Language supposedly has all these rules.

Most of us never have to think about those rules, but the hidden hand of language guides

nearly every interaction we have with other people, determining whether we connect, entertain,

confuse, insult, or dazzle the people we communicate with.

In Radio Lingo, the new podcast from Duo Lingo and Crooked Media, we explore how language

shapes our world and how our world shapes language.

I'm Amadella Yuckwer.

I'm an audio journalist and James Beard Award winning writer.

I am an awe-void language.

It's complexity and it's simplicity.

The way we can use it to create both distance and understanding.

I'm going to be your guide.

Join us as we take you on a linguistic journey.

From Crooked Media and Duo Lingo, this is Radio Lingo.

New episodes of Tuesdays on your favorite podcast apps.

It was a hot afternoon in June 2020 and Marcella Machaca was in the mountains of Ayacucho

Peru, some 4,000 meters above sea level.

Marcella at age 59 was an indigenous leader and agricultural engineer.

She was leading a group of about 30 people from her village, up a windy mountain top,

scorched by the sun.

Marcella was headed to a sacred man-made lagoon.

There she would perform an indigenous ceremony.

...