The Language Mastery Show

David Stirling is a Thailand-based English teacher from the UK and the founder of ⁠Go-Interview.com⁠, which helps English learners build the language skills they need to get their dream job. In the interview, we discuss: How David fell in love with Thailand Why he got into English teaching The different types of teaching jobs available in Thailand How to break through the "intermediate plateau" The pros and cons of group classes and online one-on-one tutoring The importance of choosing a narrow niche in online teaching & business Why David chose business English and interviewing as his niche The power of having sufficiently high stakes in language learning David's best tips for learning Thai The importance of mastering sounds first Why you need to get corrected early and often

Daniel Rusteen is an author, full-time traveler, digital nomad, short-term rental expert, and former Airbnb employee. He is best known for his books Optimize Your BnB and Profitable Properties, but he has also written a book on learning languages: Zilch to Conversational. In our conversation, Danny shares why he failed to learn a foreign language his first two attempts, the methods he used to finally reach conversational fluency in Spanish, how to choose the right language teacher, why and how to use Anki spaced repetition flashcards, why you should learn the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet), and why you should go from "sounds to sentences" in your target language.

Ian Fritz is the author of What the Taliban Told Me, a nuanced look at what it was like to undertake intensive language training at The Defense Language Institute (DLI) in not one, but two languages (Dari and Pashto), serve as an "Airborne Cryptologic Linguist" (ACL) in the United States Air Force (USAF), and spy on the Taliban from low-flying gunships. During his two tours in Afghanistan, he eavesdropped on the Taliban for hundreds of hours, shared intelligence with various Special Forces units on the ground, and—according to official records—totaled 123 "insurgents EKIA" ("enemies killed in action"). But the more conversations he heard below, the more conflicted he became about his job, the war, the killing, and even his desire to continue living. His increasing linguistic fluency and cultural familiarity had humanized the enemy. It created a "moral injury" that Ian feared would never heal... In the interview, we talk about Ian's experience learning languages at DLI, his experience as an Airborne Cryptologic Linguist, what he would do differently if he started a new language from scratch, and his best tips for beginner and intermediate language learners.

Coach Stéphane Angeles is a language coach who helps expats speak better Spanish through expert habit formation strategies, accountability, and one-on-one guidance via Zoom and audio check-ins. In the interview, we discuss: Why you should use a walkie talkie app to practice listening and speaking. Why you should practice writing daily (and how it can help you speak better). How to use the strategies of "Time," "Place," and "Target." The critical importance of mindset and psychology in language learning. Why TV shows are such an ideal language learning tool. Why children's books and TV shows are NOT ideal for adult learners. How to get repetition without boredom. The most common mistakes language learners make. Why you don't need to memorize grammar rules to speak a language well. Why you need to practice ALL 4 skills: listening, speaking, reading & writing. Why the language itself is not the hard part of learning a language. Why you should avoid the "comparison trap" with polyglots on YouTube. Why you shouldn't believe everything you think. Why there is no such thing as a "perfect" language resource or method. How to use the "Barbie Method" to practice multiple languages. To learn more about Steph and her Spanish coaching, check out her Spanish Speaking Academy. For show notes and links to resources mentioned, visit LanguageMastery.com/blog/post/coach-steph.

Gordon Smith and Cynthia Durán are the dynamic duo behind LightSpeed Spanish, where they teach people Spanish through courses, books, and online lessons. In this conversation, we discuss: How Gordon fell in love with Spanish, how Cynthia fell in love with English, and how they fell in love with each How to choose which Spanish accent to learn and tips for mastering Spanish pronunciation The most common mistakes that English speakers make when learning the Spanish language How to overcome the fear of making mistakes and get more speaking practice anywhere in the world Their favorite Spanish language learning resources, including TV shows, Netflix series, etc.

Elena Mutonono is a business coach, author, and former English teacher who helps overwhelmed online language teachers work less but make more while better serving students along the way. In her words: "I help overwhelmed and exhausted online language teachers change their teaching format so they can work less and make more. As a former ESL teacher myself, I know your struggles, fears and anxieties." In this conversation, we discuss: How Elena first fell in love with languages growing up in Ukraine. Why she stopped doing 1-on-1 classes. The most common mistakes language teachers make. How to create a profitable, sustainable, and rewarding teaching business. To learn more about Elena's coaching, books, Smart Teacher's Library community, and annual Online Teacher Summit, visit her website at ElenaMutonono.com.

