The “Event” has grown out of last year’s less formal Edinburgh language meet-up (staged at short notice by Maureen Millward and Gary McCann, both of whom were very much involved once again).

Whereas last year there was one day of short talks in the basement of a pub, this year’s programme was a two full days of talks. The focus: the Indigenous Languages of the Isles (Ireland, Britain and surrounding smaller islands). Talks ranged much wider than this, though and I’ve pulled out three stands that emerged for me: “community connections”, “language histories” and “language learning”.

Community connections

The programme kicked off with the first of two talks delivered in Scots. The language of “Lowland Scotland” developed on a close but separate trajectory to English. Following the union with England, English gradually displaced Scots from public life but continued to be widely spoken among the people.

Broadcaster Frieda Morrison is the driving force behind the Scots Radio podcast. Her work reflects a vibrant new confidence around the language. Morrison noted that though there have been some institutional developments to promote the it (such as the Scots Language Centre), resources for spoken Scots are still scarce.

The Scots community has not yet emulated the success of the Gaelic college on Skye which is training generations of new creatives to staff the BBC’s online pages in Gaelic, Gaelic Radio and TV. As a first step, Morrison called for at least one Scots BBC radio programme.

The second speaker, Carlos Yebra-Lopez also spoke about language revival. Ladino or Judeo-Spanish is the Romance language which developed among communities of Jews in Spain (and then elsewhere round the Mediterranean following their expulsion in 1492). There was a steep decline in the use of the language in the nineteenth and twentieth century so that only a small numbers of speakers use the it today and they are dispersed throughout the world.

Yebra-Lopez is involved with online communities such as Ladino 21 small YouTube channel and the Ladino Forever Facebook group. “Digital diasporas” like this facilitate the “digital updating” of the language. He argued that they help fight geographical isolation and facilitate intergenerational transmission. It’s important that there are online communities where interaction is conducted exclusively in the target language. Digital projects can feed back in to connections in the real world, such as visiting people you’ve “met” previously online.

Poet Chris McCabe is a based at England’s National Poetry Library in London. He’s edited Poems from the Edge of Extinction an anthology of work written in endangered languages (with translations into English). There’s work included in languages as diverse as Portuguese-Cantonese creole (or Patuá)(Macau), Livonian (Estonia), Maori (New Zealand), Inuktitut (Canada) and Ainu (Japan).

Poetry is an intense art form that “lives intimately in the body of the speaker and the recipient”. What happens in the body of the speaker when the language is suppressed? When forced to speak French, Alsasian children felt cut off from their mother tongue. They felt “wretched, out of shape and kind of distorted to themselves” (McCabe on a poem from the anthology by Claude Vigeé (b. 1921)).

Michael Dempster held up his early 1980s Sinclair ZX spectrum computer as he launched into “Cyberscots – Scots Language in the Age of the Internet”. The talk was delivered in Scots and, as a native speaker of English, I had no problem following it. Apart from the bits I couldn’t understand at all, that is.

The focus on his talk was mainly on the presence of Scots in early internet forums. Think chat rooms from the mid 1990s. I wonder if we could even call this a “domestic digital diaspora”.

Today there is a range of online education resources both for learners and to help native speakers become literate. Back then in the early days of the net, people were writing with little or no formal education in their spoken language.

In the questions afterwards, somebody asked why no Scots on the Scottish Parliament website. This got me wondering what the debates are around the aims of Scots revival. Should the aim be a more thoroughly trilingual “official Scotland” with people able to live as much of their lives in English, Gaelic or Scots as possible? Should English remain the main language of business, the media, law with “everyone” using Scots as the main spoken vernacular (like Luxembourgisch or Swiss German)…?

One way for us as learners to replicate some “community”, whatever our target language, is to set up a language exchange (also sometimes called a “tandem”). This is where two people who are learning each other’s language team up voluntarily for conversational practice in both.

However, in her talk “More than a language exchange partner. Unconventional Ways to Practise and Maintain a Foreign Language”, Italian teacher Ermy Pedata argued that such exchanges are often boring. They don’t survive for long because they’re “too transactional”. She urged us instead to get get involved with others on the basis of shared interests. For her this had meant throwing herself into English language online forums about her artistic passion, cartooning, as a way to get practice in English

Language histories

Hilbert (‘not a misspelling of “Gilbert”‘) Vinkenoog is a keen learner of the Frisian language of his ancestors and a history YouTuber. He’s also a student on the famous Cambridge University course in Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic and drew on his studies to give us an impressive overview of the linguistic history of Scotland in the Early Middle Ages: “a wonderful, complicated mess of language, dialect, culture and identity that continues to this day”.

We were encouraged not to think about hard borders between communities of speakers of Celtic languages Gaelic, Cumbric and Old Welsh and the various forms of Anglo Saxon and Norse. It is more likely that there were overlapping and circles on the language map that shifted over time: “the Olympic rings gone walkabout.”

For the Celtic languages, who better to take the story forward than a man who’s spent time learning all six? In “Celtic Connections” language expert Simon Ager compared and contrasting vocabulary across the two branches of family (Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Manx; Welsh, Cornish, Breton).

Once you start to investigate historical etymology and understand the different modern spelling conventions, you can see that many words have shared roots. The meanings may have diverged over time. Workaday words in one language may have an elevated sense in another. Sometimes five languages share a word…and an outlier has plucked something completely different from somewhere else.

Mark Atherton is an Oxford academic and author of Teach Yourself Complete Old English. His talk combined an introduction to the language and its literature with a mini lesson.

While later English has borrowed extensively from other languages, many of Anglo-Saxon words are still recognisable such as the names of parts of the body such as sculdor (shoulder), muð (pronounced “mooth” for mouth) and bodig itself (pronounced as Modern English body)

Atherton then took some riddles to explore the Anglo Saxon imagination. Some Anglo Saxon poems were maybe meant to be sung and this session finished with a rendition of one to a melody that the speaker had written himself.

Like Yebra-Lopez and McCabe, Tony Fekete stressed the link between politics and language, but this time through the prism of publishing.

He’s built up a a library of over 500 antiquarian books all notable either because of the language they’re in or because they’re “language books”.

We saw how geopolitical changes led to the need for new language books: a Swedish to Russian dictionary published shortly after Finland was transferred from the Kingdom of Sweden to the Russian Empire (in 1809); one from Danish to German that came out after the Germans snatched Schleswig Holstein (1867).

Fekete’s slides of included first parts (published 1746) of the Scottish Gaelic New Testament (printed 1746) the bible in Breton (1827). I wondered how different the trajectories of both languages might have been if they’d had a complete bible in accessible language as early as 1588 (Welsh).

We were also treated to some hilarious English from a very old multi-lingual phrasebook from the Austro-Hungarian empire. Before you buy a phrase book (or, for that matter, any language learner book), look carefully at the credentials of the author !

Language learning

Àdhaim Ó Broin‘s talk on Gàlig Latharn: the Gaelic dialect of South West Caithness links up history with my third theme: language learning. Ó Broin is a Gaelic teacher, translator and media consultant, whom we heard speak at last year’s Edinburgh language meet up.

This year he explored the language of his mother’s people, the MacLeods, some of whom were among the last native speakers of Caithness Gaelic in the early twentieth century.

He told us the story of how he’s pieced together enough of what was a very distinctive dialect of the language to speak it. At the end of the talk he read out some old family letters that he’d translated from English back into the Gaelic that their authors would actually have spoken.

The research of cognitive linguist (and medic) Thomas H Bak had in his sights the old view that multilingualism is divisive and confusing, a prejudice that is “often fed by ideologies of linguistic superiority”.

