Kris Welcome to the Actual Fluency Podcast. Each week you'll find inspirational, motivational interviews with some of the world's best language learners, industry experts, all trying to help you to learn foreign languages better, faster, and more efficiently. And here we go.
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Kris Episode 150 of the Actual Fluency Podcast. 150 episodes, can you imagine? It's quite exciting really to uh have made it this far and I know there were some rocky periods along the way, there might have been some extended breaks, but this really marks uh one of the most committed projects that I've ever done. So, I just wanted to take a few minutes here in the beginning to celebrate the sort of round number and uh just give a little update of what's going on.
So, this has been, I started the actual fluency podcast in 2013, I want to say. So, it's, it's been almost six years. Has it been six years or was it 2014, possibly. I, probably was 14. Uh, so I've been five years doing this now. Um, and it's been a lot of fun and it's been very, I think, for language learning, at least for my own language learning, it's been very helpful in not only learning what other language learners are doing in some in terms of methods and strategies, but also staying motivated to keep working on my own languages, keep exploring. As many of you know, I'm not exactly a hyper polyglot, I'm not someone who learns, you know, a new language every year. In fact, for the last few years, I've, I've hardly, I've hardly been adding new stuff to my, uh, resume and, and the languages that I'm working on sort of, uh, Russian and Hungarian is the two primary ones, have been, uh, going at a sort of slightly slower rate than I would have loved. But I, I have moved countries a couple of times and have, uh, had a lot on my plate over time, as many of you who follow me in the actual fluency email club would, would know all about.
I'm not going to sit here and, and, and spend ages before the episode to talk about myself. Um, if you do want more information, you know, feel free to reach out or, or join that email club where I often send updates about what's going on. But it's been a good, it's been a good, uh, run. Not that it's over, in fact, I, I just want to say that it's on quite the opposite. I just confirmed that we're going to be doing another 20 episodes. So, that will be most of 2019, definitely, continued there. And actually, one thing I, I, I do want to mention here is, if you are sitting out there and you have an interesting language learning story about yourself or you can recommend someone or nominate anyone that I, that you'd like to hear from on the show, please do send in your recommendations. Uh, as we're getting over 150 episodes, there's obviously, uh, less and less people that are I, I'm aware of that I could invite to the show. Um, I, I try, I try to go to all the conferences as well and I do meet people there and last year I didn't really go, which is why I, I don't have many sort of potential guests on, on the cards as it is right now. But hopefully with all the events this year, I can add a lot of people to the, uh, potential guest list and invite them on. But in the meantime, if you have an interesting story about learning languages, um, or you know someone who could be a potential guest on the show, don't hesitate to contact me. And, uh, I'll, I'll reach out to them and see if they want to come on and share their story.
And last, but certainly not least, I just want to thank everyone for their support over the years. It's been absolutely essential for the show. I mean, if I hadn't received so many wonderful messages of support, um, from you guys, I, I'm, I'm sure the, the podcast wouldn't have, have lasted more than 10, 20 episodes, you know. So, definitely, really grateful for the fact that you guys are listening in so regularly and you're sending me messages of support. Uh, especially doing those tougher times that, that you seem to come up occasionally. Um, but this is for you, you know, honestly. Um, if, if it wasn't for you, the show would have definitely not continued for 150 episodes. So, thank you so much for listening. Uh, you mean the world to me and, um, yeah, let's crack on with the episode before I, I start to get too sentimental.
So, uh, enjoy the episode with, uh, today's with Lindie Botes, who's from, well, let, let her explain that, actually. That's a, a longer story. But in the episode, we, we get to hear a little bit about what it means to have many identities or, you know, being the product of a lot of geographical living locations. Uh, that's the worst description anyone has ever given of that. But basically, she, her family and her, when she was younger, they lived in different countries. And, so, she has a lot of experience in, in different cultures and different languages. And later on, she was, you got really interested in Asian languages. So, um, but like I said, let her tell you all about that. I hope you enjoy the episode and, uh, you know, see you in the next one.
Kris All right, well, uh, in that case, I just want to formally welcome you to the Actual Fluency podcast. Uh, thank you for taking the time on a lovely Sunday here to, uh, chat with me. So, do you want to give the listeners, uh, just a little introduction to who you are, where you're from, and how you got the interest in learning foreign languages?
