Echoes of Meaning

What happens when we stop taking language for granted and start paying attention to everything hidden inside it? In this episode of Echoes of Meaning, we speak with linguist and writer Danny Bate about the many ways language connects us to thought, history, culture, and one another. Our conversation moves through etymology, the evolution of languages, the relationship between words and how we understand the world, the limits of interpreting people and cultures from the past, and the role of public linguistics in making these ideas accessible beyond academia. We also discuss Danny’s approach to writing and his book, Why Q Needs U, in a wide-ranging conversation about the strange, complex, and deeply human thing we do every day: communicate.

In this episode, Joe Mazza, former Chief of the Translating Division at the U.S. State Department’s Office of Language Services, joins us for a wide-ranging conversation about language, translation, culture, and curiosity. Drawing from a career that spans Cold War Russian translation, diplomatic negotiations, and more than four decades of public service, Joe reflects on the difference between knowing a language and translating meaning. We explore the freedom and responsibility of translators, the role of culture and identity in communication, the surprising stories hidden inside words, and why translation may be as much an art as it is a profession.

In this episode, writer and calligrapher Alice Mazzilli discusses her practice across hand lettering, style writing, and academic research. She explains her concept of “interior writing,” the idea that meaning is always changing, and how different writing systems shape the way we think and perceive the world. Our conversation touches on the history of the Latin alphabet, the cultural hierarchies imposed through writing systems, and how rhythm, music, and hip-hop culture influence her approach to calligraphy. Alice also introduces “jamigraphy,” her rhythm-based method that helps people reconnect with their own handwriting and creative expression.

What if your handwriting could speak your truth, not just your thoughts, but your posture, your breath, your presence? We sit down with Helen Magowan: researcher, writer, curator, and expert in 18th-century Japanese calligraphy. We dive into a forgotten world where writing was more than text: it was performance, emotion, and embodied intimacy.

In this episode, Camila Sabogal speaks with Carol Velandia, advocate, social worker, interpreter, academic, entrepreneur, and founder of Equal Access Language Services; about the often-overlooked power of language access. Carol shares how the ability to speak in your own voice is not a luxury, it’s a right. From hospitals to courtrooms, she explains how language barriers shape systems of exclusion and how we can shift toward justice by centering communication, ethics, and responsibility.

We’re joined by Tim Brookes: writer, researcher, artist, and founder of the Endangered Alphabets Project. Through the Endangered Alphabets Project, he explores the deeper realities of writing systems dying, a loss most people rarely consider, yet one with profound consequences for communities, cultures, and humanity as a whole.

What does it mean to learn a new language when your future depends on it? In this episode, Camila Sabogal speaks with Maryann Hasso, Arab American educator and advocate for multilingual learners, about the often-overlooked realities of students navigating school systems not built with them in mind. In this conversation, we unpack the deep, often invisible labor of those learning to survive, and be seen, in a new language. This is a story about education, yes, but also about identity, resilience, and the quiet ways young people fight to belong.

In this premiere episode of Echoes of Meaning, Camila Sabogal speaks with Lefteris Kafatos, former diplomatic interpreter and cultural bridge-builder, about the unseen complexity of interpreting, and the value of the human craft. Or simply, the craft, if you will. They explore how interpreting goes far beyond language fluency, it requires cultural sensitivity, emotional resilience, and rigorous technique. Lefteris reflects on the shift from CAT to HAT tools, the overlooked importance of self-care, and the lack of public advocacy for linguistic labor.