There’s an equally old alternative view that multilingualism enriches society and the individual. Bak’s research adds to our understanding of the significant cognitive benefits of speaking more than one language.

There’s no room for complacency, though, language lovers! In the policy battles between science and ideology “ideology always wins”. Best, then, to go on the attack. Monolingualism is an “ideology of fear” and “the only people who get confused by the presence of more than one language are the monolinguals!”

In some parts of the World, it’s policy to give autistic children just one language (that old “they’ll get confused” argument again). Yet, in her doctoral research, Shereen Sharaan has found no evidence that bilingualism harmed the executive (memory) function of children with autism.

Thus grows the body of evidence that autistic children who are part of a bilingual family or community should not be discouraged from learning both languages.

In the whole history of language policy and of education, can there be any story more damning than the failure of the Irish state to revive Irish? Frustrated with the test-focussed, rote-learning approaches in the Irish school system and misfiring attempts to introduce a conversational element, inspiring Irish teacher Patricia Mac Eoin has co-authored the new “Michel Thomas Method” Irish course. True to the method, she explained that her course tries to show the core patterns to help students “get to grips with the basic structures of the language which differ so much from English”.

Ned Maddrell (d. 1974) was the last native Manx speaker but the language was carried forward by people learned the language to fluency from him. A mini language revival is now underway on the Isle of Man.

In “Back from the Dead. The Revival of Manx” linguist Christopher Lewin looked at different ways of conceptualising the relationship between today’s Manx and its history as a spoken language.

Many language enthusiasts want to stress the continuity of old and revived Manx prefer to say that the language never “died”. Yet, if it didn’t what’s the achievement of reviving it? Is it better, asked Lewin, to recongnise the needs of a community of adult second lang learners of revived languages.

Lewin also explored some what the expert on Australian aboriginal language revival, Ghil’ad Zuckermann calls a celebration of “linguistic hybridity”.

For example, some adult Manx learners seek “authenticity” by opting for archaic structures and “hyper Gaelicisms” at the expense of some structures or expression which are authentic Manx but just happen to be very similar to English. Old native speakers would probably have found such contortions very odd. They would also have been struck by how English phonology slips through under the wire, unnoticed while would-be “purist” learners focus their searchlights on syntax and lexis.

Yet if we could conjure up a group of old-school Manx speakers would they be the best people to give feedback to today’s learners?

As Amanda Patterson pointed out in the last presentation of the weekend, non-specialist native speakers often aren’t the best people to turn to for advice on polishing your language. They don’t have the necessary perspective. It’s discouraging to be given too much feedback that simply isn’t actionable. A skilled tutor will focus on a limited number of points which it’s within the learner’s current ability to work on. As a learner: be specific on what you want corrected.

I love the larger language events but was great to attend a relatively intimate event with the sixty or so other attendees. The organisation was efficient and friendly, with a meetup in a pub the night before and a meal in a restaurant on Saturday night.

The Institut Français d’Écosse provided a stately venue. It was also a somewhat ironic location for a celebration of linguistic respect and diversity, as the French state is no friend of what it dismissively terms “les langues régionaux” or indeed of any language, other than French! We’ll pass over that, though, because the bistrot was excellent…and so were the espressos.

If you think the Language Event might be for you, look out for my upcoming vlog (I’ll post it here when the edit is done). Look out too for further “Events”! Edinburgh was the second one so far, following Melbourne 2019. Next up will be Aukland (18-19 July) and then it’s back to Melbourne once again (August 2020 TBC). Thanks to Richard, the other organisers, speakers and participants for a weekend to remember.

First vlog: One the Eve

Second vlog: Day One in full

Third vlog: Day Two in full

The post At the Language Event: Edinburgh appeared first on How to get fluent, with Dr Popkins.

New Year, New Language Summit 2026

Dates: 14-17 January 2026. Venue: Online only. Cost: Free with paid upgrade option.

In January 2026 this is online event founded by Kris Broholm from the Actual Fluency will take place for a fifth consecutive year. I’ve spoken several times but for 2026, I’m coming on board as co-organiser. There will be 20+ speakers and the focus will be AI for language learning. Previous years focussed on the challenges of learning as a beginner (2022), intermediate (2023) and advanced student (2024), motivation, mindset and memory (2025). It’s free to register and watch live for free, with access to the recordings of the talks for 36 hours after they take place. If you upgrade to a paid VIP ticket, you get permanent access to the recordings and some other bonuses.

For more details click here: => New Year, New Language Summit.

The Polyglot Conference 2026

Dates: Online “Global” online only Event date TBC for 2026 and separate physical event in Bologna, Italy 18 – 20 November 2026.
Venue: 2026 physical event: Bologna, Italy
Cost: various prices.
Accommodation/catering: Not applicable for the online event. You find your own accommodation. No evening catering but lunch is usually available at or near the venue (but not usually included in the price).

Richard Simcott was one of the first of the “internet polyglots”: enthusiasts for learning multiple languages “just because” who started posting videos on line or blogging. He had the idea of bringing together serial language learners in real life and the result was the first Polyglot Conference, in Budapest in 2013.

The “Polyglot” branding reflects the origins but Richard is always at pains to stress that the event is for “everyone who loves languages”.

The Polyglot Conference takes place in October and has moved from place to place each year since: Novy Sad, Serbia (2014), New York City (2015), Thessaloniki (2016), Reykjavík (2017), Ljubljana (2018) and Fukuoka (2019)(links are to my reviews and vlogs). When COVID finally allowed, the in person event convened again, in Chulola, Mexico (2022), Budapest, Hungary (2023), Valetta, Malta (2024), Taipei, Taiwan (2025) and, in autumn 2026 the event moves to Bologna, Italy.

The ever-changing location always means that some people are unable to attend but opens up the event to others.

The biggest Conference so far has been Ljubljana (around 600). The first Conference was a select bunch of only 140 participants and I wasn’t one of them. I only found out about the event late in the day. I’ve attended all the rest, though, and the core format has always been the same: two (more recently three) tracks of talks or workshops over days one and two, after an opening get together at the venue “on the eve”.

The speakers tend to be a good mix of academics, other language professionals such as journalists, writers and teachers, graduate students and well-informed language learners from varied backgrounds. The talks are aimed at an educated, interested audience (rather than specialists). While there are always a good number of “general” talks there is some theming to the programme each year too, both to pull out a particular topic and to reflect the languages and culture of the year’s location.

In addition, there have sometimes been connected language courses held in the few days before the event, like the three-day one I attended in Icelandic before the Reykjavík Conference.

Catering has varied from venue to venue. Most years lunch is included in the ticket price. It’s always been up to participants to make their own arrangements to eat in the evening. Participants also sort out their own accommodation.

I cut my vlogging teeth at the NYC Conference in 2015, with the brand new little Canon G7X that I’d just bought in the B&H camera store in the City.

The talks are professionally filmed for the Conference’s YouTube channel.

The Polyglot Gathering 2026

Dates: Online Gathering: 5 to 8 March 2026; in person event, Brno, Czech Republic 27 May to 31 June 2026.
Venue: Brno, Czech Republic.
Cost: participation fee (from Euro 160 rises after 31 Dec ’25) + your own accommodation.
Accommodation/catering: limited accommodation may still be available, otherwise, arrange yourself.

