How to Kill a Language: Power, Resistance, and the Race to Save Our Words

by Sophia Smith Galer

An urgent, globe-spanning exploration of languages at risk, from Kichwa to Ukrainian, that asks: What do we lose—culturally, politically, and personally—when a language is silenced?

“A vivid, hopeful portrait of how people around the world are staying connected to their linguistic roots.”—Gretchen McCulloch, author of Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language

Languages can be killed in many ways: war, the climate crisis, nationalism, and even quiet choices made at the dinner table. Around the world, an unprecedented shift is drawing speakers toward national and global lingua francas. For some, that means losing the language of parents or grandparents; for many, it is a permanent farewell to systems that carry knowledge, culture, and belonging. With half of our 7,000 languages due to disappear this century, linguicide is one of the most pressing cultural emergencies of our age.

In How to Kill a Language, journalist Sophia Smith Galer travels across continents and generations to chart this phenomenon. In Ecuador, she sees firsthand how shame deters parents from passing Kichwa onto their children. In Oman, she learns about languages with roots older than Arabic but never officially recognized. And in Italy, she searches for her Nonna’s dialët, which is vanishing from diaspora communities and Italy itself. But languages can also be reclaimed: We meet the Karuk tribe of California, pioneering a grassroots language immersion program, and the storytellers challenging the criminalization of Kurdish. And in her discussion of Hebrew, Smith Galer reckons with the unintended consequences of raising a language seemingly from the grave.

Part investigation, part travelogue from a disappearing world, How to Kill a Language exposes the true costs of this mass extinction event. Brought to life by vivid storytelling and Smith Galer’s own experience with language loss, it’s a fierce rallying cry for a multilingual future.

Genres: Nonfiction, Language, Linguistics, History, Audiobook, Anthropology, Social Science

304 pages, Hardcover

First published May 7, 2026

Reviews

[Grace Btrs (semi ia - mostly overwhelmed)]

I've followed Sophia for quite a few years now. I've always admired the way she speaks about language and uses inter-disciplinary commentary to take language beyond phonetic and grammatical usages, to stories of humans.
So I was super excited when I saw she wrote this book and couldn't wait to get my hands on it!

To my delight, I was having a conversation yesterday with a colleague, and she said, "I went to a book launch last week, and I think you would be very interested in it", and proceeded to share that Sophia used to work with her husband (journalist) and share this title.

I have received this as an eARC from Crown Publishing and Netgalley.
I unfortunately have been very overwhelmed and couldn't get to it before, but I just wanted to share my excitement.

[Mai H.]

Non-fiction November TBR

📱 Thank you to NetGalley and Crown

[Brendan (History Nerds United) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I count it as one of the big failures of my life that I never learned another language. One of the things I did take from Sophia Smith Galer's How to Kill a Language is that I can definitely blame my parents. But not my grandparents. It's complicated.

Galer looks at the ways in which languages have disappeared or nearly died off across the world. She breaks this down into various different ways to kill a language (just like the title!) such as intentional criminalization to just straight-up ignoring them. There is no one way, but each of them can be very effective.

A book which just lists these murder methods could end up being quite dry. However, Galer goes the extra mile to find living language users who can give the reader a more intimate understanding of why these languages matter and why they need to be saved. None more personal than Galer's own Nonna who is the inspiration for the book in the first place. While all this is great stuff, I am still a sucker for the various tidbits Galer throws out there to blow your mind. Oh, and how the word fart keeps coming up. Yes, I laughed like an idiot every time. No, I am not ashamed.

(This book was provided as a review copy by Crown Publishing.)

