Connected By Language: Polyglot Interviews

EP. 27 - One doctor, Seven Languages, and a Polyglot Community Built From Scratch in Stockholm

🌍 JOIN TANDEM TODAY: https://tandem.go.link/lcLQH [https://tandem.go.link/lcLQH] Jonatan grew up in northern Sweden with Eritrean parents, speaking both Swedish and Tigrinya at home, and was promptly labeled the math kid while his more extroverted sister got the language person title. That label stuck until a passionate Spanish teacher named Lars changed everything, and what started as a school subject eventually took Jonatan through Spain, six years of medical school in Hungary, fluency in Hungarian, Russian, and several other languages, and back to Sweden with a completely different understanding of what languages are actually for. In this episode we explore what it really means when a doctor speaks a patient's native language, why the difference between a direct conversation and an interpreter goes far beyond words, and how Jonatan turned a quiet longing for his polyglot community into Stockholm Polyglots, a growing nonprofit that brings language lovers together every two weeks across ten languages at a time. We also get into the Hungarian saying he opens every event with, and why he believes every language you speak makes you a more complete human being. About the guest: https://polyglots.se/ [https://polyglots.se/] What is Tandem - Language exchange? Tandem is a global language exchange app on a mission to connect the world through languages. Members build confidence and improve their language skills through real life conversations with native speakers in 1:1 chats or live audio rooms.  🔗 Connect With Us: https://linktr.ee/Tandem_App [https://linktr.ee/Tandem_App] 0:00 Intro  4:14 The Language Person He Was Not Supposed to Be  13:31 Language in the Hospital Room  35:11 Building the Community Sweden Forgot to Build  43:32 What Seven Languages Taught Him   🌟 What topics/language should we explore on the next episode of the new tandem podcast? Let us know in the comments!  Thanks for watching Connected By Language: Polyglot Interviews, the new Tandem Podcast.

EP. 26 - Ali: How Obsession, Self-Education, and a One-Way Ticket Built a Career in English

🌍 JOIN TANDEM TODAY: https://tandem.go.link/lcLQH [https://tandem.go.link/lcLQH] Ali Alradhi grew up in Basra, Iraq, surrounded by brothers who traveled the world and spoke English fluently. At twelve, he asked for a dictionary instead of a toy, started reading five to ten pages a day without knowing why, and spent the next decade quietly building an obsession that would take over his entire life. By the time he was twenty two, he had turned down Arabic music, Arabic friends, and anything that wasn't in English, bought a one-way ticket to Turkey, and started over from scratch. In this episode, Ali walks us through how that radical self-taught approach shaped the way he now runs Just English, a language school in Turkey where English is the only language allowed in the building. We get into what it actually takes to hire great teachers, why mindset always comes before grammar in his classroom, what English genuinely represents for people in Turkey who desperately want it but can't always access it, and why he believes the word "impossible" is just another entry in the dictionary. About the guest: https://linktr.ee/alawiiiz [https://linktr.ee/alawiiiz] What is Tandem - Language exchange? Tandem is a global language exchange app on a mission to connect the world through languages. Members build confidence and improve their language skills through real life conversations with native speakers in 1:1 chats or live audio rooms.  🔗 Connect With Us: https://linktr.ee/Tandem_App [https://linktr.ee/Tandem_App] 0:00 Intro 2:07 From Basra to Fluency 13:30 Building a Multilingual Classroom 47:20 What English Really Means in Türkiye 56:30 The Outsider Advantage   🌟 What topics/language should we explore on the next episode of the new tandem podcast? Let us know in the comments!  Thanks for watching Connected By Language: Polyglot Interviews, the official Tandem Podcast.

