Danny Bate

Photo: Barbora Navrátilová, Radio Prague International

I may be completely English by origin, but I am also a committed Czechophile. After several years of occasional visits, I moved to the Czech Republic in 2019, initially to work as a language teacher. Certain global developments the following year made teaching difficult, so I was overjoyed to be given the chance in the summer of 2020 to undertake a PhD with the University of Edinburgh. For three and a half years, I carried out research in the academic field of linguistics, specifically on historical languages. During this time, Prague remained my home, but I had the good fortune to get to experience the delights of Scotland too.

I defended my thesis and completed the PhD in the spring of 2024. All throughout my studies, I developed my passion for public engagement and for sharing linguistics with a general audience. As well as through my writing, this personal mission involved audio adventures into podcasting. These in turn sparked a newfound passion for interviewing guests and creating interesting and entertaining content for listeners. When fate offered me this great opportunity to work for Radio Prague International, which perfectly combines my Czech interests and broadcasting aspirations, I jumped at the chance.