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PODCAST

The Black British English Podcast

A podcast by your favourite Creole Polyglot Ife Thompson talking all things Black British English, Language justice & joy and Black Language practices.

education language learning

All Episodes

00:08:11

🎙️ Clock It 🤏🏾🤏🏾🤏🏾: Black/Ballroom Expression in Sign...

The Black British English Podcast ·

2025/12/14

From ballroom culture to Yoruba sign language, Black expression is all about movement, rhythm, and style. In this episode, we explore how Clock It and finger-tapping gestures from ballroom culture have influenced Black sign language, and how Black people naturally use gestures to communicate every day. We dive into the history, the cultural connections, and the creativity behind these movements, showing that Black communication is as expressive as it is powerful. Get ready to see how hands, rhythm,

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00:14:05

Code-Switching Is Political

The Black British English Podcast ·

2025/12/02

Code-switching isn’t just a habit; it’s a response to racial power. In this episode, we call out the denial of the “white voice,” explore how Black folks are pushed to alter their language for safety and survival, and argue that fighting for linguistic freedom is fighting for liberation itself.. This episode argues that language is not neutral—it’s a battleground. And choosing to speak in your own voice is a revolutionary stance.

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00:12:59

White People Don’t Get to Police Our Languages! ✋🏾🗣️🔥

The Black British English Podcast ·

2025/11/24

Black language, Black rules. 🖤🔥💬 In this episode, I call out white commentary policing our words, dismantle the idea that the academy gets to decide what counts as ‘proper’ language, and reclaim our voices on our own terms. From AAVE to Black British English, this is a bold reminder that our speech belongs to us and us alone. I’m encouraging every Black person to speak freely, unapologetically, and without seeking approval from those who have no claim to our culture, our history, or our tongues

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00:10:45

What Makes Black British Words So Popular in South...

The Black British English Podcast ·

2025/11/11

What happens when South Africans start dropping “Mandem” and “calm” the moment they find out you’re from London? Join me as I recount my experiences navigating South African social scenes and how the rhythm, swagger, and vocabulary of Black British English have found a home far from the UK. More than just slang, BBE stands as a vibrant marker of Black Britishness, a language born of diaspora and now embraced, learned, and loved across the Black world. Through shared linguistic learning and deep

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00:18:08

🎭📱 “Digital Blackface 2.0: Stop Sharing Those AI...

The Black British English Podcast ·

2025/10/09

Black British English is a language full of cultural rhythm shaped by generations of Caribbean and African influence. Yet on TikTok, it’s being copied, filtered and remixed into something hollow. White content creators are using AI, especially tools like Sora 2, to generate videos that mimic the sound and swagger of “roadman” speech, the same language they still mocked yet these audiences are eating it up. The humour of “roadman in Parliament” clips might feel harmless, but each share fuels an

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00:17:21

Assata Shakur’s Rejection of Her European Name &...

The Black British English Podcast ·

2025/10/01

By rejecting her Eurocentric name, Assata reclaimed the right to self-definition on her own terms and in ancestral languages. • “Assata” (Swahili: she who struggles), “Olugbala” (Yoruba: savior), and “Shakur” (Arabic: thankful) each root her in African and diasporic linguistic traditions. • This is language justice in action: choosing names that restore cultural dignity and affirm African linguistic heritage.This episode examines Assata Shakur’s life and writing through the lens of linguistic

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00:18:16

🇳🇬 Pidgin Na Full Language & Owambe vs Owanbe 🎉🍾”

The Black British English Podcast ·

2025/09/22

🎙️ Episode Explainer (English):In this episode, we dive deep to show that Pidgin English isn’t “half a language” at all, it stands strong 💪🏽 as a complete language spoken by millions. Then we shift to Yoruba culture 🎶🥁, breaking down why both Owambe and Owanbe are correct when it comes to party talk 🍾💃. Expect laughter, good vibes, and some spicy debates on language and culture!🎙️ Episode Explainer: (Pidgin)Na full gist for this episode! We go show say Pidgin no be “half language” at all, e

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00:13:47

🚫 Stop Explaining Black Words Online 📱 London’s 6...

The Black British English Podcast ·

2025/09/14

Black British English, AAVE, Pidgin, Creoles and Patwa are not trends. Yet online, every word, phrase, and term gets packaged into a TikTok explainer video for the world to decode. 📱🚫 Enough. In this episode, we take on: Why “MLE” is a lazy, erasing label for Black British language. ❌ How over-explaining Black speech perpetuates cultural appropriation and erases our voices. The difference between appreciating Black language and policing it. 💬✊🏾 Why ownership of our words matters and why the

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00:12:25

Rolling Ray Changed the Way We Talk… and Why I’m...

The Black British English Podcast ·

2025/09/07

In this episode I reflect on the cultural impact of Rolling Ray and the unique ways he influenced African American Vernacular English. Since his passing many people have been thinking about how language and identity evolve through voices like his and it is super important that his impact is written about and widely acknowledged.I also share my own journey of picking up Haitian Creole on Duolingo and what it means to connect with language, legacy, and history in the present day.

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00:14:48

Our Languages, Our Legacy: International Day for...

