In this episode, we’re chatting with Dr Howard (Howie) Manns, Senior Lecturer in Linguistics and Applied Linguistics at Monash University. We were so excited to have the chance to speak with Howie, because we are fascinated by his language story and his academic work - from growing up in a monolingual environment and then (unexpectedly) becoming a linguist through joining the US Navy, to working as a researcher who now studies Australian English, Indonesian, tactile (deafblind) Auslan and intercultural communication. We hope you enjoy this great Language Chat - we could have spoken with Howie ..read more

About this Language Chat In this episode, we’re chatting with Canadian-Australian Andrea Plawutsky - currently based in NSW - who has brought her interest in tourism, China and Asia together across her career. From teaching English in north-eastern China, living and working in Thailand and then working in the travel & tourism industry in Australia, we loved hearing about Andrea’s experiences with learning and enjoying language around the world, in both professional and personal contexts. Have any questions for Andrea or for us? Get in touch or join our Facebook group, Language Lovers AU Co ..read more

Penny is a long-time travel lover and in this episode, she tells us about her most recent international trip which was actually a bit of a reconnaissance mission… As she will soon be helping others to discover new cultures, languages and adventures through her new venture, Pip & Co Travel. We chat about Penny’s history of embracing language and culture through travel, how we can all enrich our travel experiences with even the most basic openness and interest in the language and culture of your destination, the challenge of getting locals to engage with you as a traveller, the beauty of peo ..read more

100 EPISODES of Language Chats have now made it out into the world! To celebrate this exciting occasion (and the start of a new year, hello 2024), we’re going back through our archive to reminisce about some of our favourite episodes. We’ve had so many great chats over the last five years, it wasn’t easy narrowing down our top eps! But it has given us an opportunity to think about some of the great discussions we’ve had between the two of us and with many others across the last 99 episodes. If you’re a long-time listener of this podcast, then this may prompt you to go back and re-listen to som ..read more

In this episode, we're welcoming linguist Karla Zuluaga back to Language Chats to hear more about the interesting work she is involved in as a Community Linguist on Groote Eylandt, Northern Territory. Born in the Philippines and having grown up in NSW, a couple of years ago Karla made the big move to the Northern Territory to work with the Groote Eylandt Language Centre. She tells us more about her role as a Community Linguist, the work the centre does to promote, maintain and preserve the language of the island  - Amamalya Ayakwa (Anindilyakwa) - and her experience of the beautiful langu ..read more

Feeling a bit ‘under the weather’ because it’s been ‘raining cats and dogs’? Maybe you’ve found yourself ‘in a pickle’! But if a Danish person said to you that ‘there’s no cow on the ice’ (det er ingen ko på isen), would you know what they mean? Idiomatic expressions are a really interesting part of language and in this episode, we’re chatting with Rune Pedersen, host of The Idiom, a podcast co-produced Think HQ CultureVerse and SBS Audio which explores culture through weird and wonderful idioms from Australia and around the world. Danish native Rune speaks with us about his background and int ..read more

In this episode, we’re chatting with our intrepid traveller Penny, who is on the trip of a lifetime around Australia with her family! After setting off in August 2023 for a 5-month road trip around the country, Penny and her family are discovering parts of Australia that they’ve never been to before, encountering different languages and cultures, and experiencing all the fun, challenges and practical considerations of travelling with a camper trailer in tow. Have a question for Penny about her trip? Get in touch or join our Facebook group, Language Lovers AU Community, to connect with other li ..read more

In this episode, we’re again chatting with two members of the Language Lovers AU Community based in Australia - Han-Yu Ong and Ingrid Botha - who both kindly took the time to tell us (and you!) about their respective experiences of learning other languages, the part that language plays in their lives, and what has motivated and inspired them. Have a question for Han-Yu, Ingrid or us? Get in touch or join our Facebook group, Language Lovers AU Community, to connect with other like-minded language lovers in Australia and abroad. Episode Links My Bilingual Family Podcast - SBS Audio Language ..read more

In this episode, we’re chatting with two Melbourne-based members of the Language Lovers AU Community - Lily Cerôn-Fernández and Deb McLeod - who both kindly took the time to tell us (and you!) about their respective experiences of learning other languages, what has motivated and inspired them, and where languages have taken them in their lives. Have a question for Lily, Deb or us? Get in touch or join our Facebook group, Language Lovers AU Community, to connect with other like-minded language lovers in Australia and abroad. Episode Links Victorian Curriculum - Languages - VCAA Alliance Fra ..read more

AI (Artificial Intelligence) is a hot topic at the moment, and in this episode of Language Chats we’re speaking with Melbourne-based conversation designer Grace Frances, whose work involves training AI assistants to interact with people and the creative aspect of conversational AI. We chat with Grace about what conversation design is and what it entails, how she found herself working in this exciting new field from a background in linguistics and copywriting, the ethics of working in this space, and the potential opportunities that AI could provide from a language and accessibility perspective ..read more