Debate: Is Talent A Factor in Language Learning Success? (Podcast)

Photo by Anna Shvets on Pexels.com

*This podcast is also available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Anchor, Pocket Casts and Breaker. Please subscribe on your favoured podcast provider and leave a review.

On today’s episode I debate the concept of language talent with two guests. Yong Jun is a PHD student researching the philosophy of language. Katherine has appeared on the podcast before to discuss the culture of Chinese politeness. She is a Masters student in translation studies.

Both guests are language learning enthusiasts and have ample experience of learning languages to high levels. We discuss whether it’s meaningful to talk about having a gift for languages and whether it’s true that some learners really are more gifted than others.

This debate follows on from a blog I wrote a few months ago in which I outline why I don’t think ‘language talent’ is a helpful or meaningful concept.

*Sign up to our Chinese Masterclasses teaching you the key techniques needed to master Chinese tones and sentence mining

*Join our Facebook community to connect with other learners and get access to our weekly group language exchange call

*Subscribe below for regular podcasts, blogs and updates from our community pinged straight to your inbox

Leave a Reply