Lindie Botes Sure. Thank you so much for having me. So, my name is Lindy, and currently I work as a designer in Singapore. But, um, so answering the question of where I'm from is one of the most difficult questions ever because there's a short answer and a long answer.
So, I was born in South Africa, but because of my dad's job, I grew up in Dubai, Islamabad, Paris, and spent some significant time in Tokyo. And then I finished university in Pretoria, South Africa. Started working in Johannesburg, and now I am in Singapore. And I guess with my exposure of living in foreign countries a lot, I got quite interested in learning foreign languages. Though I never really took it seriously until about my last year at high school. When I, so, I started learning Korean in about my ninth grade of high school. And then exploring Korean led me to realizing how similar it is to other languages like Japanese and Mandarin Chinese. So, in my last year of high school, I actually spent more time studying foreign languages than I did for my final year exams. Uh, but I guess that's when I realized I had a passion for it, and it just kind of, um, kept growing from there.
But I have been exposed to languages at school. So, you know, growing up in Pakistan and Dubai, I had to take Urdu and Arabic at school. But unfortunately, you know, not having practiced those or not having taken those languages very seriously back in the day. Um, I cannot claim to speak those languages per se. So, my interest really lies in, uh, foreign, I mean, Asian languages.
Lindie Botes And yeah, apart from working as a designer, my, my side gig is, um, making YouTube videos about language learning and posting about my language adventures and failures on Instagram.
Kris Fantastic. What, did your dad do, uh, like, was he a spy or was it, what kind of?
Lindie Botes You'll probably get that question a lot. People tend to associate diplomats with spies, but it is not that glamorous and exciting. So, nope. Just a, just a diplomat.
Kris But that's what you would have said. Let's just pretend for a second. No, just kidding, of course. But did you, when you, obviously a lot of us never had that experience of moving around a lot. So, did you, can you explain so the or give an idea of the environment that you would be in if you moved that much, would it be, would you be just dropped in the middle of sort of the foreign culture, or would there be like an enclave or like a, a bubble of, of, of, you know, the language you came, the country you came from? How did, how did?
Lindie Botes That's a good question. Yeah. So, lucky for, I guess, well, lucky is relative. In, in my family's case, my parents were extremely open to foreign cultures and foreign languages and and with that, we tended to mix with the locals quite a lot. So, you know, growing up, I remember always having, you know, Pakistani families over for dinner or having dinner at a local Emiratis house rather than, you know, only hanging with fellow South Africans, which I think was very, very beneficial to adapting to a new culture. Like, the more time you spend with the locals, the easier it is to understand why people do things a certain way. And I find that my mom is a very culturally sensitive person just because of the amount of time she spends with locals.
So, um, I remember when she just, when we just moved to Pakistan, she, she was having a bit of culture shock about, you know, the living conditions and and, you know, growing up in a country like that. And she was hanging out with some local friends at a party, and they asked her, you know, what is Pakistan like? How are you enjoying it? And she just burst out crying, and then she took out a tissue and started blowing her nose and they said, 'No, you don't do that here.' And then she cried even more because, um, like those small nuances, like knowing that you're not allowed to blow your nose in public, how else are you going to learn if you're not thrown into the situation, you know, with, with the locals telling you. So, I guess there are ups and downs, but the only way to adapt is to experience it firsthand rather than just surrounding yourself or rather isolating yourself with fellow expats.
Kris Yeah. Because I see that I, I hear almost horror stories about that a lot about people who, who move abroad but tend to stay in these very, often English, uh, expat bubbles and, and don't really get much exposure to the, to the foreign, uh, not the foreign, the local community. So, it's good that you had that experience.
Lindie Botes Absolutely. I was actually just searching for an apartment today and, um, the apartment I found, the, the, the agent said, 'Oh yeah, there are quite a few expats staying here.' And I was like, why are you telling me this? I could not care less. I honestly, I moved to an Asian country. I moved to Singapore to, you know, meet the locals. Why would I come halfway across the world to talk to other, other, you know, expats? That's not why I'm here.
