I just discovered that two of my favorite Greek Language content creators have joined forces to make a podcast together! Woo hoo!

Κοσμική Βυσσινάδα is the creation of Yiuli (Linguatree) and Daria (Six Thousand Islands). So far, the four released episodes seem to be a great fit for an intermediate learner – both in the speed of their speaking and in the vocabulary used.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the first episode of their new podcast where Yiuli and Daria discuss talent. After sharing their own talents, they continue with a discussion of talent and the things that are hidden behind talent, such as hard work or a person’s environment.

The idea of hard work being hidden by the use of the word “talent” is quite interesting I think. So many times, when I’ve had a conversation with someone about hobbies and I say that my hobby is learning Greek, the other person responds with something like “I have no talent for learning languages. I don’t remember anything from my Spanish/ French class in high school.”

This conclusion of lack of talent for learning languages is misguided. There are so many other factors at play – was the person motivated as a student, was the class interesting and engaging or just plain boring, were there opportunities to practice the language in an authentic way?

What I remember from my high school French class is minimal. I can recognize some basic sentences and am able to count to 10. Was I motivated to learn French – not really. The Spanish class was full.

Language learning as an adult has been an entirely different story. I have a great deal of motivation and can use the learning methods that are interesting and work for me. I’ve learned far more Greek as an adult than I ever learned French in school. But it is not due so much to talent for language learning, but rather hours of engagement with the language.

Check out the podcast! It is a super interesting discussion.

What do you think?