[Jemma Tan · Rating 5 out of 5]

personal reflection ensuing. I have been fascinated by language death/linguicide ever since i first realised my chinese grandfather didn’t actually speak ‘chinese’. it’s taken me even longer to realise he doesn’t even speak just ‘hokkien’, but a sub-variant, almost separate dialect, confined to the previously tiny village surrounded by mountains (now hosting 80,000 people) his family were from, albeit now populated with malay/cantonese and hakka loanwords from his upbringing. this ‘hokkien’ of the yongchun area in fujian province is a time-capsule of a bygone era, and like the author of this book’s dialect-speaking Italian grandmother, when my grandfather, his siblings and other octogenarian heritage speakers pass it will become extinct. having just returned from a trip to that same area, the generational death of this language has made me all the more aware of what is lost beyond just its words. i’m reminded of a moment when, walking through a street with many food vendors, my grandfather stood and pointed excitedly at one selling ‘hokkien spring rolls’ or popiah listing with surprising clarity the specific, unique fillings his mother would use to make it. of the times too when, having been unintelligible to many young people in xiamen who only speak mandarin, the odd elderly man or woman was able understand him and even pin down his dialect to its exact hometown based on a different way he said thank you or an accented word in mandarin. it called to mind all the other languages lost in my family tree - dutch from my mother's side for her lack of full fluency and perception of it not being ‘useful’, māori from my maternal great-grandmother who experienced a lifetime of language suppression and ensuing internalised racism. how many ways have successive language deaths impacted their speakers, their connection to their identity/culture and their ability to connect with their loved ones? in never speaking to them in their native languages, what aspects of my grandfather and my dutch opa will I never know? i particularly loved the organisation of this book with chapters categorised based on the causes of linguicide; emigration, occupation and shame being among my favourites. it is masterfully researched and also deeply personal/devastating - everyone should read this!!!!!

[Graeme · Rating 5 out of 5]

I often find books on language and linguistics can be overly academic and impersonal, which is why this book is so refreshing. The title might make you think this book is all about what's killing minority languages but if anything it's about the people themselves who speak these languages and their love and determination to keep them alive. It's made me determined to learn finally learn Welsh which I think means the book has done exactly what it's set out to do.

[Anna Heledd · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a perfect book to feast on as a linguist. So much fascinating info about different cultures. I LOVE BEING BILINGUAL!!

[Ellie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Firstly, I think SSG has my dream career and dream life (Japanese honeymoon pls).

Mostly though this was such a good read! Anything about languages is always going to entice me but this was skilfully researched, narrated and very accessible (not too academic feeling at all but grounded in linguistic research). I did know a bit about linguicide before but I found the examples and themes that Sophia picked out very insightful. Surprise surprise, I found the chapter about Hebrew absolutely fascinating (also justice for Yiddish and Ladino)

[Gabrielle Davies · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVED IT! This was the first non-fiction book I’ve read in years, and whilst it is obviously meticulously and delicately researched, the tone being conversational renders the book both accessible and a joy to read. I had to pace myself throughout the reading of this book, as I didn’t want to miss anything through skimming – a quite deliberate choice that I will be implementing for other non-fiction books in the future.

The decision to not italicise other languages’ words is genius for the wider mission of not ‘othering’ languages. Admittedly, at the beginning, I found it slightly jarring, however, by the end I found the seamless translations brilliantly sufficient to not hinder my understanding at all, but in fact enhance the experience and immersion on the author’s multilingual journey.

Reading about current affairs (Ukraine-Russia war, Israel-Palestine conflict, climate crisis, postcolonialism) from a linguistic perspective and focusing on languages was very interesting, something that has been grossly underrepresented in other coverage – the blatant linguicide explored throughout the book, one I wasn’t aware of before, sheds new light on these conflicts and issues.

Finally, the conclusion reminded me of my EPQ research question: “To what extent should the world speak one language?” People often ask me why I bother studying MFL as in 50 years or so “the whole world will speak English”. Luckily, I don’t think that will ever be the case. A point they often bring up is that of facilitating communication between the worlds’ diverse communities, but they fail to recognise that some “communication” would be lost in translation in English – a different language translates so much more than words, it allows us to understand a history, community, etymology, religion, wildlife, etc. “Politics is increasingly polarized in countries like the UK and US where everyone speaks the same language; a common language alone does not unite us or solve the world’s problems” is certainly a point I’ll be recounting to the pessimistic monologuists of the world.

