese name, they are actually learning at least a minimal of 3 characters and the culture behind those names.

This presentation would be presented in Malay, the official language of Malaysia as to reach a wider Malaysian audience, who are more proficient in Malay. The purpose of doing so is to improve racial ties with a deeper understanding of the Chinese culture.

Malaysia merupakan sebuah negara yang berbilang kaum dan budaya dengan lebih daripada 50 kaum berlainan yang secara umumnya berdwibahasa. Rakyat Malaysia bertutur dalam Bahasa Melayu iaitu  bahasa rasmi negara dan dalam Bahasa Inggeris sebagai bahasa kedua. Bahasa Cina ataupun Bahasa Mandarin diajar di sesetengah sekolah tetapi ia bukanlah matapelajaran teras yang diwajibkan. Kaum Cina sebagai kaum kedua terbesar di Malaysia boleh bertutur dalam Bahasa Mandarin dengan tahap kefasihan yang berlainan tetapi secara keseluruhannya masyarakat Cina berjaya meneruskan pengamalan budaya Cina terutamanya nama mereka.

Nama Cina rakyat Malaysia dibentuk terlebih dahulu dalam huruf Cina (hanzhi) dan kemudiannya ditransilerasikan kepada huruf rumi yang mengikut bunyi bagaimana huruf Cina disebut dalam dialek masing-masing. (Kantonis, Hokkien, Hakka dan lain-lain). Ini adalah berlainan dengan amalan di Negara China iaitu dengan pinyin. Seringkali nama Cina terdiri daripada 3 huruf: huruf pertama untuk nama keluarga dan huruf seterusnya adalah nama yang diberikan.

Sejak beberapa generasi dahulu, kaum Cina rakyat Malaysia, mahupun kaum lain telah biasa dengan cara sebegini dalam menyebut, membaca ataupun menulis nama-nama Cina. Situasi ini memberikan satu peluang yang unik kepada kaum-kaum bukan Cina untuk mempelajari sekurang-kurangnya 3 huruf Cina dan budaya ataupun adat resam yang terkandung dalam huruf-huruf tersebut setiap kali mereka menlaungkan nama-nama kawan Cina mereka.

Presentasi ini akan dibentangkan dalam Bahasa Melayu untuk mencapai lebih ramai pendengar kaum bukan Cina. Tujuannya ialah untuk mengeratkan silaturahim antara kaum-kaum dan permahaman budaya Cina.

The Subversiveness of Learning a Language — Judith Meyer

Tracing some lesser-known aspects of 20th century history as well as personal experiences, I would like to propose a radical theory: ALL language learning is subversive. It is always an act that sets you against the establishment, against those who hold power and with those who suffer. Even without your knowledge and even if you were to resist. And this applies not just to learning Arabic or Farsi but also Greek, Quechua, Welsh, even Spanish, any language at all.

Quebec Parents and Policies on Language in School — Andreanne Langevin

Andréanne Langevin is a student at McGill University in Montréal, Québec, Canada. Her research focuses on Language Policy in the Quebec School System. This presentation showcases preliminary results of a 4-month focus group study where 44 parents from diverse backgrounds discuss their children’s experiences with language learning in Quebec schools. The participants also share their opinion on Bill 101, a successful yet controversial language policy that ensures the vitality of the French language in the province of Québec.

'Closing the Gap' through indigenous languages — Karla Zuluaga

In Australian discourse, ‘Closing the Gap’ is used to acknowledge that there is a significant divide between indigenous and non-indigenous peoples in many respects including education, literacy, health and employment, and that it is a priority to bridge this inequality. In my talk, I wish to discuss how Australian indigenous languages play a role in this process.  I would like to discuss how the greater integration of indigenous languages in Australian society can help to attain many of the key targets for ‘Closing the Gap’. This will include discussions on the causes of the gap and the necessity of having suitable language recognition and provisions in education, health, legal and governmental systems. Through my presentation I hope to shed light on the importance of Aboriginal languages as a means of creating an equal Australia for indigenous and non-indigenous Australians alike.

