The Language Mastery Show

Keith Brooks is the man behind Pardon My Norwegian, a site dedicated to "everything cool from Norway from the eyes of a Kentuckian." Prior to "marrying" the Norwegian language, Keith sampled a number of a potential languages in a project called 37 Languages. His "speed dating" or "taste testing" approach to choosing just the right "significant linguistic other" got picked up by PRI's The World in 2009 ("Blogging the Love of Language"), and Keith was asked back again in 2010 to report on which language he finally chose to settle down with ("A Language Speed-Dater Gets Serious").  📝 For show notes, visit LanguageMastery.com/show.    🇯🇵 Learn Japanese Anywhere!  Want to learn Japanese through at-home immersion instead of boring textbooks or expensive classes? MASTER JAPANESE, my detailed how-to manual and resource guide, will show you exactly how. Learn more at https://bit.ly/masterjapaneselms.   ❓Ask Me a Question!   Got a question about language learning you'd like me to answer on the show? Leave me a voice recording and you might here my response on the next episode! Record your message here: https://anchor.fm/john-fotheringham/message

Susanna Zaraysky is a self-proclaimed "language geek," a speaker of 7 languages, and the author of Language is Music: Over 100 Fun & Easy Tips to Learn Foreign Languages. She has been featured on CBS, BBC Radio, CNN, NBC, and Univision, and now thanks to me, the world's most famous podcast! (Wink, wink.) In our interview, we discuss the weaknesses of traditional language education, the power of music in language acquisition, the importance of developing a resonance for one's target language and culture, and the fact that you can learn any language, anywhere.  📝 For show notes, visit LanguageMastery.com/show.    🇯🇵 Learn Japanese Anywhere!  Want to learn Japanese through at-home immersion instead of boring textbooks or expensive classes? MASTER JAPANESE, my detailed how-to manual and resource guide, will show you exactly how. Learn more at https://bit.ly/masterjapaneselms.   ❓Ask Me a Question!   Got a question about language learning you'd like me to answer on the show? Leave me a voice recording and you might here my response on the next episode! Record your message here: https://anchor.fm/john-fotheringham/message

Paulino Brener is an educator, performer, social media manager, and one of the few people I know who has managed to successfully blend ALL of his passions—foreign languages, teaching, crafts, social media, and performance arts—into one. All while getting paid to do so! In our interview, he discusses creative ways to harness one's passions in foreign language learning, whether as a teacher or a learner.  📝 For show notes, visit LanguageMastery.com/show.    🇯🇵 Learn Japanese Anywhere!  Want to learn Japanese through at-home immersion instead of boring textbooks or expensive classes? MASTER JAPANESE, my detailed how-to manual and resource guide, will show you exactly how. Learn more at https://bit.ly/masterjapaneselms.   ❓Ask Me a Question!   Got a question about language learning you'd like me to answer on the show? Leave me a voice recording and you might here my response on the next episode! Record your message here: https://anchor.fm/john-fotheringham/message

In my interview with Jason West, the creator of English Out There, we discuss the weaknesses of traditional English schools, methodologies, and materials, and how his approach aims to overcome them. I especially enjoyed his effective, no-nonsense approach to language learning, his efforts to bridge the gap between traditional classroom-based learning and independent study, and his willingness to share before-and-after speech samples of his students.  📝 For show notes, visit LanguageMastery.com/show.    🇯🇵 Learn Japanese Anywhere!  Want to learn Japanese through at-home immersion instead of boring textbooks or expensive classes? MASTER JAPANESE, my detailed how-to manual and resource guide, will show you exactly how. Learn more at https://bit.ly/masterjapaneselms.   ❓Ask Me a Question!   Got a question about language learning you'd like me to answer on the show? Leave me a voice recording and you might here my response on the next episode! Record your message here: https://anchor.fm/john-fotheringham/message