The Black British English Podcast ·

2025/08/31

🌍✨ Join us as we celebrate International Day for People of African Descent by diving into the incredible world of Creole languages and the cultures they carry across the diaspora. From Haitian Creole 🇭🇹 on Duolingo to BBC Pidgin 🇳🇬, and the vibrant braadkyaasjamiekan 🇯🇲 and TwoSaints 🇱🇨on instagram , we explore how language connects us to our African roots and the history of our people.Learn how words, stories, and rhythms traveled from West Africa 🌿 to the Caribbean 🌴, South America 🌎,

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00:11:54

Carnival Is Resistance: Soca, Creole, and the...

The Black British English Podcast ·

2025/08/24

Last week, I found myself dancing to soca from Antigua 🇦🇬and without even meaning to, I started picking up words and phrases in Antiguan Creole. In this episode, I unpack that moment: how soca isn’t just music to move your body, but a living archive of language, culture, and identity. We’ll talk about what makes Antiguan soca unique, how artists weave creole into their lyrics, and why Carnival music can be such a powerful tool for learning and remembering Caribbean languages. At Notting Hill

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00:13:20

❤️🖤💚 Do For Self 2.0: Marcus Garvey’s Vision in...

The Black British English Podcast ·

2025/08/17

Marcus Garvey told us: “One God, One Aim, One Destiny.”But what does that destiny look like in 2025 in the age of TikTok, Instagram, and global Creole culture? On this special BBE Podcast episode marking Marcus Garvey’s 138th birthday, we explore how his Pan-African vision continues to live and breathe through the words we speak, the cultures we protect, and the digital tools we now hold in our hands. 🔥 In this episode, we break down: Why Garvey’s blueprint of “Do for Self” is still urgent today.

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00:10:11

Asake, Yoruba, and the Lingering Legacy of Colonial...

The Black British English Podcast ·

2025/08/11

In this episode, I dive into the recent backlash against Nigerian artist Asake for using Yoruba on his Gunna feature and why the anger reveals something deeper: our communities are still wrestling with internalised anti-Black linguistic racism, a legacy of colonial language control that refuses to die quietly.I unpack the colonial history that positioned European languages like English as the “proper” or “respectable” choice while devaluing African and Caribbean languages as inferior or

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00:04:10

Black Language, white systems: How schools police...

The Black British English Podcast ·

2025/07/28

What do a courtroom in 1979 Michigan and a government report in 1985 Britain have in common? The answer: Black language, and the systems that tried to silence it.This episode dives into why the way we speak is about so much more than grammar — it’s about race, power, and who gets to be heard. From the Ann Arbor AAVE case to the Swan Report in the UK, we’re looking at how schools, governments, and institutions have treated Black English as a problem instead of a culture.Language isn’t neutral. And in

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00:10:34

Is Black British English a form of Time Travel via...

The Black British English Podcast ·

2025/07/20

What does it mean to speak the future while carrying the past? In this episode, we dive into Black British English as an Afrofuturist language, one shaped by migration, resistance, and imagination. We explore how the hybrid dialects of Black Britain remix ancestral languages, colonizer tongues, and global Black languages to create something radically new: a sonic space where survival and style converge. Using the visionary work of Janelle Monáe especially her android mythology via albums like The

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00:17:49

The Diaspora Loved It 🇯🇲🇸🇷🇸🇱 Nigerians Dragged Me...

The Black British English Podcast ·

2025/07/12

What if Jamaican Patwa and West African Pidgin aren’t broken English but living African languages? After my viral interview with Professor Hubert Devonish on the Caribbean roots of words like “pikini” and “sabi”, the diaspora responded with love — but not without backlash. Some people in the comments called us liars and a conversation about language and unity became distracted by a fight about identity. This podcast is my response. Join me as I unpack why I stand by the theory that Caribbean

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00:09:53

🇳🇬God Forbid Challenge : Why This Trend is Not...

The Black British English Podcast ·

2025/04/21

In this podcast episode, I talk about all things wrong with non-Black people jumping aboard and on the “God Forbid Challenge” currently trending on social media. I take you through a range of issues mentioned below too, including:1. Accent Discrimination- Research shows that attention to linguistic cues like accents may be more potent than visual cues like skin color (Kinzler et al., 2007, 2009) when it comes to discrimination.2. Blaccent Blackface- the phenomena of white people temporarily

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00:14:52

Reflections on my trip to the Jamaican Language Unit

The Black British English Podcast ·

2025/02/22

This episode is all about my visit to the Jamaican Language Unit (JLU) at the University of the West Indies, Mona—and trust me, it was a beautiful experience! I got to sit down with Professor Hubert Devonish, the man behind it all, to talk about his work globally and locally on giving Jamaican Patois the recognition and flowers it deserves and the push to make Patois an official language.  If you’ve ever wondered about the work being done to preserve and promote Caribbean languages on the islands

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00:12:19

Anti-Black Linguistic Racism

The Black British English Podcast ·

2024/03/17

In this episode, I explore the meaning of this term coined by Dr April Baker Bell and explore the ways in which we see this type of linguistic racism come up. I lastly go into the ways in which we can call it out as Black language speakers.

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00:18:41

Can UK Slang be a Language?

The Black British English Podcast ·

2024/01/13

Join your host Black Language Researcher Ife Thompson as she explores what makes something a “slang” and if what is called “UK Slang” meets the definition.

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