For a period in late 2013 it looked as if the second Polyglot Conference would be in North America. In response, a group of Europeans led by Judith Meyer started to plan an alternative European language event for 2014 for those who wouldn’t be able to travel. As it turned out, the second Conference then ended up being in Serbia, but the Polyglot Gathering went ahead anyway and has never looked back. There were about 250 people at the first one and that had grown to nearly 700 in 2019.

The 2014 Gathering was the first of language event that I ever attended. I can remember feeling rather nervous when I arrive at the live-in venue: a youth hotel about fifteen minutes’ walk north of the Hauptbahnhof. I was a little uncomfortable first because I didn’t know anybody and second because I didn’t think of myself as a “polyglot”.

I need not have worried as the event was welcoming and friendly and I’ve attended and spoken at every Gathering so far. In addition to the link to my 2014 review, above, I reviewed in 2015 and can offer you these further personal insights: 2016 vlog, 2016 review, 2016 vlog, 2017 review, 2017 daily vlogs, 2018 daily vlogs, 2018 review article and vlog and 2019 daily vlogs, 2019 review article and vlog.

I also did three fun, daily vlogs from the Polyglot Gathering Online 2020, with lots of the attendees participating in the vids via Skype or Zoom.

When we finally got to meet in person again, in Teresin, near Warsaw, Poland, I was there, camera in hand: 2022 daily vlogs. I shot some great interviews at the 2023 event (also in Teresin), which I’ll post when they’re ready (Update December 2024: I was nearly ready with three videos, when my computer died and I lost the lot (unbacked up – doh!). I’m having to start the edits again.)

The essentials of the Gathering format have remained the same since the beginning.

Held at the end of May/beginning of June, the it’s a full, five-day programme of talks and workshops running in parallel tracks.

Judith and many of the original team were keen Esperantists and imported various features of Esperanto meet-ups. So, the gufujo is a room set aside in the evening for quiet, informal conversations, coffee, tea and biscuits by candle- light for those who want a change from the packed bar. The “krokodili” room is a place where you can speak in any language except your native tongue.

Unlike at the Conference, there is a full evening programme too. One night there’s the “international culinary evening“, (people bring typical sweets, cheeses, biscuits, drinks from their countries, to share). There’s usually a concert with a guest performer (singer or, one year, a magician) and then, on the last night, an “international cultural evening” where attendees themselves perform (instrumentals, singing, dancing, poetry). speakers dinner.

In recent years (and this year) language classes and trips out and about to surrounding sights have been available (separate booking) before or after the Gathering.

How do the Conference and the Gathering compare?

Of the two language events, the Conference programme has a slightly more academic flavour. The Gathering is slightly less formal. There are fewer academic speakers and more enthusiasts. I’d say there’s slightly more of an “alternative” feel and a slightly higher geek element to the Gathering too.

To my mind, these differences are marginal, though. There’s a large overlap of attendees and speakers and main difference in vibe comes from the longer duration and wider programme of the Gathering, plus its fun evening events.

The flip side is that it can be quite exhausting to throw yourself fully into the Gathering for five days. Some people don’t attend all sessions but prefer to chill, catching up with friends, playing board games in the communal spaces or browsing the sponsor book stalls and the book swapping boxes.

After three years in Berlin, the Gathering had outgrown the Berlin venue and relocated to the Economics University in Bratislava. Many of the stalwarts organisers remained just as involved. Judith, though still a speaker, handed over the reins to Lydia Machova and Peter Baláž for 2017 and 2018. Peter and Jitka Vršovská the head organisers in 2019 and Petr then took on this role in full, helped by his colleagues at E@I .

Like the Conference, the Gathering has its talks professionally filmed, so you can check out its YouTube channel (only after you’ve watched my vlogs…, mind )

LangFest (no future events currently planned)

Dates: Joint events in 2022 in Chulola, Mexico just before the Polyglot Conference. 2023: no event. Not clear yet whether LangFest will return in 2025.
Venue: No information yet.
Cost: to be announced.
Accommodation/catering: no.

Tetsu Yung set up the not-so-snappily-named North American Polyglot Symposium in Montreal in August 2016 to provide an alternative to North Americans who didn’t possess passports couldn’t make it to events in Europe.

Since then, the event has had a re-brand as “LangFest” and took place again in Montreal in August 2018 and 2019.

I haven’t managed to attend myself yet. To judge by all the reports I’ve had, and from what Testu and co-organiser Nicolas Viau told me when they joined me for an interview on YouTube before last year’s event, it’s pretty similar to the Conference and the Gathering. I’ve only heard good things about event.

In 2020 it was not possible to hold the in-person LangFest in Montréal, due to the pandemic. Instead, in a surprise shot from left field, there were LangFest-run events online in combintation with the Polyglot Conference Global. The same thing happened in 2021. In October 2022 LangFest’s organisers organised some events in co-operation with the Polyglot Conference in Cholula, Mexico.

Check out LangFest’s YouTube channel!

The Language Events (Melbourne, Edinburgh)(no future events currently planned)

Dates: No events announced for 2025.
Venue: varies.
Cost: “Early bird” tickets (bought online in advance) are cheaper. Possible to buy tickets for first or second day, or both.
Accommodation/catering: no

The Language Events are a new spin-off from the Polyglot Conference. Conference organiser Richard Simcott co-operates with local organisers.

There have been three “Events” so far. The first was in Melbourne, Australia.

It was a two-day programme of talks over one weekend late in September 2019, with an opening reception on Friday night. So, the same structure as the Polyglot Conference, but on a smaller scale. There was just one track of speakers, rather than two or three.

The Language Event: Edinburgh first took place at the end of February 2020. It grew out of a smaller language meet up that was put together at short notice in the Scottish capital in Edinburgh in early 2019. I travelled up for that with my friend Kris Broholm. The organisers were Maureen Millward and Gary McCann. In 2020 year they brought Richard in too to build things out under the Language Event brand. The “Event” was hugely enjoyable (and the last trip I did before the UK was “locked down” a coupel of weeks later).

After a three year break due to you know what, the Language Event took place in Edinburgh for a second time in April 2023.

The most recent Language Event was n Penang, Malaysia, 16 to 17 December 2023.

Check out my review of the Language Event Edinburgh 2020 (including three daily vlogs).

The Language Show

Dates: usually late autumn. 2026 dates TBC.
Venue: Online only.
Cost: was £12 in 2025
Accommodation/catering: Not applicable.

The Language Show used to be called Language Show Live and has been taking place for one long weekend (Friday, Saturday, Sunday) in the autumn in the UK’s capital since the early 1990s.

There’s a trade fair feel and the venue is one of London’s best-known exhibition centres, Olympia.

Talks and workshops are put on around a central space filled with stands and displays. The exhibitors include language book publishers, private language schools, start-ups showing off their new apps, language employers and the state-backed language institutes (such as Cervantes, Goethe, the British Council and the Institut Français). There are periodic performances of music and dance during all three days.

The Language Show caters for several overlapping groups. First, teachers of modern foreign languages (to children infant through to 18). Second, teachers of English as a foreign language Third, language professionals such as translators and interpreters. Fourth, recent language graduates looking to forge a career in any of these fields. Adult independent language leaners will enjoy browsing the stands, talking to stall holders and the free taster classes. My impression is that the organisers have been trying to boost the number of talks aimed as us over the last couple of years as well.

I’ve been attending with enthusiasm annually since 2013. You can check out my 2014 review and review and vlogs from 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019. The event has been held online only since 2020.

ExpoLingua

Dates: ExpoLingua Berlin 27-28 November 2026.
Venue: Tagungswerk, Lindenstraße 85, 10969 Berlin. Cost: TBC. Online events have been free so far
Accommodation/catering: no.