As línguas indígenas do Brasil — Flávia Scaldelai

The Kanji-360 experiment - a holistic approach to learning Japanese kanjis with Memory Techniques — Yannick Di Mondo

The Kanji-360 method covers many dimensions of a kanji (reading of both on & kun pronunciations, number of strokes, meaning(s), vocabulary words, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, counters) and integrates all of them into a coherent story.
This video covers various memory techniques, how they have been applied specifically for the acquisition of the Japanese kanjis, gives detailed practical examples, and finally highlights the pros & cons of the method.

How Likely is Spanish to Become the World's Next Lingua Franca? — Zoé Gómez Cassardo

There are currently no signs that English will cease to be the world’s preferred global language. However, an interesting question to ponder upon is: which language would be a likely candidate to take its place? China’s astounding economic and technological rise suggests —yells, even— Chinese! But is this feasible from a linguistic point of view? What if I told you that Spanish is highly likely to be a nominee to the world’s next lingua franca, would you believe that? No one can accurately predict such a thing; we all may be speaking a language that hasn’t developed yet or —who is to say— an alien language. Nevertheless, this premise will allow me to investigate and expose in this presentation the nature of language dynamics and language attitudes. This presentation will touch on topics such as the nature of global languages, how Latin became a ‘dead language’, how Western and Eastern cultures see language and, finally, some reasons behind the fast-paced and massive rise of the Spanish language.

New Words and New Worlds in Mandarin Chinese — Benfang Wang

Have you ever heard of 弹幕(dàn mù) – the Bullet Screen? Do you know the other popular meaning of 绿茶 (lǜ chá) other than ‘green tea’? In this talk, we will explore the different aspects of how new words and concepts make their way into Mandarin Chinese. On one hand, similar to most languages, we may borrow words from other languages, or create new words as new trends, technologies, and lifestyles arise. On the other hand, some new words are unique and take form thanks to the distinct features of Mandarin, such as through playing with characters and their homophones. Euphemisms are also used in relation to common values shared by society, such as openly talking about sex or homosexuality, which is relatively taboo in Chinese culture. By the end of this talk, you will expand your vocabulary beyond what you can find in your textbooks, get a sneak peek into the everyday life and language of modern-day China, and lastly, I hope to provide you with some cultural insight into these new words.

Latin Through The Ages: Something for Everyone — Jamie Banks

In this talk, I will give an overview of how Latin survived the Roman Empire from my perspective as a speaker of the language today and PhD student focused on Latin texts that most do not study. I will give examples from primary sources of how Latin speakers and writers thought of themselves and what communities they belonged to, expanding our usual idea of a linguistic community beyond local and temporal boundaries, especially after the point when there were no longer native speakers of the language. In doing this, I do not consider Latin to be a “superior” language or the one of the “European learned men”: in fact, by sharing examples of how Latin lives, spoken, in the 20th and 21st centuries, I hope to suggest that it is a language that should be for all, precisely because no one group can claim it for its own. It is a language you choose, just as we have chosen families, and I will explore the social and linguistic implications of that, both for speakers and for the field of “Classics,” which needs a new way forward divested from its white supremacist and elitist past.

False Friends and Where to Find Them — Emily Martyn

False friends have a bad rap for getting language learners into all kinds of embarrassing situations and miscommunication muddles. It’s no secret that languages are interconnected and this can be both a source of joy and anguish when it comes to language learning. Joy because of the light bulb moments making linguistic connections bring; anguish because of linguistic interference and the pain of having to unlearn misleading words and linguistic patterns.

We will tap into translations from 140+ languages from the uTalk Learn Any Language app to trace the journeys of words which have crossed countries and cultures resulting in language cognates. Come prepared to chuckle at a false friend anecdote or two as part of the discovery of linguistic links between languages through everyday conversation topics such as clothes, colours, countries and food to name a few.

