• Episode 9: How an Aspirational/Aspiring Polyglot Mastered Mandarin
    Dec 18 2025

    Jared Patel, a Puerto Rican-Indian from New York, discusses his connection to Spanish and Gujarati, why he dedicated himself to learning Mandarin and immersing himself in Chinese culture, his experience studying abroad in China, and how this unique language journey has affected his familial relationships and personal identity.





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    25 mins
  • Episode 8: China(town) Chronicles
    Dec 4 2025

    Boying Tang was born in China, raised in NYC’s Chinatown, and mainly grew up on Chinese media, including Mandarin-language games and TV shows.

    She shares how her experience living in that neighborhood and the influence of Chinese media affected her cultural identity and perception of Asian American media representation at large. She also dives into the nuances of learning Mandarin, going to Chinese school, and her preferences on communicating between Mandarin and English.

    To experience this podcast visually, find the multimedia transcript on our website.

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    24 mins
  • Episode 7: Diving into Deutschland (and the Philippines!)
    Nov 20 2025

    Cristina Hain takes a break from traveling around the world to (once again) be a guest on a Guru (and Alejandra) podcast! As a German-Filipino woman, Cristina talks about how her multicultural upbringing affected her language journey.

    While she mainly speaks about her experience with German and living in Berlin for a summer, she also shares why she bounced between learning German, Spanish, and Tagalog throughout her life and why she chose to pursue a linguistics minor in college.

    To experience this podcast visually, find the multimedia transcript on our website HERE.

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    26 mins
  • Episode 6: Russian Globetrotter
    Nov 6 2025

    Tania Varganova has two people to thank for inspiring her to come live in NYC: Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. Go watch New York Minute if you want to learn more.

    In the meantime, hear Tania talk about what it was like growing up in Russia, how she became the English expert among her friends in St. Petersburg, how her personality differs between speaking in English versus Russian, and what her transition moving to NYC and adapting to American culture has been like over the past number of years.

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    25 mins
  • Episode 5: Talking Tagalog and Existential Crises
    Oct 23 2025

    Welcome to Season 2 of ⁠Found in Translation⁠, a visual essay podcast! Our first guest of the new season, Tim Bumatay is here to talk about a crisis — but in a fun, intellectual, and intersectional kind of way. And a reminder that it’s never too late to learn a new language!

    He discusses his struggles with connecting to Tagalog and Filipino culture, his aspirations to visit The Philippines, his fascination with languages in general, and how his definition of what it means to be American has evolved throughout his life.

    To experience this podcast visually, find the multimedia transcript on our website HERE.

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    27 mins
  • Episode 4: Third Culture Living
    Jul 31 2024

    Fareeha Mahmood takes us on a globe-trotting journey beginning with her upbringing in Dhaka, Bangladesh, attending international schools in Indonesia and UAE, and finally moving to NYC.

    She talks about how her experiences in these vastly different countries affected her knowledge of Bengali and proximity to Bengali culture, how the history of Bangladesh influenced her passion for the language, and the concept of language as a form of self-identification.

    To experience this podcast visually, find the multimedia transcript on our website HERE.

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    22 mins
  • Episode 3: Signature Moves
    Jul 18 2024

    Cynthia Mojica embodied the role of translator for her parents as a child. She is a hearing person while her mom is hard-of-hearing and her dad is deaf, so the language they predominantly use at home is American Sign Language (ASL).


    She talks about being a C.O.D.A (Child of Deaf Adults), the nuances and structure of ASL as a language, and the pertinence of bringing more accessible spaces into our society.


    To experience this podcast visually, find the multimedia transcript on our website HERE.

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    30 mins
  • Episode 2: A Comedy of Errors (and Education) in Yoruba
    Jul 3 2024

    Nigerian-American writer/comedian Michael Oluokun takes us on a rip-roaring journey with hilarious stories spanning between Little Rock, Arkansas, Washington D.C., and NYC.

    He talks about navigating his Nigerian identity, hilariously uncovering Nigerian customs at family parties, how he came to know that he had been mispronouncing his last name for almost 20 years, and how his writing and stand up were impacted after he began learning Yoruba.

    To experience this podcast visually, find the multimedia transcript on our website HERE.

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    24 mins