117. Speaking Punjabi & Urdu

Hello Language Lovers! Thank you for joining me for this episode of Speaking Tongues- the podcast in conversation with multilinguals. This week, I’m so happy to share this conversation with Khawar, the founder of Somos, about his heritage languages of Punjabi and Urdu.

Now, Somos is a startup which provides affordable language education and supports language teachers, by allowing them to earn a living from their wages. In this episode, Khawar tells us about his heritage and lineage from India, through Kenya and into the UK. He talks about growing up hearing these two languages peppered with Swahili words. We talk about the relationships between Punjabi and Urdu spoken at home and how identity and language are affected in a country like England. He tells us about coming from a big family,  his special connection with his grandmother and shares some of the lessons he learned from her and their connection through food. We talk about the inspiration in building Somos and how reflecting on racial strife in London and his own heritage and community has impacted the work he does now.

Thank you Khawar for this terrific conversation and for sharing your story and culture with all of us. If you enjoy episodes of Speaking Tongues, don’t forget to subscribe, rate and review the Speaking Tongues Podcast on Apple Podcasts and like and subscribe on YouTube so that other language lovers like ourselves can find the show! Special shout out to Speaking Tongues’ recent supporters and Patrons Heidi L., Linnea H. , Pat N. and Yari A. If you’ve been a long time listener of the show or a recent listener, you can now pledge ongoing support for the show on Buy Me a Coffee dot com or on Patreon dot com. And as you know, I wrote a book! My food ‘zine of international language and cuisine, Taste Buds Vol 1. is available now for purchase! Check social media for the sneak peek inside of the book and make sure you purchase for yourself and your friends! Links to all platforms are below! Ok, Let’s chat!

To Find Somos:

Website: https://somos.education/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_somosgram/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/somoseducation

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/somos-education/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/_somostweets

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