As with LangFest, the only reasons I haven’t been to ExpoLingua yet are the usual ones of cost and time. My impression is that it’s Berlin’s answer to the Language Show. I get the feeling, though, that there’s more of a focus on exhibitors aiming at adult learners.

Women in Language (no future events currently planned)

Dates: 4th-6th March 2022 9am to 9pm (London). No event in 2023. Not back in 2024-5. Will it return in 2026? Not expected to
Venue: online only.
Cost:Was USD 29. In future: TBC.

The three-day Women In Language is five this year. It’s always been an on-line only event and the organisers Kerstin Cable, Shannon Kennedy and Lindsay Williams aim to “inspire and empower everyone who loves language.” If you can’t attend everything live, you’ll have the recordings for catch-up. While the event highlights female and non-binary voices as speakers, everyone and anyone is welcome to attend. I’ve signed up for every one so far.

For this year’s event speakers will talk about three key aspects of language spanning the three-day event. Parallel Perspectives: looking at holistic language learning and other aspects of our lives parallel to language learning to help you these areas to become better language learners.
(Re-)Connected Perspectives: the different ways languages connect or re-connect people.
New Perspectives: Innovative ideas and strategies for language learning.

Any other language events?

Are there any language events that I’ve missed from the list? Let me know in the comments below and drop any questions you may have too. I’ll do my best to answer them or put them to the organisers directly myself!

The post Language events: the ultimate guide 2026 appeared first on How to get fluent, with Dr Popkins.

I missed the legendary first incarnation (Budapest, 2013) but I attended Novi Sad (2014), New York (2015), Thessaloniki (2016), Reykjavík (2017) and Ljubljana (2018). I cut my teeth as a vlogger at the 2015 event. Just before, I bought my Cannon G7X vlogging camera at NYC’s famous B&H camera store.

I edited each of my three vlogs from last year’s Ljubljana event overnight so that they were out for the beginning of the following day. That meant being up till after 3am each day and was, shall we say, a bit much. This time, I’ve gone to the other extreme…. Yes there’s been a long delay as I completed editing and publishing my large Asia Diaries vlogging project in Russian, German, Basque and Welsh. Better late than never, though. For those of you who were at the event, I’m sure you’ll enjoy reliving what are no longer the freshest of memories!

Enjoy and a big thanks to all those who took part!

On the Eve

There’s traditionally a “welcome” event at the Conference venue on the Friday night before things kick off properly on Saturday.

On the eve of the Polyglot Conference Fukuoka, there was a full day’s “pre-Conference” programme. It included a Japanese tea ceremony and karate demo. There were group Irish, Welsh and Basque lessons from sponsors italki.com. In the evening the organisers Richard Simcott and Tim Keeley welcomed us on the main stage. There was then a brief speech (in Japanese) from the president of the host venue, Kyushu Sangyo University. To finish, there was a spectacular performance from a troupe of young taiko drummers.

Enjoy the first and second vids. I’ll update this post with third vlog when it’s ready.

Day One

Here’s the vlog from the first of the two full days of talks.

Day Two

To finish, check out the vlog from the second day.

The eighth Conference was to take place 16-18 October 2020 in Cholula, Mexico. For the first time it was to combine with LangFest (usually in Montreal) with the LangFest team organising events before after and during the Conference weekend. Now, due to the on-going COVID-19 pandemic, Cholula will be in 2021. The 2020 action will move on-line with Polyglot Conference Global.

The post Polyglot Conference Fukuoka: Daily Vlogs appeared first on How to get fluent, with Dr Popkins.

How to make the most of language exchanges

As always, many Gathering speakers focussed on language learning methods and this year there were two talks on language exchanges. Rick Dearman is a speaker who pulls something new and interesting out of the hat each year. His advice was based on the experience of doing over five hundred language exchanges in a mattar of months: once you’re through the getting to know you stage, you’ll run out of things to say, so make an effort to schedule topic you want to talk about. Prepare a little bit to get more out of it. Don’t be afraid to move on if you don’t click but look forward to the friendships that can develop if an exchange continues.

Rick hasn’t enjoyed language exchange apps. He felt they tended to slide towards dating. Sometimes, he said, it’s better to work with video turned off and use sites where people don’t have to show photo.

Tobias Dickmeis actually works for one of the apps: Tandem. This, he said, was carefully moderated to ensure appropriate behaviour. He suggested starting an exchange at an upper beginner level (A2 level). By that stage, you’ll be able to cope with fuller phrases and will be able to talk about the past (both really helpful when the aim is to converse!).

The brain, neuroscience and language learning

Talking of the brain, perspectives from neuroscience were a second theme for me this year.

Tim Keeley‘s talk “Multiple languages in one brain – examining the executive function” It was a detail-packed talk drawing on a wide range of the literature on types of memory (short term memory, working memory, long term memory) to remind us of a wide range of solid advice such as the desirability of “deep processing” to learn vocab (try and put the information in your own words, discuss it with somebody else, create mental imagery around something you want to learn…), the benefit of learning vocab in the context of a few words (a “chunk”) or a whole phrase. He also looked at how anxiety can effect the brain’s performance and confidence can boost it. Learners of multiple languages can prevent interference from different languages (for example by strongly identifying with a culture, imagining a particular native speaker is speaking “through you” and refining your pronunciation (so reducing the potential interference from words that sound similar in two languages).

Marta Nowakowska is a veterinary science doctoral student and a first-time Gathering speaker. She explained some of the neuroscience of speech by focussing on what happens to speech when things go wrong with different parts of the brain (“aphasia”). If Broca’s area is damaged, patients may speak “telegraphically” with individual (relevant) words but not in full phrases. If Wernicke’s areas is damaged, patients may produce fluent speech which, unbeknown to them) makes no sense. Research techniques for exploring language functions in the brain include “wada tests” (chemicals are injected which temporarily shut down parts of the brain), “dichotic listening” (different signals fed to both ears) and ultrasound scanners (“Doppler sonography”).

Indigenous and minority languages: how can we help?

Brian Loo has previously presented on individual endangered languages. This time he took a step back with an overview “Preserving indigenous languages: maintaining cultural diversity in an increasingly uniform world”. He pointed out the scary rate of loss of languages. The picture is not entirely hopeless. Some South American states recognise indigenous languages in their constitution and such recognition and wider legal status which can really help boost the pride and sense of worth of minoritised linguistic groups. Outsiders taking the step of learning the language can have a similar effect.

In “Hey, polyglots! Endangered languages need your help!” Dave Prine focussed in on the language revitalisation work done by linguists. You want to help? Well: “There are more languages out there than documentary linguists and so we need as many linguists as we can get”. Even if you don’t want to go the whole hog and train (like Dave) as a professional linguist, there are opportunities for those with “a good ear, great teaching skills, an understanding of linguistic patterns, or a simple desire to learn minority languages”.

If you want to learn more, Dave mentioned two similarly-named bodies: the Endangered Language Project and the Endangered Language Alliance. There’s also First Voices (flagged by Brian Loo).

Method and motivation in language learning

Katie Harris‘s talk was rooted in the research and packed with practical tips on how to learn by watching films and TV. Choose materials that you feel excited about and will draw you in, she said. I learned the difference between captions (in the language of the production) and subtitles (in a different language). If you want text on screen, switch to captions as soon as practical but don’t be afraid to use subtitles in the earliest stages.

A great advantage of recordings for listening practice is that you can pause and rewind. Listen as many times as you can to squeeze out as much info. You can start to decipher how the words are “smushed together” in connected speech. Try to get transcripts of your audio and video that you can then use to check your comprehension.

