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 Yuckbure.

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's New Year's Eve in Guita, Ecuador, one of the biggest holidays in this Indian country.

Faul Mendes is 32 years old and ready to celebrate the end of 2020.

All across the city, people have taken to the streets with life-sized figures that look

like puppets.

They're called monigotes.

People add a mask to the effigy and then light it on fire or loquaman.

Soon the sky is filled with black smoke as thousands of monigotes burn.

...