Despite doing well in other school subjects, Andrew Barr failed French in secondary school. Upon hearing this news, his supportive father assured him: "The Barrs don't do languages. We do maths and sciences. You will never have to speak of a word of French again!" It turns out that this prediction was a bit of the mark. Today, Andrew speaks multiple languages and has built a successful business teaching languages at Real Fast Spanish. In this deep dive into Andrew's language learning journey and philosophy, you will learn: How a multilingual climb up Mount Kilimanjaro inspired him to learn languages (and led to befriending a French actress). The importance of high-quality language input (high-yield listening and reading content). The power of learning with other people (teachers, tutors, and exchange partners) and why you need to avoid the input-only trap. Why motivation, consistency, and discipline are the essential 3 essential ingredients of successful language learning. Why Andrew decided to start learning Polish (his first non-Romance language) and the surprising origins of his family name. The ideal order of operations for learning a new language from scratch and why you should master sounds first. The 24-hour rule for new vocabulary and the simple $5 language-learning tool you should carry with you everywhere you go. The language-learning advice Andrew would give to his younger self to break through his earlier stories and self-limiting beliefs. Why learning a language is akin to learning to play the guitar (you have to learn by doing, not watching). Why your feelings about a language-learning method are more important than the method itself. Why pursuing pleasure in language learning is not always the answer and why Andrew studies flashcards in Anki even though he doesn't enjoy it. The most common mistakes that native English speakers make in Spanish (and how to sound less like a "gringo" by changing just one sound). Why correctly pronouncing vowels is more important in Spanish than getting consonants right. The critical difference between "accent" and "pronunciation" and why the latter matter much more. Andrew's 2 essential language-learning principles: 1) readiness to learn, and 2) high-quality practice. How to build early confidence by setting the bar low and having specific goals in each conversation.

Cara Leopold is the founder of Leo Listening, where she helps "intrepid travellers and adventurous expats improve their English listening skills so they can better understand and better connect with fast-talking native speakers through their love of films." In the interview, we talk about how she learned French and the best way to learn languages through TV shows and movies. For show notes, visit LanguageMastery.com/show

Steve Kaufmann is a hyperpolyglot who has learned more than 20 languages (!!!) and the founder of LingQ, an online language learning platform that helps you acquire languages using content you love. He was my second guest on the Language Mastery Show way back in 2009, and returns 13 years later to offer new insights and encouragement for independent language learners. For show notes, visit LanguageMastery.com/show

Jim and May describe themselves as a "gringo/Mexican international couple" on a mission to connect English speakers to the Spanish-speaking world. Their excellent podcast, YouTube channel, blog, and Spanish immersion retreats in Mexico help learners bridge the gap between learning and actually living in Spanish. In the interview, they share what they have each learned in their own language learning journeys, their best tips for learning Spanish, and favorite resources for immersing yourself in Spanish right at home. For show notes, visit LanguageMastery.com/show For more about Jim and May and tips for learning Spanish, visit SpanishAndGo.com.

Mikkel Thorup is a seasoned world traveler, entrepreneur, consultant, author, and the host of the Expat Money Show. Since he left Canada in his teens, he has circumnavigated the globe over 400 times, visited more than 100 countries, and lived in 9. In our conversation, he shares his best tips for traveling or moving abroad, learning languages, and making the best of the expat life. For show notes, visit LanguageMastery.com/show For more about Mikkel and tips for transitioning abroad, visit ExpatMoneyShow.com.