“Accents speak louder than words” quipped Ruben Adery at the end of his talk on how to improve your accent. He’s an English teacher and YouTuber who himself enjoys imitating accents. He suggested that we should lock on to typical errors in English made by, say a Spanish or Portuguese speaker, and transfer them back into our Spanish or Portuguese.

Judith Meyer was one of the founding organisers of the Polyglot Gathering back in its Berlin days and is still a regular speaker. She’s just published a series of books on how to learn foreign alphabets though what she calls “script hacking”. She used the Greek alphabet to the approach: add one letter at a time; over learn (don’t stop when you think you’e got it). Make full use of cognates (words familiar from a language you know, including international words like café or restaurant.

The title of Mariana Lisovska‘s talk was guaranteed to appeal to many of the inveterate language learners in our midst: How to motivate yourself to learn more languages. New to me. Be clear on why you are learning; log your progress; be aware of the ups and downs you’ll face. I was reassured that there was some overlap with my own talk, in which I too stressed the importance of habit and also of “keeping it relevant” (to your long- and short-term goals and to your level).

Our “self talk” is a key part of our attitude to language learning – self talk – inner script – Lina Vasquez took an NLP perspective and urged us to keep a watchful eye on our “inner script” and to “reframe our self talk”. “I need…. I must….”. Instead tell yourself “I get to do it….I’m good enough. I’m improving.” See challenges not problems ahead. “Words are the driving force behind everything that we do”. If we’re not kind to ourselves we’ll be less inclined to be kind to others, she said.

Anja Spilker is a Mexico-based German teacher whose method is to combine workouts with language learning. In “How physical activity increases your language learning success” she explained the thinking. Get moving! Increase the supply of oxygen to the brain! Everybody got moving a bit in the session, especially Dave and Marta, who gamely demoed some of Anja’s “moves” while chanting German nouns and their gender. In short: “burn and learn”!

Jokers in the pack

And finally, two highly entertaining talks (an no less information-packed for that).

Aleksander Medjedovic spoke last year on “Love in the mirror of languages”. This year he moved to, erm, frustration: “Don’t be offended: Insults, curses, swears…the ‘adult content’ that nobody knows but everybody learns in a foreign language” words in different languages. A Serb, who grew up in Germany and lives in Turkey, he had a lot of first-hand experience to draw on but he ranged more widely. He explored the reasons for insults (power plays, overreaction) and ranged across common themes. It’s not just, erm, intimate relations or religion (there are a lot around priests and nuns in Italy). Be careful in Turkey before you insult anybody’s football team and, in South America, the poor old donkey always gets it.

Finally, Stefano Suigo brought down a packed house with his talk on Italian hand gestures: “Dizionarietto dei gesti dell’italiano”. Maybe words are overrated, I caught myself thinking.

If I get over that thought by next year, where will I be for the 2020 Gathering? The high point of the closing ceremony was, as always, the announcement of next year’s venue. After three years in Berlin and three year’s in Bratislava, we all already knew that there would be a new location next year. Nobody expected the small Polish village of Teresin, 30 km from Warsaw.

The new venue is a hotel with conference facilities and there’s enough accommodation for everybody there or very nearby. Maybe it’ll be a return to live-in style of the first three Gatherings at the A&O Hotel in Berlin….except that the A&O Hotel had a maximum conference capacity of around 300 people. 600+ in Bratislava this year is the record to beat. I’ll be there….meeting, mingling, chatting, vlogging and – I hope – speaking once again. The dates are 26th to 30th May 2020. Maybe you’ll be able to make it too?

The post The Polyglot Gathering: learner “takeaways” review appeared first on How to get fluent, with Dr Popkins.

The National Eisteddfod is a huge cultural and social celebration (with a dash of politics and commerce thrown in). Everything is held in Welsh (with simultaneous translation through headphones for those who need it). It’s only the largest of a whole pyramid of local and regional eisteddfodau (that’s the plural of eisteddfod) held throughout Wales (and beyond, for example in the Welsh-speaking community of Patagonia, Argentina). There’s also an international eisteddfod (at Llangollen)

The National Eisteddfod is a huge inspiration for the new learner (as I found in 1988 when I first attended, at Casnewydd/Newport).

It’s also a great day out for tourists or the merely curious.

And don’t be shy if you don’t speak Welsh!

Before too long, I’ll expand this post into a fuller guide.

If you’re thinking of attending “y Gen” (as the National Eisteddfod is nicknamed), you won’t want to wait for that. (2021 UPDATE: for the second year running, this year’s National Eisteddfod will be held on-line).

I’ve re-issued two daily vlogs I shot at the 2018 National Eisteddfod in Caerdydd/Cardiff (the capital city of Wales).

The vlogs will give you a sense of the “hwyl” (fun) that surrounds this annual highpoint on the Welsh language calendar.

You’ll not only get a real flavour of what the Eisteddfod is all about, you’ll hear quite a bit of Welsh too. Don’t worry, though! I guide you through in yr iaith fain (English or “the thin language”).

If you’re keen to find out more about Welsh, my good friend and fellow Welsh-learner Kerstin Cable explores in her “Dabbler’s Guide to Welsh”. It’s a great value taster of what to expect if you dive in to Welsh. Check out her info and enrolment page here: Kerstin’s “Dabbler’s Guide”.

You can also check out two of my favourite posts here on Howtogetfuent: Ten reasons to learn Welsh and Ten ways to support Welsh, even if you don’t speak the language.

Questions about the eisteddfod? Just drop them in the comments below!

The post What is the Eisteddfod like? appeared first on How to get fluent, with Dr Popkins.

This year the Polyglot Gathering daily vlogs are back….but at a more leisurely pace.

All four daily vlogs have appeared weekly on Dr Popkins’ How to get fluent YouTube channel in the “big”, Thursday slot. Coming up next (mid July) I’ll also be doing a “takeaways” vid to camera, talking in more detail about some of the talks that I attended.

I’m also linking the vlogs below, with a bow on top, for those of you who, erm, like your vlogs blogged.

So, without further ado, come savour the Gathering with me and meet some of the other great participants who were up for sharing their impressions!

The Opening Evening:

Day One:

Day Two:

Day Three:

Day Four:

If you enjoyed the Polyglot Gathering daily vlogs, please share and subscribe to the YouTube channel. It really makes a difference. If you’ve found other vlogs from the event, share them with us all in the comments below!

Related content:

2022 Polyglot Gathering relived. Daily vlogs

2020 Polyglot Gathering online. Daily vlogs

Language events: the ultimate guide

The post Polyglot Gathering daily vlogs 2019 appeared first on How to get fluent, with Dr Popkins.

Meet the creators

The chair was British Library translator-in-residence Rahul Bery.  Like me, he had a grandfather who was a native Welsh speaker. He hasn’t learned the language but he now lives in Cardiff and his children are in Welsh-medium education. It was Bery’s interest in “the permanence and cultural importance of the Welsh language, and other non-English but indigenous languages of the UK” that led him to organise the event.

Marcas Mac an Tuairneir (Mark Spencer-Turner) earns his living as a playwright, poet and musician. He writes in Gaelic and in English. He read us his Gaelic poem “Outlander” in the original and then in translation then in English.

Christine De Luca is known for her poetry in English and in the Shetlandic dialect of lowland Scots. (Scots itself developed in parallel with its close English relative further south.) Scots was brought to the Shetland from the end of the fifteenth century where it was influenced by Norn, the extinct Scandinavian language that had previously dominated on the island.