Whatever language(s) you speak this talk promises you a light bulb moment of your own as we investigate calques, semantic shift and etymology which will help you to max out on the joy that making linguistic connections bring when learning new languages, even – yes, even! – including when that means having to face false friends!

Language Learning and the Atypical Brain: History, Intervention, and Intergration in the Classroom — Kuntal Chatterjee

El Ladino: Lingua del Siekolo 21 — Carlos Yebra López

El ladino es la lingua de los djudios ke fueron arondjados de la Peninsula Iberika a la fin del siekolo 15. Mizmo si la imajen tradisionala de los sefaradim es la de djente aedada ke avlan una lingua arkaika, ya ay 20 anyos ke traverso la internet, en el siekolo 21 l@s ladinoavlantes estan pasando la lingua l’dor v’dor, ansi ke kriando kada diya i diya espasyos ande solo se kulanea el ladino, desde Ladinokomunita a Los Ladinadores, en pasando por Ladino 21. En esta prezentasyon, amostro ke el dezvelopamiento dijital del ladino no es una mesklatina entre lo viejo (sefaradi) i lo muevo (teknolojia), ma un fenomeno muevo ke avagar avagar esta trokando al ladino en una lingua lejitima i valutoza en el siekolo 21. De este punto de vista, la dokumentasion dijitala i la teknolojia ya empesan a ser parte del ladino, mizmo komo el ladino empesa a ser parte de estos esforsos. De otra vanda, kale ke ayga mas espasios virtuales en ladino (Google Translate, Duolingo, WIX), mas klasas de ladino en linya i menos algoritmos de la opresion. Endjuntos adelantamos la lingua!

Motivation for Language Learning – a comparison between Polyglots and my Students — Heidrun Tóth-Loesti

At last year’s Polyglot Conference Global, I talked about my motivation and how it changed over time. I also asked the participants to fill in a questionnaire about their motivation. I got 18 answers. I then made a similar questionnaire for my school students and got 51 answers. My aim was to compare polyglots’ and students’ motivation and draw some conclusions from the similarities and differences. In this year’s conference, I’d like to present the results of this small research.

Personalized Language Learning & Teaching through Content Integration & Experimentation — Sarah Vigil

Linguistic and Cultural Immersion with Online Apps & italki — Janina Klimas

We live in the most exciting time in the history of the world to be language lovers. In this talk, attendees will learn how to create a communicative total immersion experience using online apps, regardless of skill level. The steps to complete the research, preparation, use of online docs, videoconferencing tools, access a native speaker on italki and use online platforms for further learning that facilitate this immersive linguistic experience will be demonstrated in this talk. These interviews can be done in any language and any level. The SLA research supporting this activity and examples of completed projects will be shared. How to do this as a collaborative learning project, as well as a language class activity facilitated by teachers, will be shared as well.

Polyglottery and its Place in the Social Welfare Sector — Jonas Fine Tan Wen Ze

At the start of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Singapore, I was accidentally signed up to translate in the Quarantine Facilities for Migrant Workers. Little did I know that this would become the most impactful and fruitful event in my language learning journey.

It’s hard to imagine any community globally that hasn’t been affected by the pandemic. This rings true for already vulnerable groups such as migrant workers and refugees.

In my presentation, I hope to cover my personal experiences over the past year serving immigrant issues in different capacities – from clinical translations in COVID crisis settings, to planning multilingual mental health hotline responses and surveying immigrant sex workers. I thus hope to advocate how we, as polyglots, can apply ourselves to work for and serve vulnerable communities;  through our passion for language learning, in light of its power to empower.

