An Italian native speaker and a Portuguese native speaker walk into a bar. They are speaking to each other. Which language are they using? Is it English or ELF? What even is ELF?

In today's episode, my guest is EU intrepreter and ELF expert Karin Reithofer. We discuss

• How Karin got into her career as a freelance interpreter working in 4 languages
• My non-scientific (and apparently correct!) theory about the personalities of interpreters and translators
• What ELF is and who speaks it
• Who owns English and whose English is correct?
• How Brexit has liberated the EU (linguistically! don't come for me!)

Bilingual Episode

Karin and I are both German native speakers, so we switched from English into German for a little bit to give you some listening practice as a learner.

If you are not a German learner, don't worry as we'll always switch back to English and I interpreted make sure you don't miss anything.

Here I always like to remember what the late Ron Gullekson from Language Surfer told me:

"in a new language, I like to get uncomfortable as early as possible."

So enjoy the challenge and enjoy the German practice!

Where do you listen? Take a photo of where you're listening to the Fluent Show and share it on social media to say hello! Here's where you can tag me:

• Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/thefluentshow
• Instagram: http://instagram.com/kerstin_fluent/ and #thefluentshow

Thank you to Karin for this episode introduction in Kärntnerisch.

Love the show? Rate & Review it here

Special Guest: Karin Reithofer.

Sponsored By:

• Clozemaster: Use the coupon code FLUENTSHOW for 25% off your first month or $5 off your first year of Clozemaster Pro! Promo Code: FLUENTSHOW

Links:

• The Fluent Show: Living the Dream! Get Paid to Learn Languages (with Paul Kaye, EU Language Officer) — Hear more about what it's like to be a language professional working for the EU - this is the translator's side
• Work as a Freelance Interpreter at the EU | European Union
• Black Friday Deals for Language Learners — One week only!