My Visit to Lingua Expo Berlin:
A Paradise for Language Lovers
„Kolik řečí umíš, tolikrát jsi člověkem.“
“The more languages you speak, the more lives you live.”
- Traditional Czech proverb
My Two Days at Lingua Expo Berlin 2025
A Must-Visit Event for Language Lovers and Polyglots
When I walked into Lingua Expo Berlin 2025 on the morning of 14 November, I already expected an interesting event — after all, Berlin is known for its vibrant language scene. But what I found over the next two days went far beyond my expectations. It felt less like a typical conference and more like entering a living, breathing ecosystem created entirely by and for people who love languages.
From the very beginning, the expo brought together an impressive mix of language teachers, editors, linguists, polyglots, translators, and language-tech creators. Everywhere I turned, someone was discussing a new idea, a classroom method, a teaching app, a niche dialect, or a publishing project. It was the kind of environment where you immediately feel understood — the kind where “What languages do you speak?” replaces “What do you do?” as the natural start of every conversation.

One of my personal highlights was meeting several language publishers presenting their newest learning materials. We talked about how textbooks evolve, how editors revise content based on learner feedback, and how the language-learning market changes every year. To my surprise (and delight), one team even invited me to contribute as an author of a Russian-as-a-Foreign-Language calendar. It was one of those unexpected moments that remind you why it’s worth attending these events — opportunities appear where you least expect them.
One of the most unexpected moments of the expo was discovering that even the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND) - Germany’s federal intelligence service - had a presence there. I was genuinely surprised to see representatives of an organisation that is usually so closed and discreet openly speaking about their work with languages.
You certainly wouldn’t call them “spies” in this context, but it felt unusual - almost surreal - to hear people from an intelligence service explain why they need translators, how they recruit linguistic specialists, and what translation models and language-processing methods they rely on. It was fascinating to get this rare glimpse behind the curtain and see how even such a traditionally secretive institution depends on deep language expertise.
Later, I joined a meetup for language bloggers and content creators, which turned out to be one of the most enjoyable parts of the expo. The conversation flowed easily — we discussed videos, teaching platforms, multilingual audiences, and the everyday challenges of building a digital community around languages. But the true highlight for me was finally meeting Lucrezia, an Italian-language YouTuber whose content I’ve admired for a long time.
She spoke about how she structures her workday, how she creates her YouTube lessons, and the methods she uses in her Italian classes. Listening to her felt almost strangely familiar, because so many of her routines, concerns, ideas, and creative processes mirror my own experience as a language teacher and content creator. It created an instant sense of connection — as if we were speaking the same professional language long before we even introduced ourselves.
Lingua Expo Berlin felt like a true home for the polyglot community.
But beyond the programmes and presentations, what stayed with me most was the atmosphere. Lingua Expo Berlin felt like a true home for the polyglot community — a place where people think, feel, and breathe languages in a way that is instantly familiar. I spent hours talking to complete strangers who somehow spoke like old friends, simply because we shared this strange, beautiful passion for learning and teaching languages. It’s rare to feel so completely “in your element”, but here it happened effortlessly. I genuinely felt like a fish in water.
By the time the expo ended on 15 November, I was leaving not just with new contacts, ideas, and possible collaborations, but with a sense of belonging. Lingua Expo Berlin proved to be far more than a language fair — it was a creative space full of inspiration, curiosity, and shared enthusiasm.
Made on
Tilda