Andrew Methven is the creator of Slow Chinese 每周漫闻, a weekly newsletter that helps Mandarin Chinese learners immerse themselves in authentic, colloquial language via interesting stories and news events handpicked from Chinese media, social media, and TV. Instead of learning the stilted and stuffy language of Chinese textbooks, Andrew's excellent newsletter trains you to understand the way people really speak and write the language today. In the interview, Andrew shares how he first fell in love with Chinese, differences between Mandarin between Mainland China and Taiwan, and his top tips for language learners. For show notes, visit LanguageMastery.com/blog/Andrew-Methven

From full-time Mandarin immersion at Peking University and Shanghai's Fudan University to years of independent study online, Daniel Nalesnik has spent the last 13+ years on a mission to figure out the most fun and effective way to learn Mandarin Chinese. The result? The creation of Hack Chinese, a powerful spaced repetition tool designed from the ground up just for Mandarin learners, unlike generic SRS apps that struggle to properly handle Chinese characters, tones, etc. In our conversation, Daniel shares the lessons he's learned, what he would do differently if he started from scratch, and how new language learners can get started. For show notes, visit LanguageMastery.com/blog/Daniel-Nalesnik

Scott H. Young is a Canadian writer, programmer, entrepreneur, and metalearning expert. He is the author of the best-seller Ultralearning: Master Hard Skills, Outsmart the Competition, and Accelerate Your Career, and has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The BBC, Popular Mechanics, Business Insider, and LifeHacker. He has applied and refined his principles in a number of accelerated learning challenges, from completing MIT's 4-year undergraduate computer science curriculum in just 1 year, to spending a year abroad in 4 countries with no English allowed, to a one-month at-home challenge to learn Macedonian, his wife's native language. For more about Scott, visit ScottHYoung.com. For show notes, visit LanguageMastery.com/blog/scott-young

In today's episode, I share three more tips for building the three foundations of mastery:

Happy New Year! I hope your 2022 is off to a great start. In this first episode of the year, I would like to experiment with a new format. I have some exciting interviews lined up in the coming weeks, but I'd like to kick things off with a new segment called The 3 Foundations of Mastery. If you already subscribe to my Language Mastery Monday newsletter, you will already be familiar with this framework. If not, what are you waiting for? Head over to LanguageMastery.com/newsletter to get expert tips and tools in your inbox each week. So what are the three foundations and why do they matter? Foundation 1 is Mastering Your Mind, which means conquering fears and self-limiting beliefs that are blocking your path to fluency. Foundation 2 is Mastering Your Day, which involves building better habits and learning more efficiently. Foundation 3 is Mastering Your Environment, which means creating your own immersion wherever you happen to live. One of the biggest lessons I have learned over the last 20 plus years of learning and teaching foreign languages is that you can't master a language unless you also master your mind, your day, and your environment. Harnessing your psychology, wrangling your schedule, and designing your learning environment can each be extremely difficult, especially in our modern world of distraction and instant gratification. But master these three foundations you must if you want to have any chance of getting fluent in a foreign tongue. These factors are what really make learning languages difficult. The languages themselves are learned more or less automatically if you show up and give your brain the input it needs. (And yes, get tons of active practice, too, of course.) But YOU have to constantly decide to show up and put in the time instead of choosing easier activities that provide a more immediate hit of dopamine and serotonin (Netflix + Cherry Garcia, anyone?). Language learning can provide these “feel-good” hormones, too, but the rewards live on the other side of much more time and effort. So to help you win this mental battle, I will be sharing powerful principles and short, actionable tips each week that will help you develop the mindset, habits, and environment you need to learn any language, anywhere. Ready? Let's get started! Listen to today's episode to hear this week's tips for mastering your mind, day, and environment. For a complete transcript of the podcast, visit: LanguageMastery.com/blog/s4-e1

Note: This interview was originally recorded in 2010 as part of a collection of expert interviews included with my Japanese learning guide Master Japanese. This version includes excerpts from the complete interview, which is available as part of the Master Japanese Digital Package available JapaneseMastery.com. Khatzumoto is the man behind the popular Japanese learner blog All Japanese All the Time (or AJATT for short). While attending university in the United States, he figured out a way to immerse himself in Japanese language and culture nearly 24 hours a day. In an extremely short amount of time, he managed to reach an impressive level of fluency despite not living where the language was spoken and even without many of the learning tools and resources now readily available (he began his journey in 2004).

Lindie Botes is a polyglot, YouTuber, blogger, and UI/UX designer on a mission to master 12+ languages, including Japanese, Korean, Chinese, and more. She is originally from South Africa, but has lived all over the world and now calls Singapore home. Though she loves foreign languages, she sees them not as an end but as a means to break down the barriers that otherwise divide us.

