Italy to England and Pesto to Beans on Toast - A Chat with Aurora from Online Language Lessons 🇮🇹 🇬🇧 #347

January 13, 2025·59 min·5 clips

Aurora built a viral video around the Italian word 'berlin' sounding like the city Berlin.

This episode features host Martin Johnson interviewing Aurora, an Italian content creator known for her "Online Language Lessons" channel. Aurora moved to the UK in 2011 and creates comedic sketches about language and cultural misunderstandings. Martin, having lived in Italy himself, explores the reciprocal experiences of living abroad. Aurora studied drama and modern languages, later becoming a teacher for eight years before starting her online videos four years ago. She details her creative process, which involves brainstorming vocabulary from specific situations or building sketches around a single word joke, like "Berlin." Her first viral video featured her character Laura panicking at a supermarket checkout, with a British character named Sarah translating. Aurora notes that videos she dislikes sometimes perform best, while ones she finds hilarious may not resonate. Both she and Martin discuss linguistic errors, such as confusing "oregano" with "oregano" or asking for "toilet water" instead of tap water. Aurora is currently undergoing the lengthy and costly process to obtain British citizenship, which involves a life in the UK test and a ceremony. A surprising insight is that Aurora now drinks tea with milk, a habit she initially found disgusting. She describes a feeling of being "stuck in the middle," never fully belonging in either the UK or Italy after living abroad long-term. Aurora loves British foods like beans on toast, Sunday roasts, and full English breakfasts, while remaining a purist about Italian dishes like pesto. She observes that Italians are highly conscious of the "correct" way to eat a dish, often asking for instructions with British meals. Martin shares that Italian wedding receptions often involve intermittent dancing between courses, unlike the British pattern of drinking heavily first. Aurora notes a strong peer pressure around drinking in UK culture, especially among men, which she disliked when she first arrived for university. The conversation reveals that British social plans are often made far in advance, which Aurora finds frustrating compared to Italian spontaneity. She points out a cultural difference where British women often pose with glasses of wine in photos, unlike Italian women. Martin recounts an experience where an Italian friend was baffled by his lack of a drink in hand during a social outing. The tone is casual, friendly, and anecdotal, filled with personal stories and mutual appreciation for each other's cultural perspectives. Listeners interested in language learning, comedy, and cross-cultural experiences will enjoy this episode. Those seeking a highly structured, formal discussion or topics beyond lighthearted cultural exchange might find it less engaging.

As heard by us

A relaxed expat-language episode where British nationality paperwork turns into practical English practice.

Martin Johnson speaks with Aurora from Online Language Lessons about life abroad, and the chat keeps its footing in the mix of her Italian background and time in the UK.

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Why you'd press play

Aurora's Italy-to-UK story turns passport admin into a very chatty language lesson.

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