A Language I Love Is...
Episodes
Old Norse and Jackson Crawford
22 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
'Hi, I'm Old Norse specialist Dr. Jackson Crawford' – so begin the YouTube videos with the smooth-talking, stetson-wearing scholar, discussing ancie...
SPECIAL: Exclusive clip from my new book 'Why Q Needs U'!
28 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Hot on the heels of Episode 40 (American Sign Language with Aidan Elliott-McCrea), I can release a special episode of ALILI, showcasing the audio edit...
American Sign Language and Aidan Elliott-McCrea
20 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The ALILI podcast has reached forty episodes! As a fitting start to this fourth decade of language love, we have a first for the show: its first sign ...
Scottish Gaelic and David Adger
10 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Episode 39 is a return to Scotland! After Scots, way back at the start of the whole podcast, this next journey into Scottish speech explores Scottish ...
Old South Arabian and Imar Koutchoukali
17 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
At last, dear language lovers, Episode 38 is here. To make up for my podcasting tardiness, this episode stars not just one language, but rather a whol...
Proto-Indo-European and Laura Spinney
07 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Episode 37's star language is another 'proto'-tongue, arguably the most famous of all reconstructed prehistoric languages: Proto-Indo-European. This a...
Jèrriais and Geraint Jennings
09 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Bouônjour! Join me on a journey to Jersey, an island off the coast of France, where for centuries the local language of Jèrriais has kept up it...
Dza and Peace Benson
20 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Episode 35 of ALILI is a new part of the world and a new language family: West Africa, and Niger-Congo! Our way into this corner of the linguistic wor...
Ternate and Maria Zielenbach
27 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Episode 34 is a trip to Indonesia, specifically to the small island of Ternate. Don't let the island's size fool you though – it has a rich and comp...
Na'vi and Stefan Mir-Mackiewicz
13 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Now here's a first for the podcast: its first conlang! Na'vi, the language created for the Avatar films, was the choice of Stefan Mir-Mackiewicz, a la...
Classical Latin and Luke Ranieri
24 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Series 3 continues with another prominent public-facing linguist, only this time we're travelling back in time, to Ancient Rome! My guest is Luke Rani...
Montreal French and Gretchen McCulloch
09 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We're back! The first episode of an all-new series of the language-loving podcast is here at last.Since one of the co-stars of the hit podcast Lingthu...
Series 3 Teaser!
27 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Hello there, dear language lovers! After a couple of months, I'm pleased to say that I'm getting back into the swing of linguistic podcasting, and tha...
Yolmo and Lauren Gawne
01 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
ALILI has reached episode 30 and the end of two whole series! To mark the occasion, the show has the privilege to host a star of public linguistics, D...
Old English and Colin Gorrie
20 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Episode 29 is here at last, and a certain language is making a repeat appearance, but introduced by a new linguistic lover – what does Colin Gorrie ...
Cornish and Daniel Prohaska
01 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Dydh da! Episode 28 of ALILI is here, and Daniel Prohaska joins me to discuss Cornish! This Celtic language has a long and fascinating history, stretc...
Burgenland Croatian and Katharina Tyran
04 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Time for Episode 27 and a return to the Slavic languages! Unsurprisingly, Croatian is a Slavic language widely spoken in the modern-day country of Cro...
Proto-Germanic and Yoïn van Spijk
14 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Episode 26 is a first for the show: a language so old that it's theoretical! This time, ALILI is discussing the whole Germanic language family, from E...
Mansi and Daria Zhornik
23 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Episode 25 is here and it's a return to the Finno-Ugric languages with expert linguist Daria Zhornik. The particular member of Finno-Ugric is Mansi (s...
Marathi and Manish Goregaokar
10 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Episode 24 of ALILI is a return to India, this time to dive into Marathi, the official langauge of the state of Maharashtra and India's third-largest ...
SPECIAL: Talking Indo-European with Jackson Crawford
27 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This is an episode of ALILI with a twist, as Dr Jackson Crawford, YouTube's charming Old Norse expert, had me back on his channel to chat syntax, old ...
Romansh and Emma Gledhill
28 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
For episode 22, we're travelling high into the Alps, to join linguist and translator Emma Gledhill in the Graubünden/Grisons canton of Switzerland. E...
