The Idiom on SBS Audio – The Idiom is a new eight-episode podcast series available on SBS Audio and other podcast platforms from today.
It celebrates the wonderful phrases used in multicultural Australia and explores the different ways cultures express themselves with a delightful blend of introspection and silliness.
“The Idiom adopts a quirky approach to exploring idioms and the profound influence they have on our thoughts, actions, and interactions. Idioms have become a kind of gateway in interrogating the complexities of a specific language and culture, and its context,”
– said host Rune Pedersen who speaks Danish, English and German and is an expert in cross-cultural communication.
“I developed a curiosity for idioms whilst working in multicultural communication and translation. This experience opened my eyes to the richness and diversity of languages across the world. With campaigns, I noticed that creative copywriting struggled to translate effectively due to their reliance on cultural references and poetic devices.”
With the help of linguistic experts and other guests, Rune navigates the origins of idioms and their role in everyday conversations – such as being “in a pickle” or “wearing your heart on your sleeve” which both have Shakespearean roots.
The Idiom also looks at similar sayings across languages including Arabic, Cantonese, Hindi, Italian, Mandarin, Punjabi, Spanish and Vietnamese. For example, where English-speakers say, “when pigs fly”, Spanish speakers say, “when frogs grow hair”.
“We’re delighted to be sharing this insightful, weird and wonderful exploration of culture and language. With The Idiom, SBS Audio is continuing to bring distinctive content to listeners and it’s exciting to see this new podcast series launch,”
– said David Hua, SBS Director of Audio and Language Content.
The Idiom is available on SBS Audio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, LiSTNR and other streaming platforms.
Rune Pedersen works for multicultural/community engagement advisory agency CultureVerse, a division of communications agency Think HQ. The Idiom was produced in partnership with Think HQ and commissioned from SBS Audio’s annual call out for podcast pitches. Other commissioned podcasts include Seen, Bad Taste, Our Deaf Ways and many others.
Upcoming commissions to be released this year will include Bad English with comedian Ivan Aristeguieta, Should you really eat that? hosted by food writer Lee Tran Lam, Grave Matters with human rights lawyer Anthony Levin and author Nadine Cohen, as well as a new series produced with Deaf Australia.
The 2023 call out for pitches will open to submissions in early July.
The Idiom – available on SBS Audio
Media Release – SBS
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