De Luca first read us a poem about her parents. It sounded beautiful and there was certainly a flavour of the Scandinavian to it. Then came a second poem that she wrote while on a residency in Iceland: “This life is never enough”. You can hear her speaking Shetlandic on the Wikitongues YouTube channel:

Gwenno Saunders released her first solo album in 2015, the Welsh-language Y Dydd Olaf (The Last Day). A second album followed in 2018: Le Kov(The Place of Memory). That’s in Cornish.

Personal routes into creative activity in a minority language

Both Christine De Luca’s parents were Shetlanders and she grew up there feeling “very grounded” as a native speaker. As a girl she left her community go to school in distant Lerwick (the capital). There she experienced a lot of regional varieties of the language.

Mac an Tuairneir comes from Irish community in York. He had one grandparent on each side from Ireland. Neither spoke Irish (Gaelic) but the memory of what he called “native bilingualism” was in the family. One great grandmother came from County Clare and had spoken Irish. HIs parents are folkies, they played albums from bands like Clannad (Irish), Runrig (Scottish – sing in English and Gaelic) and Capercaillie (who preform traditional Gaelic songs and also sing in English).

At Aberdeen University he studied French and Spanish languages and also started learning Scottish Gaelic. He started writing poetry in the language to convey his experience as a gay, (newly) Gaelic-speaking man.

Gwenno Saunders was brought up in an area of Cardiff that has not had many Welsh speakers for over a century. Her parents had moved there and were both language campaigners. She spoke Welsh with her mum and Cornish with her dad. He also speaks Irish and got her into Irish dancing. As a 17-year-old she moved to Las Vegas as a dancer. Later, living in London, she had a “moment of rebellion” joined the “Pippettes”, a group into “the trashiest, most flippant” elements of Anglo-American culture. As Saunders got older she started to reconnect with Welsh. This culminated her first solo album.

“Tir Ha Mor”, the first track from An Kov, Gwenno Saunders’ Cornish-language album:

Different traditions and their relationship with the “modern”

Rahul Bery asked whether these were “bardic tongues”. Were the borders between poetry and music were more fluid than in English? Was it easier to move between genres?

Mac an Tuairneir said that in the Gaelic tradition “if a poem wasn’t sung, it wasn’t any good at all”. The purer literary tradition of Gaelic poetry is relatively new. It only really goes back to Sorley MacLean (1911-1996). Mac an Tuairneir said that he tries “to do both”.

Gaelic music always had a traditional basis. This is being carried forward and developed by contemporary musicians (he mentioned Alasdair Whyte and also Mary Ann Kennedy and her relatives in the Campbell family (“tradition bearers” as this report puts it)).

There is a problem though, said Mac an Tuairneir. Enchanting though this music is, there is a “complete disconnect” to the worlds of many children from non-Gaelic speaking homes who now receive Gaelic-medium education. They need to see a connection. There needs to be more diversity. People involved in Gaelic do admire Welsh pop as there has been nothing like it in Gaelic.

Gwenno Saunders contrasted the current on-line world with the situation in the 1960s and ’70s. Then there was a hard-fought campaigns for a Welsh television channel (culminating in the creation of S4C in 1981). Now TV was much less relevant. Although S4C is investing in on-line content, the internet is a “sea” and you cannot control what children are engaging with. Yet this the medium today for “normalising the minoritised experience”.

Creators in a minority language: added responsibility and opportunity?

Rahul Bery said that when he writes poetry his only concern was that very poetry. Perhaps artists in these languages create “on behalf” of the culture in a different way?

Mac an Tuairneir said that when he was studying modern languages at Aberdeen University, there was indeed a special atmosphere in the the Gaelic lessons; a real sense that students were being given a gift to carry forward.

If Scottish Gaelic was to survive, it was important to have as many forms of media as possible. He felt that he was contributing to “keeping Gaelic poetry going”. There is no celebrity culture in Gaelic but poets are the “rock stars” of the language in the sense that they can open the lid on taboo subjects like the LGBT experience.

Saunders said that she enjoyed the innovation that is possible in Cornish, given the two hundred or so year gap in its development.

Welsh groups of the 1990s like Gorkys Zygotic Mynci, Super Furry Animals, Yr Anrhefn had rejected the idea of responsibility for the language. Welsh language pop and rock music had always been very politicised, but maybe the “tsunami” of the end of Communism had meant the end of idealism….

No escape from English?

Bery noted that Gaelic novelist Angus Peter Campbell insists on writing a weekly Gaelic column without a translation. What then is the role of English, if any? Is English a “crutch that you have to have” with bilingual editions and a translation of lyrics?

De Luca said English was a “bridge” not a crutch. She has published editions of her work in French Norwegian, Danish and Icelandic. This had only been possible through an intermediary English version. There just aren’t translators who know Gaelic and such other languages. She could always annotate an English translation to explain those “untranslatable” Shetlandic words for English readers or for translators into a third language.

Gwenno Saunders said that with music it was easier to bypass English. Even if you can’t understand the lyrics, you can “feel”. Film can do this too. She had recently watched a Basque film with sub-titles in Italian. Another way forward was performing poetry in the original with screen of moving images.

She noted that unfortunate tendency in Wales for direct translation from English officialese instead of “reimagining” in Welsh. In my experience, this is certainly a problem but, as Mac an Tuairneir pointed out, sometimes the issue isn’t bad translation. It’s that the reader have just hasn’t had the opportunity to learn to the specialist vocab and register. We don’t criticise complex English as a medium just because many native speakers won’t fully understand medical or legal texts. We need higher education in the languages as well, Mac an Tuairneir said. Saunders agreed.

The politics of “minoritised” languages

When Welsh, Cornish are mentioned at all, said Bery, it is often in a mocking tone: laughing at the Welsh word “ambiwlans” (ambulance) or the trope about going into a pub and the locals switching from English into Welsh to exclude “us”. The underlying allegation is that people are being difficult only to annoy.

Bery called for the political meaning of “Britishness” to be extended, not only in terms of more recent migration but also of communities that existed before English. All too often Britishness just means English and anything else is suspicious.

Throughout the evening, Gwenno Saunders described these as “minoritised” rather than as “minority” languages. That’s what I do on this site, too, because none of the communities that speak them ended up marginalised by accident. Even if linguistic shift follows predictable patterns, it is not a “natural” process. These communities are where they are because of the effects of unfavourable patterns of power.

De Luca contrasted the fate of Shetlandic language in the twentieth century with what happened was happening around 1900 in Norway. There, a political decision was taken to standardise and develop the Nynorsk (New Norwegian) language.

The same could have happened in Shetland, but didn’t. The Faroese linguist Jakob Jakobson did fieldwork on Shetland in the 1890s and published a massive “Dictionary of the Norn Language in Shetland”. There was another discussion around standardisation in the 1950s but there was “no appetite” for the project.

Since then, there has been a lot of language attrition on Shetland. Much of the vocabulary was related to the local economy and, De Luca explained, the decline of fishing, peat cutting and other traditional activities has led to words going out of regular use.

The “death knell” for Shetlandic, she said, was the oil boom that started in the 1970s. Schools were “flooded with southerners”. Parents stopped talking to their children in Shetlandic. The local council did not tackle the problem and even today is still “halfhearted” about the language.

De Luca goes round schools and put on free events and provide resources. “We are the stewards. We need to help children feel good about it”, she said. She was “fine” with English in schools, so long as it does not demean Shetlandic.

