My Fluent Podcast

106 - The Language Secret - John Stedman - How to Learn a Foreign Language: Or. How to Speak 10 Languages. Badly

Mar 12, 2022

54:51

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Quick takeaways

Labeling certain languages as dialects can diminish their prestige and cultural value, leading to the loss of heritage and cultural identity.

Embracing imperfection, maintaining a sense of humor, and focusing on meaningful communication are crucial in language learning.

Deep dives

The Importance of Language vs. Dialect

The podcast episode explores the distinction between languages and dialects, emphasizing the importance of mutual intelligibility. It highlights how labeling certain languages as dialects can diminish their prestige and cultural value, leading to the loss of heritage and cultural identity.

How Did People React When You Were Speaking Their Language?

01:33

How to Speak Ten Languages Badly?

02:35

We Don't Need Many Words to Speak Another Language

01:51

Introduction

2min

A Book Review

2min

What Is the Name of the Website?

2min

The Past Is Another Country

2min

Learning a Language in Africa

2min

Was It Difficult to Not Speak in English?

2min

The Language Secret Starts in Africa

3min

How Did People React When You Were Speaking Their Language?

2min

Do People React Differently When They Speak German?

3min

10.

Is It American English or British English?

3min

11.

The Complexity of Banto Languages

3min

12.

Passi Is a Personalized Name in Congalis

2min

13.

The Sun Is Not Your Friend

2min

14.

I Throw You Flowers, I'm a White Bottle.

2min

15.

Learning Another Language

2min

16.

How to Speak a Language Badly

3min

17.

Language Is Not About Perfection

2min

18.

How to Speak Ten Languages Badly?

3min

19.

We Don't Need Many Words to Speak Another Language

2min

20.

Language Learning - The Key to Perfectionism in a Book

3min

21.

Go Will Translate, and Other Translations of Wer Boter All

2min

22.

Don't Give Up on Your Journey

3min

23.

The Obstacles in the Writing of a Book

2min

24.

How to Speak a Language Well?

2min

25.

The Language Secret

2min

John Stedman speaks 10 languages. Listen to this interview based episode of My Fluent Podcast. John, the author of the book (which is titled "The Language Secret") spent many years as a linguist in Africa and frequently met people who spoke up to ten languages. Some of them could not even read. All of them had stumbled upon The Language Secret. The Language Secret is the name of the book, that came out in 2021.

I had a blast reading the book. I had a blast interviewing John as well.

John was so kind and gave more background information about his journey to the Ivory Coast and to Congo in a very interesting interview. On top of that, he shared some useful learning tips with us.

Now living in Germany, John specialises in teaching accelerated language-learning techniques. We wish him all the best and are eagerly awaiting the next two books.

Video version of this episode:

https://youtu.be/5Uc7XB5IF9g

(The video comes with English subtitles, and there is a vocabulary list on a google document: https://docs.google.com/document/d/12GQ3YDyjvG7IC0MWDyXLwN4mTp62MnB3bq9bLI88SbQ/edit?usp=sharing )

The Language Secret - Our Book: The Language Secret

https://www.thelanguagesecret.com/our-book-the-language-secret

Tunnel

Lötschberg Basistunnel Nordportal - Lötschberg-Basistunnel – Wikipedia

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%B6tschberg-Basistunnel#/media/Datei:L%C3%B6tschberg_Basistunnel_Nordportal.jpg