PS. Big love to the loml and lecturer whose modules on Indigenous identity and culture have proved useful outside the classroom ❤️ my man 🕊️ – everyone told me I was silly to continue picking his modules year in year out, but look at me now!!

[Addie Reads Often · Rating 5 out of 5]

"To return to a familiar question: Wouldn’t it be easier if we all spoke the same language? This is a question I hear all the time, usually from monolingual English speakers who would, of course, benefit the most from a monolingual world. Suggest to them that, yes, it would be good if we all spoke Mandarin, which already has the highest number of native speakers of any language in the world, and they may change their mind."

This was a really fascinating exploration of worldwide language loss alongside the author's search for her grandmother's lost dialect. I highlighted so many interesting facts, quotes from interviews, and observations by the author.

Globalization, technology, modernization, authoritarian governments, colonization, cultural suppression... so many things lead to linguicide (deliberate destruction of a language). The loss of language from one generation to the next is the loss of culture, knowledge, and more.

While each of us can't be expected to save these languages, we can acknowledge their importance and support programs that implement change where it's needed. And we can also acknowledge (especially Americans) that being monolingual English speakers doesn't do us any favors. There is important knowledge being lost to the dangerous mindset that everyone should just speak English.

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

[J. Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to Crown Publishing and NetGalley for the advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts. It releases in North American markets on July 7, 2026, though it appears to already be out in the UK markets as of May 2026.

This book tickled every single linguistic obsessed nerve in my body. Those who know me know I like to pick up languages (and also that I tend to get distracted by the next shiny language often before I get a kindergartener’s proficiency…). Smith Galer does an amazing job of categorizing this book in a way that follows both a narrative throughput and allows each language to shine in its chapter. Her journalistic training is on full display with how carefully she navigates the topic, how she visits the regions she’s talking about, but ultimately how she highlights the voices of those languages she discusses rather than speaking for them.

What I most appreciated was the classification schema she chose to employ — namely, the ten methods of linguicide. Now, there’s more than just ten and she’s the first to acknowledge this, but it was so much more impactful to frame it using these methods than to frame it by individual languages. This is because the methods can be recognized and mapped to others not covered in the book rather than leaving the reader feeling it only applies to the language covered. I also appreciated that some of the methods she highlights initially seem positive, and so she preempts the critic who would argue against her on the basis of “negativity”.

Overall it’s just a fantastic book on language and cultural/human history, and if you have any sort of interest in language you ought to pick it up.

Original comments from June 6
Review to come - my edition is a NetGalley copy that says the book doesn't release until July.

[Christopher Small · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some good stuff in this—but simply too journalistic to be much other than a breezy but superficial gloss on the subject of language and language loss. Even in the final, more personal chapter, I missed a sense of sprawl or ambiguity: it's like a perfectly pitched journalistic assignment, balanced and responsible but much artistic character to speak of.

[Ben Kitchener · Rating 5 out of 5]

As soon as I saw this book I knew I had to order it, having learnt minortised languages such as Welsh and Catalan. I was pleasantly surprised that they didn’t feature as much, as the book’s scope is a true testament to Sophia Smith Galer’s incredibly in depth researching - going beyond the oft-cited European examples to encapsulate a truly global study of language loss. Yet the most powerful part of this book is how every chapter ties language loss to the real world people it affects. I hope many English speakers who’ve ask ‘Why learn X language?’ read this call to action and understand what we’re missing out on.

[sofiiiiiia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such an important message - language policies are never neutral. We are corrently loosing so many languages to wars, opression, insufficient funding and institutional protection.

Sophia writes so fluidly and vividly about languages close to extinction in an eye-opening way.

Leaned so much through this book and hope to read more from her on similar topics soon.

[Liisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

What do we lose when a language dies?

In How to Kill a Language, Sophia Smith Galer explores a question that feels increasingly urgent in our globalised world. With around 7,000 languages spoken today and up to half predicted to disappear within the next century, this book serves as both a warning and a call to action.

Part memoir, part journalism, and part linguistic exploration, Smith Galer examines how languages vanish - not only through war, colonisation, and government policies, but also through quieter pressures such as migration, education systems, and the desire to fit into dominant cultures. Drawing on her own experience of growing up disconnected from her Italian heritage language, she brings a deeply personal dimension to a subject that could otherwise feel abstract.