Matt is the creator of the popular Matt vs. Japan YouTube channel and the co-founder of Refold: The Roadmap to True Fluency, where he shares the methods he used to reach near native-like fluency in Japanese in just 5 years. I am a big fan of his immersion-based approach to language learning (which aligns well with the approach I share in Master Japanese), his mission to create a more streamlined path to fluency, and his commitment to giving Japanese language learners the tips and tools they need to succeed.

Amanda Hsiung-Blodgett (a.k.a. “Miss Panda”) is an intercultural language consultant and trainer, the author of Let's Learn Mandarin Chinese with Miss Panda! and First Mandarin Sounds: an Awesome Chinese Word Book, and the host of the Playful Chinese podcast. I love her approach to language learning, especially her emphasis on play and having fun. As she puts it eloquently, "Playing is learning. Learning is playing."

Jake Gill (高健) is a Chinese educator, former "Teaching Chinese as a Second Language" graduate student, and the CEO of Skritter, an innovative language learning app that helps Japanese and Chinese learners master characters through active production (i.e. writing on the screen) instead of passive recognition. In the interview, we talk about how and why he learned Mandarin Chinese, why traditional language classes won't get you fluent in a language, what he would do differently if he were to start learning Mandarin over again, the limitations of app-based learning and following "the golden path," the importance of following your passion and curiosity in languages, how to learn to write Chinese characters the "write" way, Jake's current language learning routines and favorite resources, and the importance of daily habits and focusing on process over outcome. If you'd like to try Skritter, use the code LANGUAGEMASTERY at checkout to get 10% off.

Do you live and breath languages? Do you want to make a good living using and refining your language skills every day? Then professional translation might be just the ticket. In today's episode, I chat with my friend Sam, who is a professional Japanese translator and one of the best non-native Japanese speakers I know. We talk about how he learned Japanese, how he broke into the translation industry, and his tips for doing the same.

If you have a burning desire to learn Mandarin Chinese but feel overwhelmed at the very thought, then today's podcast is a must-listen episode for you. Yes, to the uninitiated, Chinese characters look like a random pile of squiggly lines. True, the wrong tones could lead to you inadvertently calling someone's mother a horse! But don't let this scare you away, because today's guests, Phil Crimmins and Luke Neale, have created an innovative language course called the Mandarin Blueprint designed to take these worries away.

Stuart Jay Raj is an Australian polyglot, applied linguist, author, musician, and cross-cultural business consultant based in Thailand. He has presented at two TEDx events (once in English and once in Mandarin), and is the author of Cracking Thai Fundamentals: A Thai Operating System for the Mind. In addition to teaching and writing extensively on effective language acquisition, he has also applied his impressive language skills as a multilingual facilitator in various specialized industries (including aerospace, oil and gas, hospitality, and cyber security) and as the co-host of a Thai travel show called Neua Chan Phan Plaek (เหนือชั้น 1000 แปลก) that explosured fascinating people, places, and things around the world via local languages. Stuart holds a degree in Cognitive and Applied Linguistics from Griffith University, and speaks over 15 languages, including Thai, Lao, Mandarin Chinese, Cantonese, Indonesian / Malay, Spanish, Italian, Danish, Hindi, Vietnamese, Burmese, and various other Asian languages and dialects.

Nick Godwin is a British polyglot, English language coach, and course creator living in Tokyo, Japan. He specializes in helping advanced English learners break through plateaus and helping beginning Japanese learners to communicate through by focusing on practical skills that matter. In addition to running the English language learning site ByLingua, he also helped develop the popular story-based course Japanese Uncovered, and recently launched a blog that blends his love of language, learning, and intentional living called Minimalinguist.

Richard Simcott is a "hyperpolyglot" who speaks over a dozen languages fluently and many dozen to various levels; a feat that led HarperCollins to name him one of Britain's most multilingual people. He is also the co-founder of the Polyglot Conference, an annual event that brings together polyglots, linguists, and lovers of language from all over the world (the event will be online this year from October 16 to 25, 2020). He returns to the Language Mastery Show six years after our first conversation to talk about how he juggles so many languages, the "minimum effective dose" required to move a language project forward, and how he chooses which languages to pursue. He is a fountain of language learning wisdom and I hope you enjoy our conversation as much as I did!

