Atlas Linguae

The rise of Korean pop culture on a global scale, with everything from BTS to Squid Game, has gotten many people around the world excited about learning Korean, despite its challenges in terms of learning a new alphabet and grammar rules. And Buster Moon, today’s guest on Atlas Linguae is working to maintain his students’ enthusiasm for the language. Buster Moon is a Korean language teacher and content creator based in Canada, and his content focuses on teaching short and useful words and phrases for everyday conversation. In our conversation, he talks about the importance of consistency when learning any language—especially one with unique challenges such as Korean—and about what it is that made Korean media so popular internationally in the first place.

Ahmed al-Kadri is a Yemeni-American comedian who loves to delve into all sorts of topics in his content, from your usual millennial angst to the unique situations that arise when you are a Muslim in the United States. Everything from fasting for Ramadan to having to identify as white on the US census is fair game in his content on social media (@ahmedlovesbread). In this episode we hear about how Ahmed developed his sense of humor early by growing up in a family with quite effortless comedic timing, as well as how to find the right balance to make a joke funny for Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

Mexicans really love VW Beetles, and they call them “vochos.” Our latest interview for Atlas Linguae is with @yoandy_official, who is from Puebla, basically the unofficial capital of Volkswagen production in Mexico, and she originally became interested in learning German to work in a place like that. She didn’t, ultimately, but that made us want to explore the curious story of how this German car became a Mexican staple.

Thanks for tuning in. Here’s more info on Alone A Love Story and how we’re working together with the CBC to bring it to listeners around the world. Alone a Love Story is a CBC original podcast, written by Michelle Parise.The original podcast tells the story of Michelle’s grueling heartbreak after she discovers her husband is cheating on her. The show follows her journey as she picks up the pieces and starts over: Alone. At Studio Ochenta, we’re so proud to be a part of the translation journey of this show to bring this universal story of love, heartache and healing to listeners in Spanish and French. For more information on Alone and the original English version of the series check out visit cbc.ca/seule (or cbc.ca/sola). It's a digital album - with art, video, music and the story behind the story. The Spanish and French adaptations were produced our team at Studio Ochenta. Production by Luis López and Chiara Santella, translated and edited in Spanish by Catalina Hoyos, Maru Lombardo and Luis López and in french by Lory Martinez and par Julie G. The Voice of Michelle in Spanish is Laura Leticia Hernández and in French is Marion Lesonger.

When Mexican YouTuber YoAndy left for Germany, she thought she would spend a short amount time of there, basically to practice the language for a little bit before returning to work in her hometown of Puebla. Now, several years later, she’s raising a family in Germany and fluent in German, though she’s still fascinated by the ways that the language behaves from her own mother tongue, which she makes an effort to pass on to her children. We talk about her favorite cultural differences, the challenges of preserving your language in a foreign country, and the things she misses most from home. Follow us on Instagram @‌ochentapodcasts. You can also follow us on Twitter @‌ochentapodcasts and on TikTok @‌studioochenta. We also have a YouTube channel, @‌ochentapodcasts, where you can watch all the interviews from this season, as well as content from more of our shows.

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Dominicans have been a crucial part of New York for a long time. How long? Try over 400 years! We talked to actor, comedian, and unofficial online Dominican ambassador @gadieldelorbe, who told us about his upbringing in New York City's "Dominican Times Square". So we couldn't help but share the story of how the very first non-indigenous person ever to live in Manhattan...was in fact Dominican.

If there’s one part of our interview with Gadiel del Orbe that encompasses what he’s all about, it’s that he will sometimes literally dream of Dominican food. The actor, comedian, and content creator talks to us about his work at Buzzfeed’s Pero Like, where he became well-known for both his multicultural comedy and deep dives into culture and politics. We also talk about his improvisation-heavy approach to humor, which was particularly notable in his work in La Cabina Telefónica, the show produced by Studio Ochenta for Spotify where he played the hilarious and charismatic role of, well, Gadiel. Follow us on Instagram @‌ochentapodcasts. You can also follow us on Twitter @‌ochentapodcasts and on TikTok @‌studioochenta. We also have a YouTube channel, @‌ochentapodcasts, where you can watch all the interviews from this season, as well as content from more of our shows.

When we began our interview with @bernadette.kirwan, we knew she had Irish, Palestinian, and Australian cultural roots, but we were surprised to learn that she also had a great deal of exposure to Nicaraguan culture! She told us she often had gallo pinto for breakfast, and we couldn't help but break down the dish, its history, and its importance in Latin American cuisine.