Catalan and Alba Clopés and Joey Barber
14 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
For episode 21, ALILI becomes A Language We Love Is, as two guests, Alba Clopés and Joey Barber, join me to chat Catalan. Our conversation ranges fro...
P'urhepecha and Kate Bellamy
31 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
ALILI has reached 20 episodes! The twentieth beloved language is P'urhepecha, a language of Mexico introduced by Dr. Kate Bellamy. Kate enthusiastical...
Kashmiri and Sāmapriẏa Basu
17 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Episode 19 sees the show's first returning guest, as the maestro of Indo-Iranian languages, Dr. Sāmapriẏa Basu, joins me again, this time to introd...
Biblical Hebrew and Benjamin Suchard
03 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The third episode of this second series is a Biblical bonanza, as Dr Benjamin Suchard comes on the show to introduce the linguistic world of Biblical ...
Bulgarian and Leonid Motz
25 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Episode 17 of ALILI is a linguistic and historical voyage into the Bulgarian language, as Vienna's Leonid Motz guides us through the language's many i...
Mari and Jeremy Bradley
18 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
ALILI is back for a second series! Here's episode 16 with Jeremy Bradley, who takes us on a journey into the Mari language. This is a linguistic tour ...
Old Irish and Danny Bate
10 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It's episode 15 and the finale of the first series of ALILI! To mark the occasion, the tables have been turned and your usual host now finds himself o...
Tigrinya and Gioia Cacchioli
26 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It's time for the fourteenth and penultimate episode of the first series of ALILI, in which Gioia Cacchioli joins me to talk about Tigrinya, a Semitic...
Welsh and Victoria Noble
19 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Here's episode 13 and it's all about Welsh! Victoria Noble, a PhD researcher in the semantics of Welsh and Arabic, joins me to share her enthusiasm an...
Czech and Radek Šimík
12 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
For episode 12, I popped along to Charles University in Prague, to interview Dr Radek Šimík, a linguist, lecturer and researcher there, and to talk ...
Lithuanian and Francis Young
29 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Episode 11 of ALILI sees us back beside the Baltic Sea, where Dr Francis Young guides us into the story of Lithuania and the Lithuanian language. Fran...
Persian and Alexander Jabbari
22 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
ALILI has made it to ten episodes, and this tenth instalment is a suitably sensational journey into the linguistic and cultural cosmos of Persian. Ale...
Mexican Spanish and Gilly Marchini
15 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Episode 9 is here and it's all about Mexico! The wonderful Gilly Marchini, a PhD researcher at Edinburgh, guide us into the linguistic landscape of Me...
Medieval Latin and Charles Roe
08 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
For the eighth episode of A Language I Love Is..., Charles Roe joins me to introduce into the linguistic world of Latin in the Middle Ages. Charles of...
Estonian and Johanna Laakso
24 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Episode 7 of ALILI... is a journey into the Uralic language family, specifically via one of its famous European members: Estonian! Prof. Johanna Laaks...
Old English and Stephen Hopkins
17 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Time for the 6th episode of ALILI... and for Dr Stephen Hopkins to wind back the clock on the language you are currently reading – we're h...
Ossetian and Sāmapriẏa Basu
10 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Here's Episode 5 of A Language I Love Is... and for this episode, Dr Sāmapriẏa Basu guides us into the Caucasus, the "mountain of tongues", a regio...
Sanskrit and Krishnan Ram-Prasad
03 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Episode 4 of ALILI is here and its task is to introduce the linguistic cosmos that is the Sanskrit language. Dr Krishnan Ram-Prasad joins me...
Old Saxon and George Walkden
27 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Episode 3 of ALILI is a deep dive into the Germanic languages, expertly navigated by George Walkden, who shares a wealth of information about this lan...
Akkadian and Iris Kamil
22 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Episode 2 of ALILI and it's time to head back to ancient Mesopotamia and hear all about Akkadian, an influential lingua franca of ...
Scots and Sarah van Eyndhoven
19 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Here's Episode 1, in which my friend Sarah van Eyndhoven kindly offers both her time and expertise to join me to talk about the Scots language. This l...
A Language I Love Is... – Introduction
19 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Hello there! This is my introduction to a new podcast all about language, linguistics and loving both. In this initial episode, I set out the premise ...