When immersion cannot happen in the traditional way: language learning as an expat during the pandemic (in the host country) — Réka Tóka

You are so lucky, that you can live in a country where the official and main language is the one which you want to learn. Finally, after many years, you get the chance to learn a language in native environment. You arrive – and you get stuck in lockdown. How do you get the immersive experience then? How do you manage to get to know the culture and the people when everything is completely closed? How do you find new connections and ways for immersion when you are stuck at home for more than a year? And how do you even figure out life in a new country without knowing the language? These are the questions I needed to face when I arrived to live and work in the Czech Republic, wanting to master the language. And after more than a year living here, I can still find new ways for learning. I struggled with the language alone, I almost gave up, tried language school online, study groups, apps, online programs and even more. Now I want to share my experience and what I have learned from this. I found that anyone can create an immersive environment for themselves – no matter where we live. It just requires a bit more creativity and asking a lot of questions.

Online distance + online intimacy – an interesting paradox of teaching online — Anneli Haake

In March 2020, as teachers scrambled to set up their classrooms online, social media forums overflowed with questions about online learning technology. I’ve been teaching Swedish online for over 15 years, and while IT is an important part of my toolbox, I wanted to share another perspective: the close relationships you form with students, especially if you’re teaching one-to-one online. This might sound like a paradox, given that you’re not in the same room as your student. Firstly, the one-to-one environment enables an intense focus on your student. I find myself thinking of them outside of our lessons, wondering how their work meeting went and missing them when they’re on holiday. Secondly, the online environment creates a personal space where you catch glimpses of their everyday life (and they of mine). I’ve spoken to people while they have been travelling, from cafés, or just out on a walk. I’ve ‘met’ partners, parents, children, work colleagues and pets. Thirdly, the combination of closeness and distance creates an interesting paradox. You as an online teacher represent a safe space, where students can talk about things they wouldn’t otherwise share. You’re a ‘safe’ space, as you only exist via computer. One might say this means there’s a lack of hierarchy between teacher and student, and some teachers feel uncomfortable with this kind of intimacy with students. In my 15+ years of experience, this is nothing to be afraid of. It’s one of the most rewarding aspects of teaching and learning online.

¿Por qué deberías aprender el tagalo de Filipinas? — Mark Vincent Ong

Un placer de Sudeste asiático para los hispanohablantes: ¿por qué deberías aprender el tagalo de Filipinas? Agila. Edukasyon. Kultura. Pamilya. Republika. ¿Suenan familiares estas palabras? Cuando uno piensa en Filipinas, mucha gente normalmente piensa que los habitantes hablan el inglés. Aunque es cierto que el inglés es uno de los idiomas oficiales del país y también los medios de instrucción, mucha gente tiende a olvidar que Filipinas era una colonia de España por 333 años y a pesar de que los filipinos en general ya no hablan el español, la influencia hispana todavía se mantiene viva en la cultura filipina moderna a través de nuestros hábitos, gestos e incluso los idiomas. Las palabras que provienen de español componen más o menos 40% del vocabulario del idioma tagalo y los filipinos suelen usarlas naturalmente en el habla cotidiana. Como un filipino que aprendí el español como idioma extranjero, he ganado una apreciación más profunda de nuestros idiomas, historia y patrimonio cultural. Además cuando hablo con mis amigos del mundo hispanohablante, siempre les da curiosidad el tema lingüístico y cultural de mi país. En esta presentación, les contaré a todos ustedes por qué será un placer aprender el idioma tagalo especialmente si hablan el español o son nativos del dicho idioma. También enseñaré algunas frases de conversación y hablaré de algunos falsos amigos graciosos y cómo usar y conjugar las palabras en español cuando hablan en tagalo. Espero compartirles un poco de mi querido Filipinas. A Southeast Asian treat for Spanish speakers: why should you learn Tagalog? Agila. Edukasyon. Kultura. Pamilya. Republika. Do these words sound familiar? When one thinks about the Philippines, a lot of people normally think that the locals speak English. While it is true that English is one of the official languages of the country and also one of the media of instruction, a lot of people tend to forget that the Philippines used to be a Spanish colony for 333 years and despite the fact that Filipinos in general do not speak Spanish anymore, the Hispanic influence is still alive in the modern Filipino culture through our habits, mannerisms, and even our languages. Spanish loanwords make up around 40% of the Tagalog vocabulary, and Filipinos naturally use them in their daily speech. As a Filipino who has studied Spanish as a foreign language, I have gained a deeper appreciation for our languages, our history, and our cultural heritage. Moreover, whenever I speak to my friends from the Spanish-speaking world, they always become curious of the cultural and linguistic features of my country. In this presentation, I will discuss why it will be a treat to learn Tagalog especially if you speak Spanish or are native speakers of the language. I will also teach some conversational phrases and talk about some funny false friends and how to conjugate the Spanish loanwords when you speak in Tagalog. I hope to share a little bit of my dear Philippines with all of you.

