EP. 27 - One doctor, Seven Languages, and a Polyglot Community Built From Scratch in Stockholm

🌍 JOIN TANDEM TODAY: https://tandem.go.link/lcLQHJonatan grew up in northern Sweden with Eritrean parents, speaking both Swedish and Tigrinya at home, and was promptly labeled the math kid while his more extroverted sister got the language person title. That label stuck until a passionate Spanish teacher named Lars changed everything, and what started as a school subject eventually took Jonatan through Spain, six years of medical school in Hungary, fluency in Hungarian, Russian, and several other languages, and back to Sweden with a completely different understanding of what languages are actually for.In this episode we explore what it really means when a doctor speaks a patient's native language, why the difference between a direct conversation and an interpreter goes far beyond words, and how Jonatan turned a quiet longing for his polyglot community into Stockholm Polyglots, a growing nonprofit that brings language lovers together every two weeks across ten languages at a time. We also get into the Hungarian saying he opens every event with, and why he believes every language you speak makes you a more complete human being.About the guest: https://polyglots.se/What is Tandem - Language exchange?Tandem is a global language exchange app on a mission to connect the world through languages. Members build confidence and improve their language skills through real life conversations with native speakers in 1:1 chats or live audio rooms. 🔗 Connect With Us: https://linktr.ee/Tandem_App0:00 Intro 4:14 The Language Person He Was Not Supposed to Be 13:31 Language in the Hospital Room 35:11 Building the Community Sweden Forgot to Build 43:32 What Seven Languages Taught Him 🌟 What topics/language should we explore on the next episode of the new tandem podcast? Let us know in the comments! Thanks for watching Connected By Language: Polyglot Interviews, the new Tandem Podcast.