
Rune Pedersen unpacks How Humans Talk in new SBS Audio podcast
22 May, 2025
Media releases
Ever caught yourself using baby talk with your pet and wondered why? Or curious about why babies babble, or the science and psychology behind swearing?
Host Rune Pedersen, of the award-winning podcast The Idiom, returns with another linguistic series diving headfirst into the intricacies of human communication. How Humans Talk explores how the way we speak shapes our place in the world and why becoming a better communicator starts with becoming a better listener.
It's been over a year since I last jumped behind the mic to talk all things linguistics. Fatherhood has shrunk my vocabulary to a handful of daycare-proof words, says host Rune Pedersen with a wink, but it's also inspired me to dive deeper into human communication. As AI begins to automate language itself, it feels more important than ever to explore what makes our conversations unmistakably human. This is my answer to this development.
In How Humans Talk we're joined by communication specialists, cultural commentators, and other experts to learn and share how to be a better communicator, whether it's to your doctor, parents, neighbour or even your furry friends. Together we uncover the subtle ways our words shape identities, relationships, and the world around us.
Guided by speech pathologist and voice expert Dr Sarah Lobegeiger de Rodriguez, Rune rings in the first episode by exploring the untapped power of the human voice and why it's often overlooked as a core part of our identity and relationships. Then, Rune chats with Dory Wang who, after being a TV presenter in China, had to start from scratch in Australia, armed with just a handful of vegetable names and some pleasantries. Together, they discuss the emotional and social complexities faced by multilingual speakers from battling accent biases to rethinking what belonging truly means.
Rune is also on a mission to understand the power and pleasure of profanity* with an explosive episode that reveals swearing is much more than just colourful language. With insight from renowned linguist Professor Kate Burridge from Monash University, the episode examines the psychology and sociology of swearing - breaking down the bad words, from Aussie larrikin slang to ancient blasphemies, and exploring the science behind profanity as pain relief.
How Humans Talk launches today with weekly episodes.
How Humans Talk is a new eight-part podcast series hosted by Rune Pedersen and developed in collaboration with Stefan Delatovic-both part of the team behind the award-winning series The Idiom, which secured Gold in Limited Series & Specials - Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at the 2023 Signal Awards.SBS is celebrating 50 years of storytelling and delivers podcasts in over 60 languages. Discover more at sbs.com.au/audio
*Warning: episode 2 of How Humans Talk contains profanity.
For a pdf copy of this release, click here.
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
13/06/2025
WASHINGTON The ATSC, the Broadcast Standards Association, honored veteran technologist Aldo Cugnini and Clarence Hau, Senior Vice President of Standards, Policy...
13/06/2025
(Editor's note: The 2025 UFL Championship Game between the D.C. Defenders and Michigan Panthers kicks off Saturday, June 14, at 8 p.m. Eastern. The game wil...
13/06/2025
LONDON Warner Bros. Discovery has announced that HBO Max will launch direct-to-consumer in multiple new countries this July as the streamer becomes available in...
13/06/2025
AI voice transcription and captioning platform Verbit has added a new feature to its Captivate ASR solution the ability to identify specific features in automat...
13/06/2025
WASHINGTON Federal Communications Commission member Anna Gomez has wrapped up two weeks in California visiting broadcasters, television studio executives, enter...
13/06/2025
WASHINGTON The U.S. House of Representatives voted mostly along party lines to approve a rescission package that would cancel $9.4 billion in previously approve...
13/06/2025
At InfoComm 2025, AJA Video Systems announced DRM2-Plus, an intuitive, high-capacity 3RU frame that can neatly house up to 24 AJA Mini-Converters. Tailored to s...
13/06/2025
Cinema advertising leader to leverage AOS and suite of AI-enabled solutions to optimize forecasting, yield management, and streamlined ad sales and operations a...
13/06/2025
Manfrotto has launched the ONE Hybrid Tripod, a new support system designed specifically for professional content creators working with mirrorless cameras acros...
13/06/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that its Media Edge Gateway (MEG), an ATSC 3.0 software-based IRD, now supports Device Security requ...
13/06/2025
LiveU, the global leader in live IP-video contribution, production and distribution solutions, is deepening its commitment to the German-speaking market with th...
13/06/2025
Chaos, the leader in architectural visualisation software, today announces Chaos Corona 13, giving archviz designers new ways to add eye-catching style and flai...
13/06/2025
PALI's Nena Music Video Shot with Blackmagic Design
Brie Clayton June 12, 2025
0 Comments
Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K and DaVinci Resolve Studio b...