Gwenno Saunders contrasted the state funding for the Welsh language with the situation in Cornish, where the revival is “entirely grass roots”. The availability of state funding in Wales maybe encouraged Wales’ culture of interminable committees. In Cornwall, in contrast, people just “get things done”.

Saunders saw the potential for much more of a network between the indigenous languages “so that we can all learn from each other to create sustainability and a new dynamic”. Part of the problem, she suggested, is that all the languages are on the geographical peripheries of a a very centralised UK. “The UK isn’t working. It cannot deal with other cultures besides the dominant one”, she said.

De Luca said that in Scotland there were strange counter-currents; a “retro thing” going on, with people writing in archaic Scots.

Depending on definitions, Scotland is home to between 100,000 and one million passive Scots speakers of Scots. Nevertheless, the language hasn’t been spoken in formal situations for a couple of hundred years. De Luca appeared sceptical of some attempts to revive – or create – a modern standard Scots. She said that she would rather the language creatively in new contexts than try to “go back in time”.

She saw a risk that Scots became “a self-indulgence”. The language, she said, “shouldn’t be a plaything for the sophisticate”. Here she took a swipe at the new Arts and Humanities “Delocalising Dialect” research network which, the internet tells me, “explores how dialect may be untethered from geographical location to generate new distinct critical and creative meaning”.

An “open” family affair?

During questions and answers at the end of the evening, the discussion returned to question of roots and the wider appeal of that the indigenous languages need if they are to grow.

Gwenno Saunders pointed out that the communities were really quite open and fluid. Her her parents had grown up in England. She also feels a strong connection with the multicultural community that she grew up with in Cardiff (including the UK’s oldest Somali community). She said that she also felt a strong connection with the community in Cornish, through the internet.

Saunders still stressed the sense in which language is about “community and closeness”. It “ties you in”. That’s the answer, she said, to those who are against Welsh and who ask, with hostility, “why can’t people learn Mandarin instead?”. I’d say that Saunder’s message was that people do still want an identity and language can be a big part of this.

Mac an Tuairneir said that people came from all over the world to study Gaelic at the Gaelic College on the Island of Skye and his links with that institution had given him international a network of friends.

“Interest, commitment and respect are what you need. Family connections are a bonus”, said De Luca.

So, family connections or not, don’t be shy of starting to learn an indigenous or “lesser-used” language. Check out some of my other articles on Welsh and Gaelic (links below) and my posts on Basque (see the articles tab at the top of the site). Even if you’re not going to learn, there’s a whole culture out there you can explore and – depending on the medium – you might even get by without a translation.

Related posts: Ten reasons to learn Welsh ; Ten ways to support Welsh, even if you don’t speak the language ; How to remember the gender of Welsh nouns and when it matters ; Dr Popkins Method? Getting fluent in Welsh ;The visibility of Scottish Gaelic: a signage safari ;

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You can imagine my dismay when, only a couple of days after I’d bought my rail tickets – and at less than a fortnight’s notice – LingoFringo was cancelled, without explanation.

What seems to have happened is that the organiser failed to market it properly (or engage the help of people who could). As the date approached he lost his nerve and cancelled the venue. He refunded participation fees but then walked away, in effect shifting the loss from himself to the poor would-be attendees who’d already bought travel tickets and accommodation. What shabby behaviour!

After initial disappointment and anger among those who’d planned to attend, momentum developed to have a slimmed-down event: just Saturday afternoon, rather than Saturday and Sunday.

Gary McCann and a couple of other locally-based language enthusiasts agreed to step up to co-ordinate and booked a room at a local tavern.

I decided not to write off my train tickets and make a weekend of it.

I love a good train journey and the four hours underway from London to Edinburgh was a chance to do some work on my Japanese.

Burns Night haggis hunt and the quest for breakfast

It was Friday 25th January, the day that Scots celebrate their unofficial national poet, Robert Burns.

Once installed in my lovely AirBnB apartment, I met up with Kris to go in search of a traditional Burns Night meal of haggis, tatties (potatoes) and neeps (turnip). I didn’t expect any success…. For the full story, here’s my “first evening” vlog:

The following day, Kris and I met up early with the plan of geting some breakfast. That proved rather more complicated than the previous evening’s food challenge.

There was some time for a bit more tourist exploration, though one of us seemed less enthusiastic about braving the elements than the other. To find out who that was, check out vlog number two, when my cinematography takes off into full Art House mode

The lineup

At mid-day, we arrived at the pub where the event was to be held. Our room filled up pretty quickly. Altogether there were about twenty people there. Some were Scots based in Edinburgh, non Scots, including a guy from the Carribean and a woman from Lithuania who currently live locally and one or two who’d flown in from abroad (France, Germany) on the tickets they’d bought for the original event.

The schedule was very simple: a series of fifteen mintue talks, with one coffee break.

Lindsay Williams kicked off with an introduction to Guarani (stress on the last syllable), an indigenous language spoken in Paraguay. It’s one of the few American languages that is still strong. It’s spoken by a majority of the population (including people of European or other non-indigenous descent) and many people in the countryside are monolingual.

Lindsay’s introduction was not just description of some of Guarani’s sounds and structures. She also shared her first hand experience from a recent trip to Paraguay.

Kerstin Cable‘s talk was an introduction to Welsh. She taught some basic phrases and spoke about the revival of the language. Like Lindsay, she noted how speakers of a minority language often mix in words from the dominant one (English, Spanish) and how this can help you as you begin to learn. Welsh was the first language I got fluent in (apart from my native English). I’ve been learning for thirty years through ups and downs. It’s a shot in the arm to share again the enthusiasm of somebody who’s recently started.

Maureen Millward is a language learner of great energy and experience. She grew up speaking Scots and English. Like Kerstin and Lindsay, she’ no stranger to learning lesser-used languages. This time, though, she focussed on general tips for intermediate learners who feel they’re stuck on a plateau. Variety is the spice of life. She talked about the importance of reading, how to use the italki site to book teachers and find exchange partners. Podcasts are a great thing to use, too, she stressed.

I’ve recently started Japanese, so I was delighted that Jess Brown was another LingoFringo speaker who agreed to attend the replacement event. She runs Nihongo Connection (a language club and events for intermediate Japanese learners). Her Japanese taster session was fun and interactive (think bowing). We also learned the numbers. I of course felt like a great “expert” (because I’ve already done the numbers ).

As you’d expect, the languages of Scotland were centre stage at the event.

Richard Raw gave us an overview of Scottish Gaelic. I already know that, like Welsh, it’s a “verb, subject, object” language and that the initial sounds of words “mutate” into other sounds according to a set pattern in set situations. I also know that the Vikings had been active in the west of Scotland and around the Irish Sea. What I didn’t know was the extent to which contact with Old Norse (and widespread bilingualism) explains some of the ways Scottish Gaelic differs from Irish.

Ed Robertson introduced the Scots language, in Scots. We could understand nearly all of it though, as the language is very close to modern English. The syntax is more or less the same. The differences are mainly in pronunciation and vocabulary. From the 1100s onwards, the two languages developed from Old English along their own paths for hundreds of years.

Scots’ use as the language of government and high society came to an effective end with the Union of Scotland and England in 1707 but the language continued to be widely spoken in subsequent centuries (and Burns and others wrote in it). Today, though, everywhere weaker than it was, it is still relatively strong in North East Scotland (Moray, Aberdeenshire). It is one of Scotland’s three official languages, though that feels a bit tokenistic to me.