Once Upon a Time: What Celtic Folklore Can Tell Us About the People of These Islands — Charlotte Donnelly

Die vielfältige kantonesische Sprache: Lehnwörter durch die Jahrhunderte — Israel Lai

Sinitic languages differ from many other languages in their ways to loan foreign words and concepts. Most notably, they tend to translate concepts instead of transliterating loanwords. However, it was not always that way: ancient Chinese in fact had linguistic exchange with Indo-European languages. Later, calques became the norm, possibly influenced by Japanese-made Chinese vocabulary (wasei kango). Some translations even managed to imitate the original pronunciation (phono-semantic matching). More recently, Cantonese became the language in the family with most apparent linguistic interaction with foreign languages. As code-mixing and code-switching became the norm in Hong Kong, its Cantonese variety developed new lexical and grammatical strategies to incorporate foreign loanwords. Apart from the aforementioned calques, which are shared across the Sinosphere, many are direct phonetic loans, without attempting to hide it. There are two distinct layers of English loanwords in Cantonese: older ones required converting to existing syllables that are the closest equivalents to the foreign words, while newer loanwords are simply adapted to the phonology, causing controversies related to writing. The interaction between Mandarin and other Sinitic languages, or the diglossia, also contribute to the complexity of phonetic loans across the family, as many words are loaned in one language and transferred to another via Chinese characters. This talk explores the differences in these strategies, and why they are adopted in different scenarios or eras.

Leaving Tahiti made me more Tahitian — Moenau Rivera

‘Ia Ora Na! May life be with you. This is the typical welcome you will receive from a native of my island home. My name is Moenau Rivera, and I am from TAHITI! They say: “you can take the girl out of the islands, but you can’t take the islands out of the girl.” I never understood or agreed with that statement more than I do today. Being from Tahiti, French Polynesia, I have many things to be proud of. My island home is rich in so many beautiful things; crystal clear waters, beautiful mountains, black pearls, a deep-rooted history, culture, and so much more. It truly is “paradise.” In the islands of French Polynesia, everyone grows up appreciating all that our land has to offer. We marvel, every day, at her beauty and endless bounty. At the root of all this, that which binds our generations, is our language, Te Reo Tahiti. As the Tahitian language has suffered many setbacks over the decades, due at large to colonization, it has survived. As a native, now living outside of the islands, I was surprised to find a world with such a strong desire and passion to learn my language. So, I founded Poly-lingual, my online Polynesian language learning platform. I use this as my way of helping to revive, share, and perpetuate the languages of my ancestors, and that which is at the root of everything I am. May life be with you all….’Ia Ora Na!