The book is structured around ten different languages from around the world, ranging from Italian and Ukrainian to Ladino and Dagbani. Through these stories, Smith Galer demonstrates that language is far more than a communication tool. It carries cultural memory, identity, knowledge systems, and ways of understanding the world that cannot easily be translated.

What I particularly appreciated was the balance between accessibility and depth. The research is extensive, yet the writing remains engaging and approachable. The case studies are fascinating, and the stories of communities fighting to preserve and revitalise their languages offer hope alongside the sobering statistics.

At times the episodic structure meant some chapters resonated more strongly with me than others, but the overall message is powerful and memorable. This is a book that encourages readers to think differently about language - not as something we simply use, but as something we inherit, shape, and are responsible for protecting.

A thoughtful, enlightening, and important read that highlights why linguistic diversity matters to all of us.
📚 "All languages belong to all of us."

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect for fans of accessible non-fiction, think Tim Marshall's Prisoners of Geography meets Amanda Montell's Wordslut 📃🌍

~

• Sophia Smith-Gayler's genuine passion for language and culture preservation jumps off every page. I can attest to this passion having met Sophia at the Casa Italiana Language Bar events where I volunteer 🇮🇹 It was beautiful to learn more about her Nonna'a endangered dialect language.

• Sophia's writing style is super accessible, even when explaining deep historical roots and context. She explores 10 different endangered languages, with excellent pacing to keep the reader engaged. I learned something new every chapter 🤓 The chapter on Yiddish's demise and Hebrew's revival was particularly interesting. It definitely got me thinking about how privileged I am to speak English, and the opportunities open to me just because I can speak 'the world's lingua franca'.

• HTKAL really is a rallying cry to all governments to DO MORE to support language learning and cultural initiatives. Often these are vital lifelines to support the wellbeing of Indigenous and marginalised communities.

• Importantly, the book is not only a rallying cry, its also a story of empowerment, provoking much philosophical thought. How can a language ever *really* die? If it still has influence on 'popular' languages, i if we can still access it's texts, songs and resources, can it ever 'die'? Language is linked to one's culture, politics and self determination.

• Language is not just a means of communication with others, because maybe a language can be 'dormant' in society but flourish in our hearts.

This book is perfect for all language and culture nerds.. but I would also say a really good starting point for those wanting to dip into more non fiction, as its extremely readable!

Thank you for my gifted copy!

[Marisa Goldy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my review.

A 5-star rating is not something I give out often, mostly because I am often left wanting something more. The only thing I wanted more after finishing this book was more of a thirst for knowledge, and to look inside myself and see how I could alter my own approach to my heritage languages.

A provocative title can often fall short, but Galer lives up to the expectation. All the languages she mentions have complex reasons for their disappearance, and she doesn't shy away from the reality of it. From shame to oppression to diaspora, and much more, we are on track to lose 1000 languages in the next year. My generation is so eager to learn Japanese or Korean, so we can watch anime and KDramas without subtitles (I have forayed into both), and yet I have ignored Ukrainian. Russian and Polish, even though I need some understanding of those languages to continue researching my family genealogy.

While reading this book, my sister had been asked by her bilingual friend why we only spoke English, and the reality was that no one was alive to do so. My grandparents were never taught, neither were my parents, and here we are, two children disconnected.

I think everyone can get something out of this book. Even if linguistics or languages are something you're not fully interested in, the stories and truths documented by Galer are important, and are something that should be on everyone's radar if we want to save any language on the verge of dying.

[Jade (beauty.andherbooks) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and Crown Publishing for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I happened upon this book by chance on Instagram. The blurb on the book reminded me a lot of the themes in Babel by R.F. Kuang, so I was really excited to read this!