Anthony Metivier is the founder of the Magnetic Memory Method, the host of the Magnetic Memory Method Podcast, and the creator of the Magnetic Memory Masterclass. He has refined his memory techniques learning a number of languages, including Biblical Hebrew, German, Mandarin Chinese, and Sanskrit, and has gone on to teach thousands of learners how to maximize their memories and create unforgettable associations. I like that his approach combines proven ancient principles with modern brain research, while focusing on practical application (e.g. remembering foreign language vocabulary) instead of impressive but ultimately useless memory feats (e.g. memorizing decks of cards or long strings of numbers). Anthony is a truly fascinating man with a wide range of interests and insights, and I think you will get a lot out of our conversation.

Nick Velasquez is the author of the new book Learn, Improve, Master: How to Develop Any Skill and Excel at It. In the interview, we discuss the core principles, strategies, and tools you can use to master any anything, may it be reaching conversational fluency in Japanese or remembering more of what you read.  

Chris Vasselli is a programmer, passionate Japanese learner, and the creator of the Nihongo iOS app, my go-to Japanese dictionary and reading tool for authentic Japanese content. In the interview, we discuss, 1) his language learning journey, 2) how to acquire Japanese the fun, natural, immersive way, and 3) why you shouldn't fear the Japanese writing system.

I first started The Language Mastery Show in 2009 as a short-term experiment. My initial goals were: ① To test drive the new medium of podcasting. ② To serve and empower independent language learners. ③ To have a good excuse to meet some of my linguistic heroes. Now eleven years later, I am happy to say that the podcast has exceeded all initial expectations. I've reached hundreds of thousands of people, interviewed 50 of the world's best language learners, and befriended many in real life. Before kicking off Season 3 of The Language Mastery Show next week, I wanted to go back and highlight some of my favorite lessons from the amazing guests that have shared their time and wisdom with us over the years, including polyglots, hyperpolyglots, linguistics, professors, teachers, and passionate enthusiasts. I've learned countless lessons on how to make my own language learning more fun and effective along the way, and I hope you have gleaned some useful strategies, methods, and resources, too.

Nelson Dellis is a memory athlete, 4-time U.S. Memory Champion, a Grandmaster of Memory, a high-altitude mountaineer, author, speaker, and all-around cool dude. He is now on a mission to reach conversational fluency in Dutch in just one year, applying all the memory techniques, mnemonics, and visualization strategies he used to train for memory championships.

Last week, I shared part one of my most recent chat with the inimitable Olly Richards, who first appeared on The Language Mastery Show back in in April 2014. Since that time, he's gone on to build I Will Teach You a Language (now called StoryLearning) into one of the top language blogs, launch a slew of excellent language courses, and publish a series of great short story books through Teach Yourself. In part two of our wide-ranging conversation, we get into his language learning routines and habits, how he tackles reading (especially in Japanese), the importance of getting a wide range of high-quality exposure to your target language, the power of following your interest and curiosity, and Olly's top tips for launching a successful online language learning empire or just a profitable side hustle to help pay the bills.

Author, polyglot, and "langpreneur" Olly Richards from I Will Teach You a Language (now called StoryLearning®) returns to the podcast six years after our first chat to share what new lessons he's learned and how a high-altitude near death experience led him to the power of stories in language learning. Olly has been quite the busy bee since we last spoke, going on to build one of the most popular language blogs on the planet, launching a series of in-depth language courses, and publishing 16 short story books with Teach Yourself (with more coming soon, including a Japanese edition)!

Jan van der Aa is a Brussels-based polyglot and entrepreneur from the Netherlands, the co-founder of the language learning site LanguageBoost, and the co-founder of Langpreneur, an event series and podcast dedicated to helping language lovers, teachers, influencers, podcasters, YouTubers, etc. turn their passion for languages into profitable, scalable online businesses. Note: This interview contains some adult language.

Arieh Smith, a.k.a. Xiaomanyc (Xiǎomǎ, 小马), is a popular YouTuber who loves practicing Mandarin Chinese on the streets of New York and surprising unsuspecting native speakers. From 24-hour crash courses in new languages like Korean, to learning additional Chinese dialects like Cantonese and Fuzhounese (which are really mutually unintelligible languages), his viral linguistic exploits have entertained and inspired millions of learners around the world. In our conversation, he shares why and how he learned Mandarin Chinese, tips for mastering Chinese characters and tones, and strategies for going from zero to basic conversations in a matter of days no matter where in the world you live.