A Contrastive study of phraseological units in three languages (German, English and Spanish) in the strategic sourcing field — Ruben Medina Serrano

Contrastive phraseological research works have risen significantly in the last decade thanks to the interest of the academic community in this field. Despite this new special attention, contrastive studies in the language combination English-German-Spanish still have room for improvement and new research, especially taking into account the use of the most suitable phraseologisms in general and collocations in particular for strategic sourcing. This paper aims to solve this need by analyzing the utilization of English-German-Spanish phraseological units using as a corpus made up of surveys. This research follows the theory of the classes of objects as defined by Gross (1995), focusing on strategic sourcing as a class. To this end, interlingual equivalences and differences between these three languages are identified, contributing to enrich the literature related to phraseological units, enhancing the research community from other disciplines to take into account the correct use of phraseological units in their research works. Findings from this research support the Thun’s (1978) theory about the repetition of certain collocations, particularly in supply chain contexts. One of the strong points of this research is the identification of the substantive Marktanteil through the resources of the Digital Dictionary of the German Language (DWDS, 2021), analyzing and contrasting the fre-quency of use of collocations during different time periods. In fact, the representation of collocations is analyzed by means of the Wortverlaufskurven, DWDS-Wortprofil and DiaCollo resources, performing a diachronic analysis. This study identifies the relevant influence of translations on education and teaching activities.

The Language of Visual Poetry — Chris McCabe

My presentation is focussed on the very first visual poems in history, written in Ancient Greek by Simias of Rhodes (ca 300bc). I will focus on his poem ‘Wings’, which responds to a strange statue of Eros, in which the love God – usually depicted as a boy – has a beard. This poem can be seen as the nucleus for subsequent visual poems, a genre that is currently exploding in the digital world. What made Simias want to create a poem like this in the first place? What was the literary culture that Simias worked in? I will discuss how the genre Simias invented has been transmitted through the centuries via different mediums, from the creation of the codex, through the Xerox revolution, to today’s Instagram. Is visual poetry a universal language that has the potential to transcend the need for translation? And how are today’s artists and poets achieving what Simias set out to do, in the digital age? ‘Wings’ is included in my anthology No, Love is Not Dead: An Anthology of Love Poetry from Around the World (Chambers, 2021), and my presentation will also explore the culture of love associated with Ancient Greek civilisation, through the poem’s questioning of the Eros figure. The foreword to my book is by Laura Tohe, Navajo Nation Poet Laureate, who explains how Eros is anathema to the Navajo people: ‘how can babies have wings, are they supernatural? … And why shoot arrows to make people fall in love?’

Neue uralte Lernmethoden — Heidrun Tóth-Loesti

Memory Palace ist eine gute Methode, um sich Dinge leichter zu merken. Man geht in Gedanken in seinem Haus von Zimmer zu Zimmer und assoziiert die Möbelstücke mit dem, was man lernen möchte. Die Australierin Lynne Kelly hat herausgefunden, dass viele alte Völker ähnliche Methoden benutzt haben. Das Wissen ihrer Vorfahren haben sie in der Landschaft verankert, durch die sie mindestens einmal jährlich kamen. Diese und andere Methoden möchte ich in meinem Vortrag vorstellen, um dann herauszufinden, ob sie auch für uns beim Sprachenlernen nützlich sein könnten. Außerdem möchte ich als Lehrerin ausprobieren, ob ich damit vielleicht meinen Unterricht interessanter und effektiver gestalten kann.

Loanwords: cultural appropiation or cultural enhancement? — Matias Barmat

There are four main reasons of colonization of languages and cultures: territorial conquest, religious imposition, economic interests, and cultural industry. Throughout history, some cultures become minority while others become dominant, and this process is not alien to languages: those who speak minority languages are still forced to learn mainstream cultures and mainstream languages due to their belonging to nation-states and due to pressures of the global market. Within this framework, several questions arise: can we express ourselves with the same accuracy with or without loanwords? Will be able those minority cultures ti survive despite of all the loanwords they have entered? The mainstream cultures have left, for better or for worse, a permanent footprint that we can learn and we must learn without losing our authenticity.

