Lingoholics: Friends and Fun in Language Learning

Ace Talks Language

In this episode I interview the Lingoholics, Markus, Ian and Cody. The Lingoholics are a group of language enthusiasts with their own language learning podcast. They are based out of Canada and united by their passion for learning languages. Today we get to know the history behind the Lingoholics: how they met each other and how they created their group and podcast. Naturally we discuss their fun language learning projects and challenges they do together. We also covered a range of topics from reflections on the best way to study vocabulary, the breadth vs depth approach to learning languages (the advantages of dabbling in many languages and of intensive study of one or two languages respectively). Right at the end of the episode we do a rapid fire activity of switching between speaking French, Spanish and Chinese which was a lot of fun!

In this episode you can find:

• [00:01:30] Introduction to the Lingoholics (Markus, Cody and Ian)
• [00:08:45] How did the Lingholics meet and their podcast get created?
• [00:17:20] How to make and the benefits of language learning friends
• [00:22:15] The Lingholics bootcamp (living together with one language per day for 3 weeks)
• [00:24:10] Play in language learning and having fun (ft. Esperanto)
• [00:27:20] The Lingholics Power Hour (socializing while swapping between languages)
• [00:31:55] Challenges speaking only your target language with natives
• [00:36:45] Should you study vocabulary from word lists? How should you learn new words?
• [00:54:30] Is using Anki to learn vocabulary useful?
• [01:00:40] Are polyglots “fake beginners” with a headstart when they learn a new language?
• [01:06:30] Breadth vs depth in language learning and the advantages of each approach
• [01:20:55] Cody’s language learning routine in Korea
• [01:30:40] Markus’ “World’s laziest Polyglot” routine
• [01:39:10] 3 minutes per language: rapid language swapping (French, Spanish, Chinese)
• [01:52:10] The joy which comes from swapping between languages

Links to resources and things mentioned in the episode:

Lingoholics' YouTube and Instagram or you can find them by simply looking up Lingoholics and the handle @lingoholicspodcast

Ace's YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok or you can find me using the handle @officialacebuck