Jonty Yamisha is a language activist, an "accidental polyglot" in his own words, a "third-generation Circassian refugee," and the founder of OptiLingo, an audio-based language app that uses "guided immersion" to help people reach fluency in foreign languages more quickly. We discuss the Circassian language and cultural history, how he's raising his children bilingually, and how he "steals back" time for language learning amid his busy professional and family life.

Michael and Ellen Robins first met in 2004 while they were studying Spanish in Mexico. Though Ellen had intended not to spend time with any other native English speakers while abroad, Michael's charm and sufficient command of the Spanish language were enough to overcome her initial objections. They are now married, have two children, have visited 23 countries, and have lived abroad nine times. In the interview, they share key lessons they've learned while acquiring Spanish, living abroad, and raising children bilingually.

In 2015, the Danish podcaster Kris Broholm joined me on the Language Mastery Show to talk about how discovering the polyglot community helped pull him out of depression and give his life direction. His podcast, Actual Fluency, is now one of the most popular language podcasts on the planet, with 166 guests to date! Though Kris speaks multiple languages, he sees himself not as a language expert himself, but as a "language learning journalist" who highlights the expertise of the world's best language learners. In this special two-part two-way interview (which is also being shared on his podcast), we each talk about lessons we've learned in the last four years, patterns we've observed after talking to so many polyglots, and how our respective blogs, podcasts, and language businesses have evolved.

In 2015, the Danish podcaster Kris Broholm joined me on the Language Mastery Show to talk about how discovering the polyglot community helped pull him out of depression and give his life direction. His podcast, Actual Fluency, is now one of the most popular language podcasts on the planet, with 166 guests to date! Though Kris speaks multiple languages, he sees himself not as a language expert himself, but as a "language learning journalist" who highlights the expertise of the world's best language learners. In this special two-part two-way interview (which is also being shared on his podcast), we each talk about lessons we've learned in the last four years, patterns we've observed after talking to so many polyglots, and how our respective blogs, podcasts, and language businesses have evolved.

Ruben Adery is a pronunciation and dialect coach who helps language learners, actors, singers, etc. develop native-like foreign accents in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Hebrew, and Italian. I first met him at the 2019 Polyglot Gathering in Bratislava where he gave a talk titled The Sincerest Form of Flattery: Imitating Foreign Accents to Help Master Any Language. The content of the talk itself was great, but the really impressive part was that he had the audience fooled for the first five minutes that he was from Israel when he is in fact a native English speaker from Los Angeles! As Ruben likes to say: "Accents speak louder than words!"

I am pleased to welcome back my first repeat guest on the podcast: the author, teacher, and grammar guru Ellen Jovin. A lot has happened since our first chat over five years ago, including travels all over the United States discussing the inner workings of English grammar with passing strangers at her "Grammar Table," and a new book for English learners called English At Work: Find and Fix Your Mistakes in Business English as a Foreign Language.

Katie Harris is the founder of Joy of Languages, a site dedicated to helping make language learning a joy instead of a chore. She was bored to tears with languages in school, but eventually figured out a more fun, effective approach to language learning that is focused on communicating with people and enjoying authentic listening and reading content. With a Masters in Linguistics from Cambridge University and an MRes in Speech, Language and Cognition from University College London, Katie does a great job peppering in just enough linguistics, psychology, and neuroscience to help language learners, but always keeping the focus on fun and efficacy. We first met at the 2019 Polyglot Gathering in Bratislava where I attended her talk How to Learn a Language by Watching TV and Film. Her philosophy was right in line with my "Anywhere Immersion" approach and I was eager to get her on the podcast.

Gabriel Gelman is the founder of Sprachheld, a popular language learning website for Germans learning foreign languages (and―as an added bonus―non-Germans learning German as a foreign language). On the site, Gabriel shares useful language learning tips and tools, inspirational interviews with polyglots and linguists, and a dialogue-based Spanish course (with other languages slated for production in the future). I've followed his work for some time and was delighted to finally meet him in person at the 2019 Polyglot Gathering in Bratislava.

