Our Teachers

Polyglot Teachers Who Get You

Native speakers know the destination. Polyglots know the road.

A native speaker has always been fluent — they cannot remember what it feels like to freeze mid-sentence, to translate in your head, to lose the word you needed two seconds ago. Our teachers learned the languages they teach as adults. They have walked the same road, hit the same walls, and they know exactly how to get you past them.

Our Team

Meet Our Polyglot Teachers

Every Polydemy teacher learned the languages they teach as adults. They have walked the same path you are on now — so they know exactly how to guide you.

Marina - Conversation Lab Moderator

Marina

Conversation Lab Moderator

Polyglot teacher with several years of experience working with adults, kids, and teens.

I picked up English as a teenager and just never stopped — Catalan, French, Italian, Russian, German all came later, one after another. Every new language taught me something about how my own brain stalls under pressure, and how to nudge it past that. So when a student freezes mid-sentence, I know exactly what is happening — and what helps.

Languages

EnglishSpanishCatalanFrenchItalianRussianGerman

Background

I'm a teacher with several years of experience working with adults, kids, and teens. I am currently studying translation and simultaneous interpreting. I also have a deep passion for linguistics and the process of language acquisition. I love learning new languages because it helps me discover different ways of looking at the world.

Fun fact

Marina especially enjoys finding what different languages have in common, etymologies, and the history of languages.

Laura - French Conversation Lab Moderator

Laura

French Conversation Lab Moderator

Native French speaker and trilingual language enthusiast with years of experience in teaching.

I learned Spanish in my twenties when I moved to Mexico — not from a textbook, but from being thrown into real conversations every day. I remember the exact week I stopped translating in my head and just spoke. That switch took months of feeling lost first. When students worry they will never "think in French," I know exactly what they are going through.

Languages

SpanishEnglishFrench

Background

Holds a university degree in World History and has taught French to English and Spanish speakers.

Fun fact

Laura lived in Mexico, Singapore, Germany, and Spain. Laura loves exploring cultures and is preparing her PhD thesis on Madagascar history.

Sofia - English and Ukrainian Conversation Lab Moderator

Sofia

English and Ukrainian Conversation Lab Moderator

Native Ukrainian speaker and polyglot with extensive international teaching experience.

I learned English, Spanish, Russian, Slovak and Czech as an adult — sometimes a new one almost every year. After the fifth language, I stopped pretending it gets easier. What gets easier is knowing how YOU specifically get stuck. That is the part I help my students figure out, fast.

Languages

UkrainianEnglishSpanishRussianSlovakCzechFrench (intermediate)German (basic)

Background

More than 8 years of teaching experience, both online and offline, working with students across Europe.

Fun fact

Sofia has lived in five countries, and almost every year she starts learning a new language.

Lea - French Conversation Lab Moderator

Lea

French Conversation Lab Moderator

Native French speaker and passionate language teacher who loves exploring the history and structure of languages.

I started Irish Gaelic as an adult while living in Ireland — a language with completely alien grammar. For weeks I understood every word in a sentence and still could not make my mouth produce one. That stuck feeling never fully leaves you, and that is exactly why I notice it the moment a student is hitting it.

Languages

FrenchEnglishSpanishCeltic languages

Background

Professional school teacher with experience helping students develop natural communication skills.

Fun fact

Lea lived in Ireland, where she studied Celtic languages and developed a fascination with Slavic languages as well. Lea is a bit camera-shy, so she lets her avatar do the talking!

Sabela - Spanish Conversation Lab Moderator

Sabela

Spanish Conversation Lab Moderator

Native Spanish speaker and polyglot who works with languages professionally every day.

I learned Russian and English as an adult — slow, painful, full of doubt — and eventually ended up interpreting at the United Nations, where there is no hiding behind a grammar book. What got me there was speaking before I felt ready, every single time. That is the same nudge I give my students, kindly.

Languages

SpanishEnglishGalicianCatalanFrenchRussian

Background

Professional translator and university teacher with a strong academic background in languages and linguistics.

Fun fact

Sabela once worked at the United Nations as an interpreter, where multilingual communication was part of everyday work.

Ignatius - Spanish Conversation Lab Moderator

Ignatius

Spanish Conversation Lab Moderator

Native Spanish speaker and multilingual language enthusiast with strong academic training in teaching.

Ukrainian is the language I learned the deepest — entirely as an adult, often by reading poetry out loud at home, hoping no one walked in. The hardest part was never the grammar. It was being willing to sound a bit ridiculous for long enough to start sounding natural. That is exactly what I teach.

Languages

SpanishEnglishCzechFrenchUkrainianJapanese (learning)

Background

Holds multiple university degrees, including a specialization in teaching Spanish as a foreign language.

Fun fact

Ignatius's Ukrainian is so advanced that he reads Ukrainian poetry and sometimes uses words that even native speakers rarely use.

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