Rachel and Patrice asked some friends to give a first-hand account of what it’s like to grow up in a city where more than one language is spoken. We take a tour of four different cities around the world, and listen to what they have to say. From Miami in the USA, Marla talks about growing up in a Spanish-English environment, and her relationship with her bilingual parents in those languages. From Barcelona in Spain, Judit tells us about how people seamlessly switch between Spanish and Catalan, in almost a 50-50 environment. From Hyderabad, India (also known as the City of Pearls), Swetha gives us insight into what it was like to grow up speaking Telugu, English, and sometimes Hindi. And finally, from trilingual East London in South Africa, sisters Tegan and Taniell give us special linguistic insight into life in a country with 11 official languages! East London has a blend of Xhosa, Afrikaans, and English.

In Language news, Hong Kong is in the midst of a hot debate over the use of Cantonese vs. Mandarin. Special guest Ray, who grew up in Hong Kong, tells us a bit about his skills speaking Chinese and English. Find more information on the debate here: http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/2144578/should-mandarin-replace-cantonese-hong-kong-says-no

Our Lost in Translation moment this week is from Clancey in the USA, who was brave enough to tell us an embarrassing story from when she was studying abroad in Ghana! Do you have a story to share with us? Send a voice memo to languagenerdsdoearth@gmail.com or fill in our contact form here!

(Psst – need a translator? Our guest from Barcelona is a professional! Get in touch with her, through Linkedin here.)

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