More than just a language lesson — Juliana Cappi

Juliana Cappi teaches Portuguese and English on italki (https://www.italki.com/teacher/6026108). She also is an Art educator with a passion for traveling. After growing up in the Amazon region in Brazil and living in different parts of the country, Juliana studied Visual Arts and Communication and Semiotics. As an Art Educator and language tutor, Juliana has worked in Brazil and Asia, experimented with different approaches on education and studied state of art learning methodologies that, combined with her experience as a language learner, led her to create her own language tutoring lessons on italki. In this video, Juliana talks about her background and shares her 6 steps to becoming a tutor capable of working with diverse topics on Culture and History, which can enrich language tutoring and learning.

Introduction to Sanskrit — Ashish Singh

Sanskrit is an Indo-Aryan language of the Indian subcontinent, which is a branch of the Indo – European language family. Modern Indian languages such as Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Sindhi, Punjabi, Nepali have originated from it. It is also the origin of the Romance languages of Europe. Almost all scriptures related to Vedic religion are written in Sanskrit. Many important texts of Buddhism (especially Mahayana) and Jainism are also written in Sanskrit. Even today, most of the yagyas and worships of Hinduism are done in Sanskrit only. It is counted among the oldest known languages of the world. It is also called the language of the Gods. Professor Ashish, a Sanskrit teacher, is passionate about teaching Sanskrit and creating awareness about this ancient language. In this video he will talk about the origin of the language, historical significance, its importance in shaping the current world and current status of the language.

IKON: the Search of the (Perfect?) Visual Language, beyond Emoji — Cesco Reale

Diminutivo en español: Particularidad de su uso en Hispanoamérica — Sonia Maćkowiak

Sonia’s talk is about the much more frequent use of diminutives in the Spanish spoken in Hispanic America than in Spain and its possible reason being the influence of the local indigenous languages, for example Nahuatl. She also comments on some of the differences in the formation of diminutives in Peninsular and Latin American Spanish. One of them is the linguistic phenomenon of attaching a diminutive suffix taken from the local indigenous language, for example Quechua or Aymara, to a word in Spanish, like in the case of the Spanish spoken in some parts of Ecuador, Bolivia and Peru. The presentation is given in Spanish and the first part is an introduction to the concept of a diminutive covering topics such as its definition, formation and use.

Sonia is a Spanish teacher and Spanish Linguistics PhD candidate. She is originally from Poznań (Poland), but lives in Spain. She speaks Polish, English, Spanish, Portuguese and French. During her 10-year career as an English and Spanish teacher, she has worked in Poland, Spain and the UK. The objective of her PhD research is to create a panoramic view of the geographical distribution of diminutive suffixes in Spain and Hispanic America based on the maps in Atlas Lingüísticos.

Computer corpora in a polyglot context — Michael McCarthy

For anyone unfamiliar with the field, this is a 10-minute introduction to the use of computer corpora in the study of languages, with examples of how different tools can be used to analyse word frequency, collocations, cross-linguistic comparisons, etc. Corpora have revolutionised the way we study languages and, as well as giving access to huge banks of texts in many languages, have given us innovative dictionaries, language learning materials and other useful resources.

Learn languages for your scientific career, use your scientific career to learn languages: “kill two birds with one stone” — Timothy E.L. Douglas

(Slides in English, audio in English, German, Czech, Dutch, Polish and Russian, subtitles in English) Academic scientific research and Engineering are collaborative activities requiring interpersonal soft skills. Both fields are highly international in nature; for example, research into biomaterials for biomedical applications is conducted in many different countries. Despite this, the scientific world gives surprisingly little encouragement to the learning of languages apart from English as a lingua franca, although languages help to build interpersonal connections and international collaborations, and international collaborations offer excellent opportunities for those who want to learn one or more languages and connect with people from other countries and cultures. This talk is a personal story about combining two passions: how languages help a scientific career, and how a scientific career helps language learning, “killing two birds with one stone”. To “practice what I preach”, I will give this talk in the languages which I have used for collaboration, starting with English, then German, Czech, Dutch, Polish and Russian. Corrections are very welcome! I certainly do not speak these languages perfectly, but one does not need to speak a language perfectly, or even well, in order to use the language to make a difference, both in one’s own career and in the careers of others. My goal is to encourage anyone who is interested in languages to start using them in their work, and to try to enrich their work by using languages.

