Cathedral Square in Milan on March 11, 2020 — the second day of Italy’s national lockdown, occasioned by the coronavirus (Flavio Lo Scalzo / Reuters)

These days, there are a lot of pictures like the one above: The Piazza del Duomo (i.e., Cathedral Square) is left to the pigeons. Normally, there are lots of people, Milanese and tourists alike.

Katie Harris lives in Milan. Originally from the U.K., she is an expert on languages and a YouTube star. You will find her at Joy of Languages. And in Easy Italian videos.


She is my latest guest on Q&A, here. We talk about life in Milan, yes — that part of Italy has taken a terrible beating in this corona plague. But mainly we talk about languages, a mutual love of ours.

How did she get into this line of work, or line of love? What are the methods she finds most effective? How many languages does she speak? How many more does she intend to learn? Can anyone learn a foreign language? And blah blah glorious blah.

This is a podcast for anyone interested in languages, and for others too, I wager — because Katie Harris is not only an expert, she is a delightful human being.

Again, our podcast is here.