The Polyglot Gathering is an annual, four-day get-together for language learning enthusiasts. It takes place at the beginning of the summer. We all came home from the sixth Gathering in Bratislava in May 2019 and began looking forward to the 2020 event in Teresin, near Warsaw Poland. Alas, history had different ideas! For the next two years, the event was forced to switch … [Read more...]
Polyglot Gathering Online: daily vlogs
The Polyglot Gathering Online was never meant to happen. For its seventh incarnation, the Polyglot Gathering was to take place for the first time in Poland. But, after the first three years in Berlin and another three in lovely Bratislava, we'll have to wait to next year to explore Teresin (just outside Warsaw). Once it became clear that the pandemic meant there couldn't … [Read more...]
Language events: the ultimate guide 2024
Regulars on the site or the YouTube channel will know that I'm a fan of meetups at which language learners share their passion, hear about the latest language learning books, courses and tech, exchange tips and listen to the experts. This post tells you all about the main language events. Who are they for? Where and when do they take place? What are they like? Let's look at the … [Read more...]
The Polyglot Gathering: learner “takeaways” review
This year the Polyglot Gathering took place in Bratislava for the third (and final time). If you saw the daily vlogs I made from the event (or my reviews and vids from previous years), you'll need no introduction to this language lovers' conference-cum-celebration. In the vlogs there are many brief shots from inside different talks but my main concern was to convey the … [Read more...]
Polyglot Gathering daily vlogs 2019
The 2019 Polyglot Gathering: whoooosh! It's been....and gone. I'm now back in London. My week in Bratislava seemed to be over more or less right after it began. It was the sixth Gathering, the third one in the Slovak capital. I've reviewed them all and vlogged the last three. Last year and the year before I pumped out the daily vlogs overnight during the event. This year … [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...]
How do you become an interpreter? What is working as an interpreter like?
Is there any more powerful a display of language learning mastery than the magic of an interpreter in full flow? If you’ve recently started learning language and are appreciative of the sheer scale of the task ahead, it may seem like an unattainable goal. If you’re already skilled in one or more foreign languages and thinking about a language career, you may be … [Read more...]
Reflections on the June 2014 Polyglot Gathering, Berlin
German "hyperpolyglot" Judith Meyer and other well-serious language learners were inspired to organise the "Polyglot Gathering" (Berlin, 15-18 June 2014) by their experience of the Polyglot Conference in Budapest in May 2013. I only found out about the 2013 Conference late in the day and was unable to attend, so I made darn sure to sign up in good time to the Gathering and … [Read more...]