13/06/2025
OddBeast Powers Up iRobot's Newest Roombas with Suite of CGI Launch Assets
Brie Clayton June 12, 2025
0 Comments
The motion design and production ...
13/06/2025
On Chick Coreas Birthday, a Newly Uncovered Archival Release The Visitors, composed by Corea and performed by vibraphonist Gary Burton and pianist Kirill Gers...
13/06/2025
Industrial AI isn't slowing down. Germany is ready.
Following London Tech Week and GTC Paris at VivaTech, NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang's Europea...
12/06/2025
In 2018, Spotify launched Heart & Soul, a mental health initiative developed to ...
12/06/2025
50 Years Strong: SBS and NITV Supercharge NAIDOC Week 2025 in a joint 50th celeb...
12/06/2025
Medium-sized L3Harris T4 robots provide advanced control and precision for inspe...
12/06/2025
Over a third of global football fans find brand sponsorship appealing and 41% of all sports sponsorships are in that sport.
The FIFA World Cup 2026TM will open...
12/06/2025
SEATTLE U.S. households spend $164 billion annually on cable and internet services, which represents approximately 4% of the total $4.55 trillion spent on house...
12/06/2025
ATLANTA and LONDON Synamedia today unveiled its Media Edge Gateway (MEG), an ATSC 3.0 software-based integrated receiver/decoder (IRD), with support for device ...
12/06/2025
Technology now widely available to creators
Sony have announced that they are expanding access to their 360 Virtual Mixing Environment technology, which is ...
12/06/2025
Combines distortion, transient shaping & more
The latest plug-in to join Arturia's line-up has been designed to provide a quick and intuitive way to cra...
12/06/2025
SEATTLE U.S. households spend $164 billion annually on cable and internet services, which represents approximately 4% of the total $4.55 trillion spent on house...
12/06/2025
Improved specs & redesigned mount
DPA have just announced the upcoming launch of the 4099 CORE , a new and improved version of their renowned instrument mic...
12/06/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Roku, Inc. and Dentsu have released a new study indicating that consumers are increasingly open to shopping directly from their TV screens, and...
12/06/2025
LISBON NDI has announced that Crestron has officially completed the NDI certification process for its 1 Beyond p-Series and i-Series cameras....
12/06/2025
NEW YORK Fox Advertising announced a number of improvements and upgrades to OneFox, its media platform that unifies inventory and audiences across linear, strea...
12/06/2025
WASHINGTON The National Association of Broadcasters is filling the agenda for the 2025 NAB Show New York, set for Oct. 21-23 at New York's Javits Center. Bi...
12/06/2025
New eight-fader control surface announced
SKnote have just announced the launch of the Etna-C, a new DAW control surface and MIDI controller that's been...
12/06/2025
The 125th U.S. Open: Golf Tournament Stimulates Innovation in Sound Drones are a growing part of the action By Dan Daley, Audio Editor
Thursday, June 12, 202...
12/06/2025
Virginia Tech's Evan Ellis on the Continued Growth of the Award-Winning Hoki...
12/06/2025
Bouncing around Wembley: DAZN on its editorial thrust for the National League Pr...
12/06/2025
Intense journey: Bringing the production of the National League Promotion final ...
12/06/2025
The 125th U.S. Open: The Tourney Returns to a Totally Revamped Course as USGA Fo...
12/06/2025
The 125th U.S. Open: NBC Sports Rolls Out Massive Production-Tech Arsenal To Cov...
12/06/2025
The 125th U.S. Open: NBC Sports' Tommy Roy Talks Oakmont Eccentricities, Dro...
12/06/2025
Thursday 12 June 2025
Sky Sports has revealed its on-screen line-up for the Qat...
12/06/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Gets Animated at Annecy!
Top row from left to right: Fixed (Film), In Your Dreams (Film), Long Story Short (Series)
Bottom row from ...
12/06/2025
I've lost count of how many times I've heard software-defined production reduced to just run your broadcast software on commodity servers. The reality...
12/06/2025
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Thales has secured the top spot in the 2025 rank...
12/06/2025
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Thales strengthens its European leadership in re...
12/06/2025
Generative AI has reshaped how people create, imagine and interact with digital ...
12/06/2025
Level up GeForce NOW experiences this summer with 40% off Performance Day Passes. Enjoy 24 hours of premium cloud gaming with RTX ON, delivering low latency and...
11/06/2025
Sticking with SDI in an IP-Hyped World
Recently, it seems like every trade show, webinar and whitepaper spends a lot of time focusing on the benefits of IP wo...