Elisa Polese is an Italian polyglot known for teaching multiple languages at once (up to ten languages at a time!), including Arabic, Catalan, Dutch, Italian, English, Esperanto, French, German, Greek, Hindi, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. In addition to her focus on multilingual learning, Elisa is also a big proponent of speaking from day one and getting over the fear of making mistakes. I had the privilege of witnessing her impressive multilingual teaching skills firsthand at the 2019 Polyglot Gathering in Bratislava, and it was exhilarating to see so many languages flying around in the room at once!

Dr. Gareth Popkins is a lawyer, historian, and former English and Welsh teacher who is fluent in German, Russian, and Welsh, advanced in French, conversational in Hungarian, Finnish, Italian, Portuguese, and Basque, and now hard at work on Japanese. We first met in June 2019 at the Polyglot Gathering in Bratislava and I knew right away that I wanted to have him on the podcast to share his language learning story and tips. As he puts it: "I've got fluent because I really wanted to and I kept going, despite myself. It's sometimes said that an expert is someone who's made all the mistakes in the book. If so, I'm that expert. I'm still experimenting. I'm still learning…. and still making those mistakes, of course."

Inés Ruiz is an award-winning entrepreneur, a former Spanish teacher at Cambridge University, and now the founder and CEO of Medita Spanish, the world's first language and meditation app. By integrating mediation and mindfulness practices, she hopes to make language learning more fun and less stressful.

Gretchen McCulloch is an internet linguist, the "Resident Linguist" at WIRED Magazine (Best. Title. Ever!), the co-host of the Lingthusiasm podcast, and the author of the new book Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language, a smart, loving, pun-filled look at the evolution of language in the internet age.

Benny Lewis is a fun-loving blogger, YouTuber, author, language hacker, and technomad from Ireland (hence his nickname "Irish Polyglot"). He is the creator of the most popular language learning site in the world as of writing, Fluentin3Months.com, and has authored five books. He has demonstrated again and again that it's possible to reach conversational fluency in a matter of months, not years as most believe. Benny's philosophy on language learning is right in line with my Anywhere Immersion approach, as exemplified in the following quote from his book Fluent in 3 Months: How Anyone at Any Age Can Learn to Speak Any Language from Anywhere in the World: “...where you are isn't what decides whether or not you'll be successful. Attitude beats latitude (and longitude) every time. It's more about creating an immersion environment, exposing yourself to native speakers, and doing everything you can in that language.”

Shannon Kennedy is a language lover, traveler, musician, and writer. She has written extensively for Fluent in 3 Months and Drops, and is also the Language Encourager and Community Manager for the Add1Challenge. In 2018, she co-hosted the inaugural Women in Language event, an online conference to champion, celebrate, and amplify the voices of women in languages. In the interview, we discuss ① why majoring in music led Shannon to start learning German, Italian, and Spanish, ② how her self-study methods differ from how she had learned languages in school, ③ why learning is short, frequent chunks of time is more effective than longer study sessions, ④ her daily habits and how she fits in language learning around work and motherhood, ⑤ why kids don't learn languages better than adults, and ⑥ why discipline is more important than motivation when learning any skill.

Lindsay McMahon is the co-founder of All Ears English, a podcast and site dedicated to helping people learn natural English in a fun, relaxed way by focusing on "connection, not perfection." The show is ranked in the Top 20 Most Downloaded podcasts in Japan, Korea, China, and Brazil, and has been downloaded more than 50 million times! In the interview, we discuss her experience living and working abroad, the most common mistakes English learners make, and the importance of remembering that purpose of learning languages is to communicate and connect. "When you pick up a book or a podcast, remember why you're learning. You are not learning English to learn English. You are learning to connect." —Lindsay McMahon.

Lýdia Machová, PhD is a polyglot, language mentor, interpreter, TED speaker, the former head organizer of the Polyglot Gathering in Bratislava, and the founder of Language Mentoring, a site that shows people how to learn any language by themselves. Her 2018 TED Talk, The Secrets of Learning a New Language, has been watched nearly 4.5 million times, and has brought the language learning secrets of polyglots to a much wider audience than ever before.