EP. 25 - From No Plan to Fluent: Frank's Language Immersion Journey

🌍 JOIN TANDEM TODAY: https://tandem.go.link/lcLQH [https://tandem.go.link/lcLQH] Frank grew up in London convinced he was simply bad at languages. Seven years of French at school, five of German, and not a single conversation to show for it. So at twenty-two, fresh out of university, he did the only logical thing: bought a one-way ticket to Buenos Aires with no contacts, no savings, and barely enough Spanish to order a coffee. What followed was equal parts terrifying and transformative. In this episode, Frank walks us through what real immersion actually looks like from the inside: the supermarket anxiety, the elevator small talk, the football team he joined by pretending he understood every word, and the pandemic lockdown that unexpectedly turned Argentina into home. We also get into how that journey eventually led to a language teaching career, a viral moment on Instagram, and a philosophy about fluency that has less to do with grammar and everything to do with the confidence to just keep going. About the guest: https://www.instagram.com/frankly_speaking_english/ [https://www.instagram.com/frankly_speaking_english/] What is Tandem - Language exchange? Tandem is a global language exchange app on a mission to connect the world through languages. Members build confidence and improve their language skills through real life conversations with native speakers in 1:1 chats or live audio rooms.  🔗 Connect With Us: https://linktr.ee/Tandem_App [https://linktr.ee/Tandem_App] 0:00 Intro  4:24 From “Bad at Languages” to Moving Abroad 14:45 Designing Immersion & Building Real Fluency 44:47 Turning Language into Career & Leverage 58:58 Reflection & Mindset

EP. 24 - English Dominance, Dying French Languages, and the Luxembourg Exception

🌍 JOIN TANDEM TODAY: https://tandem.go.link/lcLQH [https://tandem.go.link/lcLQH] Luke is a British-born polyglot who grew up in a national park in northern England, spent his adult life living across eight countries, and now works at a French language school in Lille, advising, testing, and reassuring students from all over the world who come to learn French in an immersive environment. In this episode, he shares what years of living abroad and watching hundreds of students succeed and fail has taught him about what language learning actually takes. We go deep on the psychology of learning: why attitude almost always outweighs environment, what Luke calls the "tea bag effect," and how the fear of speaking to native speakers holds people back far more than grammar ever could. We also zoom out into the bigger picture: how the dominance of English threatens minority and regional languages across Europe, why France and the UK couldn't be more different in how they handle linguistic diversity, and why Luxembourg might just be the quiet model no one talks about enough. About the guest: https://www.instagram.com/lukielingual/ [https://www.instagram.com/lukielingual/] What is Tandem - Language exchange? Tandem is a global language exchange app on a mission to connect the world through languages. Members build confidence and improve their language skills through real life conversations with native speakers in 1:1 chats or live audio rooms.  🔗 Connect With Us: https://linktr.ee/Tandem_App [https://linktr.ee/Tandem_App] 0:00 Intro 4:10 From England to France: A Life Built Around Languages 11:44 Working in Language Education 40:00 Language Diversity & Rights in Europe 57:19 Reflections & Advice 🌟 What topics/language should we explore on the next episode of the new tandem podcast? Let us know in the comments!

EP.23 - Inside CLEAR Global: Helping 3.7 Billion People Get Their Voices Heard

🫂 Donate to CLEAR Global today: clearglobal.org/donate [http://clearglobal.org/donate] 🌍 JOIN TANDEM TODAY: https://tandem.go.link/lcLQH [https://tandem.go.link/lcLQH] In this special episode of the Connected by Language podcast, we dive into the critical mission of CLEAR Global to bridge the "digital language divide". We sit down with CEO Aimee Ansari to discuss why 3.7 billion people remain "digitally invisible". From crisis response in Nigeria to disaster preparedness in Bolivia, we explore how language barriers can become a matter of life or death and why language justice is a fundamental human right. Discover how CLEAR Global uses language data and innovative technology to ensure that half the world's population can finally access essential information in their own tongue. Amy shares powerful insights on the importance of speech data for low-resource languages and provides practical ways for multilingual listeners to volunteer their skills to save lives. Join us for this impactful conversation and learn how you can support the push for global language equality during this year's Podcasthon event. This episode is part of Podcasthon 2026, a global movement where podcast hosts interview NGOs and charities to spread awareness and support for humanitarian wonders across the world. Join Podcasthon 2026: https://podcasthon.org/ [https://podcasthon.org/] What is Tandem - Language exchange? Tandem is a global language exchange app on a mission to connect the world through languages. Members build confidence and improve their language skills through real life conversations with native speakers in 1:1 chats or live audio rooms.  🔗 Connect With Us: https://linktr.ee/Tandem_App [https://linktr.ee/Tandem_App] 0:00 Intro  6:14 Personal Journey into Language and Humanitarian Work 8:46 Low-Resource Languages and Why They Matter 17:39 Beyond Translation: Building Language Infrastructure 25:16 Beyond Translation: Building Language Infrastructure 31:42 Language, Power, and Getting Involved  39:08 The Future of Language Access   🌟 What topics/language should we explore on the next episode of the new tandem podcast? Let us know in the comments!  This episode features a charitable appeal for CLEAR Global as part of Podcasthon 2026. No payment was exchanged for this interview