Welcome back to Season 1 of Language Stories. This time we’re at the Panama Canal.

Trade has always influenced the languages we speak. But what happens with language at one of the busiest and most important trade routes in the world, the Panama Canal? In this episode of Language Stories, discover languages at The Panama Canal. Click through to listen + watch now.

Why the Panama Canal?

Trade routes have always played an important role in language development.

I find it fascinating how language can form from these real life short, repetitive exchanges.

So, of course, when visiting the Panama Canal, my mind wasn’t thinking “I wonder what type of steel they used for that bit…”, more like “Shh…I want to hear what language that tugboat operator is speaking to the captain of that ship!”

The Video

The Podcast

Further Reading + Resources

Wikipedia – the Wikipedia page about the Canal for a brief history.

Agreement from Panama Canal – the agreements document issued by the Panama Canal with the “Important Notice” at the top.

English Test Guidelines – the English Test Guidelines for jobs at the Panama Canal.

Jobs at the Panama Canal – the list of jobs at the Panama Canal (in Spanish).

No accident: Ancient walnut forests linked to languages, trade routes – an interesting read about research involving languages, trade, and walnuts…

Support The Show

The best thing you can do right now to support the project is threefold, and if you’ve ever listened to any podcast before, I’m sure you’ll be familiar with what I’m about to say!

1. Subscribe – by subscribing to the Language Stories podcast in your favourite place and YouTube for the sister videos, you’re going to keep up with all future episodes. Woop!

2. Review – when it comes to the tech stuff, reviews are pretty important. Reviews help to tell iTunes that people like the podcast, and that helps to raise the profile so that new people can find it easily. Yay!

3. Tell a friend – word of mouth still wins! If you know someone who would love Language Stories, tell them about it. And if they’re new to podcasts, walk them through the process to subscribe them. Woohoo!

To make it as easy as possible to share the podcast, click here to tweet about episode.

Share Your Story

If you have a Language Story you’d love to share, or if you know someone that does, get in touch.

I always love to hear from you! Your feedback helps to shape future episodes so thank you.