​How much overlap is there between music and language? Sinologist, Linguist, Jazz Pianist & returning Geopats Podcast Guest David Moser, joins us again for a dive into this question. 

This week due to an evil head cold I have something different for you. This mini language episode includes:
-a personal German language update (get ready to cringe)
and
-an unpublished language snippet from a previous interview with Yunus from September 2019

Ever get frustrated with how little of the language in your textbooks can be used in real life conversations? Davey, Founder of Popcorn Club in Shanghai, China isn’t. Why not? Because he is too busy enjoying his conversations to care. I asked Davey how he keeps conversations going and here are his top 3 tips for doing so.  ​​

How sound sensitive are you? Our guest today, Phoebe, grew up with Mandarin Chinese but has learned a myriad of languages including English, Finnish, German & more. But her sound talent goes far beyond languages into sound and voice research in her current PhD life in Ireland. She is currently researching the connection between recorded voices and listeners’ emotional responses to them. This sensitivity and Phoebe’s general curiosity touch every aspect of language that we discuss in this conversation. 
Note: There are some construction noises, ironically, in this conversation. They do NOT last the entire time, so hang in there. 

Can the making of a language be a riveting story? Yes, yes, and 对啊. According to Sinologist, Linguist, Jazz Pianist & returning Geopats Guest David Moser, for modern day Mandarin Chinese there are power struggles, harsh words, a jazz music studio and a bit of Abbot and Costello behavior that contributed to the language story. In this conversation, David and I chat about his story and people packed book about the manufacturing of modern day Mandarin Chinese via his book  "A Billion Voices". ​

Multilingual reader Thom Clairmont, ThomReads in Instagram, is returning to the Geopats Podcast language show to help us complete NaPodPoMo with a bang. He is almost done with his Masters in Sinology  but despite being super busy with his research, he took some time to answer questions about his reading in Mandarin Chinese and other languages. Thanks Thom! ​

We should all read the same thing to learn a language well, right? Our guest today, Pascal, is a firm believer that interest level is far more important than anything else. You should hear what he used to get to his level of fluency in Mandarin Chinese. No really, you should have a listen, errr, right now. Lol. Here is his Mandarin Chinese reading story.  

Is writing in Mandarin Chinese and English very different? Nanci, a local Chinese Writer I met in various cultural groups in Shanghai, was kind enough to share her experiences writing in both languages from an early age. Does anything she say surprise you? Does her experience resonate with you? Please share your ideas with us on Twitter, Instagram or via Gmail: stephfuccio is my handle in all of these places.   

Do we sound like our language teachers? Do we pick up and carry with us different language and personality nuances based on their language usage? Geopats Host Stephanie dives into this idea from both a language learner AND language teacher point of view. What do you think?   

Are you a beginning language learner? Do you feel inadequate, shy, hesitant about talking about your learning process? Let's work on that. #languagelearningpride at every stage should be a thing and I want to help make it a thing. Who's with me on this?