Arkady Zilberman is the creator of Language Bridge and a former simultaneous interpreter in Russia. He focuses on overcoming what is perhaps the greatest impediment to adult foreign language learning success: cross-translation to and from one's native language.  📝 For show notes, visit LanguageMastery.com/show.    🇯🇵 Learn Japanese Anywhere!  Want to learn Japanese through at-home immersion instead of boring textbooks or expensive classes? MASTER JAPANESE, my detailed how-to manual and resource guide, will show you exactly how. Learn more at https://bit.ly/masterjapaneselms.   ❓Ask Me a Question!   Got a question about language learning you'd like me to answer on the show? Leave me a voice recording and you might here my response on the next episode! Record your message here: https://anchor.fm/john-fotheringham/message

Randy Hunt is on a mission to learn a new language fluently every year. His current project is Italian, with Lithuanian as a side-project saved for weekend fun. Randy has his language-learning head screwed on tightly, and I firmly agree with his contention that learners can reach “conversational fluency” (the ability to talk with native speakers on a variety of topics) in a year if you spend enough time doing the right things. As we both have observed, most learners neither spend enough time nor do the right things.  📝 For show notes, visit LanguageMastery.com/show.    🇯🇵 Learn Japanese Anywhere!  Want to learn Japanese through at-home immersion instead of boring textbooks or expensive classes? MASTER JAPANESE, my detailed how-to manual and resource guide, will show you exactly how. Learn more at https://bit.ly/masterjapaneselms.   ❓Ask Me a Question!   Got a question about language learning you'd like me to answer on the show? Leave me a voice recording and you might here my response on the next episode! Record your message here: https://anchor.fm/john-fotheringham/message

In his own words, Dr. Orlando Kelm is "a lucky guy" professionally. Not only does he get to spend his time with two languages (Spanish and Portuguese), but he is also the Associate Director of Business Language Education for the UT Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER), a part of the McCombs School of Business. He is also the co-author of a new book on intercultural relations called When we are the foreigners: What Chinese think about working with Americans.  📝 For show notes, visit LanguageMastery.com/show.   🇨🇳 Learn Mandarin Chinese Anywhere!   Want to learn Mandarin Chinese through at-home immersion instead of boring textbooks or expensive classes? Master Mandarin, my detailed how-to manual and resource guide, will show you exactly how. Learn more at: https://bit.ly/mastermandarinlms.   ❓Ask Me a Question!   Got a question about language learning you'd like me to answer on the show? Leave me a voice recording and you might here my response on the next episode! Record your message here: https://anchor.fm/john-fotheringham/message

With 11 languages under his belt (Update: now 20 as of 2021), Steve Kaufmann is an extremely accomplished language learner. His extensive language learning wisdom in shared in his book titled The Way of the Linguist: A Language Learning Odyssey and his online language learning system called LingQ.  📝 For show notes, visit LanguageMastery.com/show.    🇯🇵 Learn Japanese Anywhere!  Want to learn Japanese through at-home immersion instead of boring textbooks or expensive classes? MASTER JAPANESE, my detailed how-to manual and resource guide, will show you exactly how. Learn more at https://bit.ly/masterjapaneselms.   ❓Ask Me a Question!   Got a question about language learning you'd like me to answer on the show? Leave me a voice recording and you might here my response on the next episode! Record your message here: https://anchor.fm/john-fotheringham/message

Author, linguist, and fighter Antonio Graceffo “pulls no punches” (pun intended) when sharing his views on how to learn a foreign language effectively. His language learning wisdom stems from formal training as an interpreter and translator at Germany’s prestigious University of Mainz, coupled with over a decade of living, learning, and working in South and East Asia. Antonio speaks numerous languages (French, German, Italian, Khmer, Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, Thai and Vietnamese), and has used his language skills to good ends. On top of a stunning trail of articles and books, Antonio continues to fight the human rights atrocities in Burma.  📝 For show notes, visit LanguageMastery.com/show.   🇨🇳 Learn Mandarin Chinese Anywhere!   Want to learn Mandarin Chinese through at-home immersion instead of boring textbooks or expensive classes? Master Mandarin, my detailed how-to manual and resource guide, will show you exactly how. Learn more at: https://bit.ly/mastermandarinlms.   ❓Ask Me a Question!   Got a question about language learning you'd like me to answer on the show? Leave me a voice recording and you might here my response on the next episode! Record your message here: https://anchor.fm/john-fotheringham/message