@Linguist_CIOL
DECEMBER/JANUARY The Linguist 17
FEATURES
The big idea
Q How did Babel Babies begin?
A I'm a French and English teacher and
when I had my first baby 10 years ago, I
started a multilingual singing group for
families with young children. The Babel
Babies approach is musical and multisensory.
It was my little language revolution.
Q What is your languages background?
A I studied English and modern languages at
Oxford, worked in events management and
marketing, and then realised I wanted to teach.
Q You've just taken Babel Babies online…
A Yes, it's a platform with three levels of
subscription providing an introduction to
linguists for the under-10s. The 40-week
course looks at 10 languages, including
Italian, Arabic and French. The focus is on
teaching how to learn languages and
supporting parents through the process.
Q What inspired the Language Revolution
podcast and accompanying blog?
A In schools students are reluctant to study
languages but with Babel Babies I could see
that young children are really good at learning
languages, and their parents regret not taking
languages more seriously at school. There was
a case for educating the adults as well as the
children. So the Language Revolution is my
attempt to get people talking about
languages, and raising awareness about how
we learn them, in a free accessible forum.
Q How did you learn how to do a podcast?
A I knew a bit about making films and there's
a YouTube video for everything nowadays. I
booked recording studios and edited with
Garage Band. The biggest learning curve has
been how to be a presenter – David Crystal
was very helpful with that. In lockdown I had
to work out how to do it online; I asked other
podcasters for advice and most use Zoom.
Q How did you learn business skills?
A I've done several short courses. There's a
brilliant network of women business owners in
Cheltenham, so I went to every learning event.
Q Who do you work with?
A I have an accountant and a payroll team.
I'm doing a Master's so a freelancer is taking
over the social media and marketing. I've got
a web designer and copywriter for the Babel
Babies website. We also have Multilingualism
Ambassadors, who are supporters and ensure
our information is fact-checked and verified. I
did the Language Revolution website myself,
and worked with a brand development expert
on the branding across the two platforms to
Cate Hamilton on making a career out of promoting
languages: from Babel Babies to the Language Revolution
bring them together. For the Multilingualism
is Normal anthology I worked with 60
contributors. Thomas Bak and I have been
using the multilingualisnormal hashtag for a
while as an awareness-raising campaign.
Q Why did you opt to be a limited company?
A There are benefits in terms of protecting
your personal assets. Babel Babies used to
have 10 employees; when you have a payroll
it's much simpler to have a limited company.
Q What are your plans for the future?
A I want to offer training to teachers in
multilingualism and language acquisition.
I hope to fund the pilot project through a
PhD, but I need to complete my MSc first.
I'm also researching songs as an intervention
for learning languages.
babelbabies.com | thelanguagerevolution.co.uk
BRAND NEW: A child engages with Babel
Babies materials; and (inset) Cate Hamilton
