In Conversation #52 I had a chat with Pete Smissen. Pete is the host of the Aussie English podcast, a pornstar impersonator, mad scientist, linguist extraordinaire and a YouTube thumbnail model (what can't he do)! We chat about some of the decisions he made while creating Aussie English, why you need to dive into the rabbit hole of the YouTube best practices and some of the learnings he has gained from examining his native language, learning foreign languages and raising bilingual children.

Hope you're having a fantastic day wherever you are in the world, Kyrin out!

Timeline:

(0:00) - Intro to Pete

(3:28) - Thumbnails for YouTube: Shocked, surprised & scared

(8:33) - Video podcasts for growing an audience

(13:28) - Aussie English podcast App

(15:47) - Podcasting 2.0 and podcasting innovation

(22:38) - Listener statistics

(29:39) - Foreigners attempting to assimilate through Aussie slang

(35:03) - Starting something for the wrong reason

(41:18) - The ups & downs of language confidence

(46:26) - Getting comfortable doing weird things

(55:52) - Raising bilingual children

(1:04:50) - How Pete's English has changed

(1:12:05) - Fighting against the paradox of other languages

(1:18:44) - Polyglots, Bookstagram and instant demand culture

(1:26:22) - The downside of the self-improvement world

(1:31:00) - Pete's favourite books

(1:41:00) - The difference between reading & listening

(1:43:55) - What brings Pete joy

(1:54:08) - Ep #1000 of Aussie English!

Connect with Pete:

Website: https://aussieenglish.com.au/

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

Connect with Mere Mortals:

Website: https://www.meremortalspodcast.com/

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