I taught over 20,000 lessons in over 10 years on italki — Annie Takahashi

Annie joined italki as a Japanese teacher in May of 2009. Learn how her students become so successful in Japanese and why she’s still teaching after 12 years and 20,000+ lessons on italki (that breaks down to 5 hours a day, every single day for 12 years). This interview was conducted by KoreKara Podcast exclusively for the Polyglot Conference. The Korekara Podcast is a podcast made for Japanese learners hosted by Eric and Raza. They have fun and insightful conversations with high profile guests in the Japanese Learning space with the goal of helping viewers improve their own language skills and having fun in the process. Annie’s italki Teacher account

Grammar Table: Takin’ It to the Streets — Ellen Jovin

LIVE TALK

A few years ago, writer and polyglot Ellen Jovin set up a grammar advice stand—the Grammar Table—on the streets of New York City and began answering language questions from passersby. At first she stuck to Manhattan, popping up in Times Square, Grand Central, Central Park, and even the New York City subway. Then she began crossing state lines to take questions and shoot the language breeze all over the country. Her travels to most of the fifty U.S. states form the basis of her new book Rebel with a Clause: Tales and Tips from a Roving Grammarian, to be published in July 2022 by HarperCollins. This talk will feature amusing, moving anecdotes from grammar life on the road, showing how in a time of great division, language has the power to unify and heal.

The importance of language learning in adapting to a new culture — Maureen Ojwaka

The core essence of learning a new language is learning to communicate the way the locals communicate, not just translating words. The further you are from your culture, the more important it is to be intentional in understanding the social aspects of the language. Maintaining a healthy curiosity during this process is crucial especially in times of trial and error. In this talk Maureen shares how living in different countries shaped the way she learned languages and how this enabled adapting to new cultures to be a more pleasant challenge.

What I've learned from teaching & learning languages online - My fulfilling teaching lifestyle — Vu Nguyen

Vu Nguyen has been teaching Vietnamese on italki for over 8 years and taught over 5000 lessons to more than 400 students.  He always dreamed that “One day, I will travel around Vietnam and to every city, every village and town, where the local people have diverse and beautiful culture. And I will have lessons with my students there so they can learn the language and culture in the most practical and interactive ways.” Learn Vu’s unique “real life” online teaching style. He not only teaches Vietnamese but immersively teaches everything about Vietnamese culture interacting with local Vietnamese travelling throughout Vietnam. Vu’s italki Teacher Profile.

Cómo hablar alemán desde el primer día — Elisa Polese

¿Es posible hablar un idioma desde cero y desde el primer día? ¡Claro que sí! Y lo vas a ver con tus ojos si vas a participar en este taller. Elisa del canal Smart German for busy people , te va a ayudar a hablar alemán desde el primer día y a tener tus primeras conversaciones en menos de media hora.

Low Saxon - The Secret Language of North-Western Europe — Martin ter Denge

Indigenize your mind: Learn Te Reo Māori — Amelia Butler

LIVE Presentation:

Te Reo Māori is the language of the Māori people, the indigenous people of Aotearoa New Zealand. Like any indigenous language, Māori connects us with an indigenous worldview – something that many of us who grew up and live in Western cultures are disconnected from. Learning Māori and other indigenous languages allows us to obtain an indigenous mindset and live in ways that are in harmony with ourselves, our communities, our ancestors, nature, and Mother Earth. In this talk, Amelia Butler from Learn Māori Abroad will share insights from the Māori language that will connect the audience to an indigenous way of thinking and highlight the differences between an indigenous worldview (Te Ao Māori) and a western worldview (Te Ao Pākehā).