Àdhahm Ó Broin learnt standard Gaelic and then went on to learn the barely surviving Argyll dialect. He stressed that Gaelic is a “language continuum” from Ireland over to Scotland (something I had a real sense of on my first visit to the Highlands last October). His passion for the language in all its richness was infectious and I enjoyed the discussion with the audience afterwards about similarities and differences with the Welsh and Irish experiences.

I was certainly glad that I made the effort to go up to Edinburgh. I spoke to quite a few of the participants afterwards and they all seemed to feel that it had been worth it. It wasn’t just about the new things that we learned, it was the inspiration of listening to speakers passionate about specific languages and language learning in general and in seeing old friends, making acquaintance with potential new ones.

Would you have enjoyed it? Sample the atmosphere in vlog number three (rather less tongue-in-cheek than the first two).

If the answer is yes, why not check out similar language enthusiasts’ events like the Polyglot Gathering, Polyglot Conference or LangFest. Or, maybe you could find (or organise) a meetup near you? UPDATE – DECEMBER 2019: THE SUCCESSOR EVENT TO THE MEETUP WILL BE THE EDINBURGH LANGUAGE EVENT, 29th February to 1st March 2020. I’m a speaker….Maybe see you there?

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Many of the attendees are language professionals (translators, interpreters), educators (school teachers and teachers of English to adults).  Other target groups are commercial language course providers and recent language graduates or others with language skills looking to use them in a new career. It was encouraging that this year there seemed to be a bit more emphasis on adult independent language learning learners (that’s us, dear reader).  There was a talk track specifically for “People who love languages”.      

It’s impressionistic, but two of the people I spoke to in the vlog said they felt the balance of offer and attendees had shifted a bit this year and that there was less on the translation side and more aimed at teachers.  (There’s a breakdown for 2016 on the Show’s site showing that 29% of visitors described themselves as “language learners”, 13% as “linguists”, 18% as interpreters/translators and 40% as “teachers”).

As in the previous three years, I turned up with my vlogging camera and I’ve done a vlog, the link is at the bottom of this post.  

Vlogging is a great way for me to show you the event and to fix my own memories. On the day, it’s also an excuse to approach all sorts of different people for a quick chat. 

Last year, the Show left west London’s Olympia complex for the spectacular Victorian main hall of the Business Design Centre in Islington, north London.   Pre-show publicity had been scanty. While entrance was still free, there was a charge for the talks  and fewer stalls on the main floor.  Several   told me then that the organisers were running down their involvement with the event and it was moving back into the hands of the orignal founder, Jonathan Scott.

This year we were back at Olympia, albeit in the smaller (though still very far from cramped) West Hall.  There were fewer stands than I remember from my 2014, 15 and 16 visits. The event was also about a month later than usual. This all suggests that the new (old) owner is steadying the ship, ready (I hope) to expand again. 

The vibe was as good as usual!

Arriving at the “Olympia West” hall for London’s Language Show

In the years I’ve been attending, there’s always been an open stage space called the “Piazza” for talks and performances and several other talk locations in the main hall itself.  

In previous years, though, the bigger talks have been held in side rooms away from the main floor.  

This time everything went open-plan.  Chairs were set out in dedicated areas round the side of the West Hall.  You had to wear headphones for the amplification (and to cancel the noise from the rest of the show).  One speaker told me she quite liked the arrangement as it meant that passing visitors were more likely to join a talk.  The talks, as you’d expect with this lay-out, are free once again.  

All the talk tracks were in the main hall this year

This year I heard my friend Michele “the Intrepid Guide” Frolla talk on  “How to uproot your life and move to the other side of the world”.  On Friday, Polyglot Conference founder Alex Rawlings had spoken on “Languages for a world without Grenzen” (his talk from the Conference a few weeks ago). 

Fearless Frolla (Michele, the “Intrepid Guide”) goes all Italian on the Piazza.

 Wending my way through the stands, I caught up with Emma from TeachYourself who said that the new short story books by Olly Richards and Judith Meyer’s “Script Hacking” books (both featured in my vlogs from the Polyglot Conference), and Benny Lewis’ Language Hacking books were selling well.

The “Teach Yourself” language book stand

I wonder whether some of the other bigger publishers I remember being here a few years ago (such as Routledge and Collins) will soon be back. 

Small, one-off publishers seem to come and go from year to year.  Perhaps the economics don’t always work for them, and maybe some sort of large, shared stand for small and private publishers would make sense. 

On the audio/visual and electronic side, it was great to catch up with show regulars uTalk, who have added Manx to their roster of 140 languages.  Where though were the likes of Flashsticks or HelloTalk?

As usual a number of “official” language institutes had stands: the British Council, the King Sejong Institute (Korean) were there, as were the Cervantes Institute (Spanish), Goethe-Institut  and the Institut Français (the jobsworths on the latter two were scared to speak on camera without approval from above in previous years, so I didn’t even bother asking this time round). 

The Confucius Institute usually have a large stand for Mandarin but were absent this year.  

I also missed Welsh for Adults who appeared a couple of years ago and had – it seemed to me – created a bit of a buzz round their stall.  The Basques were there my first year but I haven’t seen them since. 

There was a Welsh taster session in one of the event spaces on the main floor on the programme, so the Red Dragon flew. I caught parts of the Greek and the Japanese tasters, both of which were well attended.  

A Greek taster class

Given the Brexit vote this must surely be the last year that the EU has a large stand at the Show? 

As usual there were reps from their legal translation services and the interpreters from the parliament.  

It was great to get into the booth they had set up and have a go at simultaneous interpretation.  I chose to give it a go from German into English (from a video recording of a short speech – it’s the norm to translate into your mother tongue).  

The main challenge wasn’t understanding the content, it was producing serviceable English in time (and fighting off the influence of German word order or prepositions when they differ). 

Don’t pause for breath! Having a go at simultaneous interpreting on the EU stand 

It was great to see some traditional Iranian dancing on the Piazza towards the end of my day.  The music from the performance area often permeates the hall and adds to the atmosphere, even if you aren’t right there watching.  

Iranian dancing

I had only one gripe – the coffee!   A long queue and then no espresso at the end of it doesn’t make for one happy vlogger.  I was tempted to take half an hour out to go and find a coffee shop elsewhere but there was too little time and too much to see.  

Party like it’s, erm,….some time during the War

Afterwards, Michele, Kerstin from Fluent Language, and Lindsey from Lindsey Does Languages has organised a meetup at a nearby gastropub.  A lovely sociable way to end another year’s trip to the Language Show.   Maybe I’ll bump into YOU there next year….    

Here’s this year’s Language Show vlog:

Also here on the site for you, previous pieces on the Language Show:

2019 vlog

2017 review and vlog

2016 review and vlog

2015 review and vlog

2014 review

The post At London’s Language Show (with vlog) appeared first on How to get fluent, with Dr Popkins.

On the opening Friday evening, I blew the dust of my camera and started vlogging the event.

Here are the resultant vlogs from the Opening Evening, Day One and Day Two.

The day after the Conference, I found a (not so) quiet café and sat down to gather my thoughts together about the event in the round and some of the talks that I heard.  That’s the “Takeaways” video right down at the bottom of this page.  There, the focus is the substance and the speakers. The vlogs, though, are all about the atmosphere and the other Conference-goers.  Enjoy!

Opening “Welcome” Evening:

Day One (Saturday):

Day Two (Sunday):

The “Takeaways” vid:

Check out my vlogs and reviews from previous Polyglot Conferences (and the similar Polyglot Gathering) under the articles tab here on the site.

The post Polyglot Conference Daily Vlogs (Ljubljana) appeared first on How to get fluent, with Dr Popkins.