Today's interview is with Nur, Co-Founder and Chief Marketing Officer for CopyCat Cafe, a language-learning platform that helps you pick up languages the natural way by copying what you hear. She and her French partner founded the platform, which offers a 7-day free trial, and are working on including more languages and releasing an app soon.

Nur grew up bilingual as the daughter of Turkish immigrants in Germany. She tells about that experience and what helped her maintain her Turkish, even while German became the dominant language for her. She and Heather discuss the differences in the German school system vs. the American one in terms of language learning but also the freedom to choose and change your path.

The discussion is full of language comparisons and comments about how languages shape the way we think. Ever wondered what language(s) multilingual couples use to communicate? Or maybe you hope your partner can be your language teacher since they're a native speaker. Nur tells us about her experience with her French partner, how they met, and what language they speak in.

Stayed tuned until the end to hear about Nur's pround bilingual moments and her favorite Turkish word (I wasn't expecting that!)

Try out CopyCat Cafe now with a 7-day free trial!

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Follow Nur on IG @lihaerys

Follow Nur on X @emerald_springs

Today's guest, Vanessa, is a multilingual mom from Germany raising her young kids using OPOL with her Egyptian husband. She and her husband write bilingual children books about traveling to different places around the world (based on their own travels) which are available in 3 languages - German/English, German/Arabic, or Arabic/English.

Vanessa starts the episode by telling us about her own journey learning various languages (English, French, Spanish, Arabic) and we touch on the topic of confusing similar languages. Sometimes we don't appreciate the similarities between 2 languages until we study others.

Vanessa tells us how she learned Arabic, from volunteering with refugee to studying abroad in Jordan to now being married to an Egyptian. We discuss how OPOL works in their house and how their "secret" language didn't stay secret for very long with their oldest. She opens up about some things she would like to change to make sure their children's Arabic stays strong as they get older.

Listen to get the background story on why they write their bilingual kids books and what they hope people will gain from them. Vanessa purposely put interactive elements into them and even a choose-your-own-adventure into one of the latest ones.

Make sure you listen to the end to hear my new favorite German word!

- Follow Vanessa on Instagram ⁠@polyglotparents⁠.

- Find links all of their books & audiobooks ⁠here⁠.

- Check out and buy their books internationally on ⁠Amazon⁠.

- Listen to the ⁠Egyptian Arabic Stories for Kids Podcast⁠ Heather mentioned.

In part 2 of my interview with Dr. Ute Limacher-Riebold, we get into the details of her family's languages and how a multilingual family actually interacts on a day-to-day basis. She takes us back to when her children were little and exposed to 5 languages to the present day where they are grown adults still curious and continuing to learn new languages.

It wasn't always easy and smooth sailing, though. Tune in to hear what Ute did when her twins created a secret language that no one else could understand and how she reacted when challenged by another parent at school. She also tells us about traveling as a multilingual family and the positive impact peers can have on our children's languages.

To work with Ute, please visit her website Ute's International Lounge and check out her 4 different YouTube channels and free monthly workshops.

Near the end of the episode, we mention Yoshito Darmon-Shimamori and Tetstu Yung, both of whom have worked with Ute on various projects also been guests on the Future is Bilingual Podcast:

Ep. 35 - Raising Multilingual Readers and Writers (Yoshito)

Ep. 42 - Raising 4 kids in 5 languages (Tetsu)

Ep. 50 - "In Search of the Lost Words" (Yoshito)