For me, the delightful tone of the Fourth Polyglot Gathering was set several days before it began. I arrived in Bratislava and was met by Michal, the owner of the apartment that was my temporary home for my first visit to the Slovak capital. He was carrying what I took to be a set of golf equipment or maybe fishing rods. It turned out to be a fujara. As you may well have … [Read more...]
Bratislava Live! Five daily vlogs from the Polyglot Gathering 2017
Hello from Slovakia's lovely capital city. The fourth annual Polyglot Gathering, a meeting for language lovers of all hues, has moved here for the first time to a new venue: Bratislava's Economics University. I've covered each previous Gathering (from Berlin) extensively on the site....last year I vlogged from there for the first time. This year I'm trying my hand at daily … [Read more...]
Zwischen den Jahren: language learning together from the old year to the new
Hello from a frosty and foggy London! If you celebrate the "Western" Christmas, I hope you had a great time. I love the decorations, the traditional, rather heavy British Christmas dinner (turkey, roast potatoes, all the "trimmings"). Now it's 29th December and I've finished the turkey but the cake and mince pies are still going strong. We're in that strange no man's … [Read more...]
In Thessaloniki at the Polyglot Conference (review and video)
The long flight back from Singapore at the end of my "Minimmersion" Indonesian language project in Indonesia gave me time to get stuck into editing footage from the Polyglot Conference in Thessaloniki, Greece, from where my wonderful trip kicked off thee weeks ago. My Conference vlog is now ready (link at the bottom of this post). This vlog is for you if you weren't there … [Read more...]
At large at Language Show Live (vlog)
I've just attended Language Show Live at London's Olympia. The show - which is free - is held there over three days every October (and, since last year, there's one in March, in Glasgow). The event's core is a large hall packed with exhibitors including publishers, app developers, language schools, educational agencies and cultural institutions. I went on Saturday and Sunday … [Read more...]
Polyglot Gathering 3: the movie
"H2GF at Large" is back, this time with a vlog from the 3rd Polyglot Gathering. The film has been strewn across the cutting room floor here at Howtogetfluent Towers since I got back from Berlin (quite a few weeks ago) but now....(drum roll)....here's the vlog. It was actually at the 2nd Gathering, last year, that I decided it would be fun to have a go in this medium and I … [Read more...]
At the Polyglot Gathering 2016
Summer 2016 in Berlin began as language enthusiasts converged from far and wide for the third Polyglot Gathering. The sun was out, the temperature rose, the lilac bloomed. A bright yellow budget hostel in the Lehrterstrasse became once again, for four heady days, the pop-up capital of world language learning. I attended talks and workshops, practised my languages, drank my … [Read more...]
At Language Show Live: a vlog
Now my intensive German preparation for the C1 Goethe Institut exam is behind me, I've finally been able to sit down and finish editing my vlog from Language Show Live (link at the end). The Show is a huge language teaching and learning fair-meets-educational event held once a year at the Olympia Conference Centre in Kensington, west London. This was the third year in a … [Read more...]
“Core Vocabulary” – a second vlog from the Polyglot Conference, New York City
Here's the second vlog from the Polyglot Conference in New York City. This time, the clue's in the title and I share the vlog with you as a bit of multilingual fun. Thanks to the fifty conference-goers who took part. They spoke thirty-six languages. There would have been quite a few more (languages and people), had not various contributions, erm, failed to record. I … [Read more...]
Vlogging the Polyglot Conference
As promised in my recent review of the Polyglot Conference in New York City, here (drumroll) is a short film about my visit. I've long wanted to try my hand at vlogging. There's still a lot to learn, but, once I'd bought a new camera (on the same trip), I started shooting at once. "Howtogetfluent at the Polyglot Conference" is the main video I've got lined up from the … [Read more...]