Episode 5 – David Peterson On Using Language Intentionally

What this episode covers

Language Creator David Peterson discusses how we can learn from the construction of language in order to communicate better. Peterson is famous for his work creating the Valyrian & Dothraki languages for the Game of Thrones television show. IMAGE CREDIT *David Peterson Photograph by Gage Skidmore EPISODE CREDITS Guest Starring David J. Peterson, Language Creator Produced & Hosted by Adam Greenfield Executive Produced by Patrick Yurick, Instructional Designer – MIT OGE Executive Produced by Heather Konar, Communication Director – MIT OGE Special thanks to the following editors who provided us invaluable feedback that aided in the development of this show: Christopher O’Keeffe, Co-Founder of Podcation Kristy Bennet, Manager – MIT Women’s League Jennifer Cherone, Phd Candidate – MIT Burge Laboratory Erik Tillman, Phd, Formerly of the Kim Lab & Currently A Fellow at Vida Ventures, LLC The Great Communicators Podcast is a part of Gradcommx. Gradcommx, targeted at enhancing research communication, is the first offering of Gradx – a professional development project created for the graduate student population at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology by the Office For Graduate Education. MUSIC & SOUNDS “All The Best Fakers” by Nick Jaina is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 International License (http://freemusicarchive.org) “Micro” by Blue Dot Sessions is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial License. (http://freemusicarchive.org) “Tar and Spackle” by Blue Dot Sessions is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial License. “Alchemical” by Blue Dot Sessions is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial License. (http://freemusicarchive.org) “Deliberate Thought” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ EPISODE SCRIPT Print The Script Here ADAM GREENFIELD Welcome to The Great Communicators Podcast presented by The MIT Office of Graduate Education, a professional development podcast expressly designed to bring lessons from the field to our graduate student researchers. My name is Adam Greenfield and in this episode, we’ll hear from a language creator, his cat, and both how and why language can be used to communicate effectively with an audience. When I tell people I’m a podcast producer, sometimes they look at me weird and ask, “What’s a podcast?” Every time I stumble over my words as if I’ve never been asked that question before. The question itself, though, feels weird to me. I’ve spent years making and listening to podcasts so to me talking to people who aren’t familiar with it can be a challenge. But I have to. It’s my job. So now what? What can I do or say to make sure I don’t lose my audience? That’s where this episode’s guest will help. DAVID PETERSON My name is david peterson and I’m a professional language creator and author. ADAM GREENFIELD And the books David has written are far from Dr. Seuss rhymes or lazy crime dramas. DAVID PETERSON Well, initially “Living Language: Dothraki,” which was a teach-yourself-guide for the Dothraki language,