Coming from an Italian immigrant family myself, where Italian is no longer spoken due to wanting to be seen as American, I've often found myself becoming resentful of the fact that I'm not bilingual. Sure, I can always learn, but I wish I had been raised on both Italian and English. This book really helped me see why languages disappear. When you lose the community aspect of speaking a language, it no longer becomes practical or popular to continue speaking the language---and thus, it disappears. "Languages do not only die in diaspora; sometimes they're killed in their own home" (14%).

I loved how Galer weaves stories into her analysis, as it helps give life and a human connection to what could be considered a "boring" topic.

If you find yourself fascinated with why we lose so many languages per year, and language in general, this book is the perfect study.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not only is this a really varied look at minority languages that are threatened worldwide but it’s also a love letter to their revival and maintenance movements. Each language selected is threatened in a slightly different way and the community of speakers is trying different methods to try and keep it alive.

I recently went to see the first feature-length film in Jèrriais, my island’s native minority language. And it was similarly filled with a sense of realism about the situation that Jèrriais was in and the struggles it was facing but also a sense of hope for the future. We have revived languages before, the book names some of those success stories like Welsh and Māori. But it comes down to effective organising and, sometimes most importantly, government support.

I learnt a lot about different languages and communities from this book and have taken down a bunch of notes to research more in the future!

[Camio.Dontchaknow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simply fascinating from start to finish. I find it interesting how we're happy for a language to change and evolve - we are not upset that Old English is no longer spoken or understood by the masses. But when a language dies in any of the various forms discussed in the book, there is a desperation and deep sense of loss. Irreparable. Tragedy stains things a certain shade and we can never see it as anything else. I suppose because most of the time that language is lost through the terrible way humans can treat each other. Still it's very interesting to explore language and our relationship with it.

[elge]

It was a bit linguistics 101 at first (which is of course normal) so I was a bit scared but it's a really good book and I learnt a ton about languages I don't usually think about. Vivid, human descriptions of endangered languages, friendly to all audiences, would recommend warmly. Given the title, I thought we would go a bit more in depth on the cases of already dead languages - some of the languages discussed are actually relatively big languages for instance. But still it does a great job of discussing language death mechanisms while focusing on a small number of languages, and making the stories very accessible to a non-linguist audience. Great English-style journalism

[kurdi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now one of my favourite books. Thoroughly researched and made me quite emotional, especially seeing that Kurdish was included which I wasn’t expecting and something that has affected my family. My great grandmother only spoke Kurdish, my grandma knew both Kurdish & Turkish, my dad only speaks Turkish and can understand a lot of the Kurdish of the region where’s hes from, but can’t speak it so it now has not been passed onto me, however I am trying to learn it. Thank you Sophia for this important work, you’re amazing 🙏

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating account of the reasons why languages are dying out (politics, emigration, shame, occupation, religion) looks at a wide range of languages and situations across the world from Europe to Africa and South America. Looking at how closely language is related to who we are culturally and how when a language dies out, a little bit of us goes too. Very readable.

[Avery Allcott · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wasted opportunity. Interesting premise, unfortunately not well-written or researched. Sloppy stuff served up with smug ignorance. Among other red flags and issues, the book is crippled by a naive left-wing smugness and disappointing level of ignorance of history, religion and politics. The author did not even a modicum of research into the wider context. Will not age well.

[Jessica - How Jessica Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eminently readable, How to Kill a Language presents complex linguistic ideas and colonial history in an approachable, well-researched way, framed by Smith Galer’s own story. Her grandmother and mother spoke a dialect of Italian which has almost disappeared, inspiring her to investigate vanishing tongues.

Longer review coming soon for Shelf Awareness.

[Marzena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a wonderful, well-researched, thoughtful and moving book. I love non-fiction, but it doesn't often happen that a book about languages make me cry. I freaking sobbed! Loved every minute of this book, 100% recommend for anyone interested in linguistics, language politics and international affairs. I'd give it 6 stars if I could!

[Lucy Brewer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! So readable and engaging throughout, it introduced me to places, people, languages, music.

The only two negatives are it’s making me want to learn Napoletano on top of Italian which I do *not* have time for right now, and the final page had me in tears.

[Andrew Hill]

A "profound and often tragic" story of language extinction and preservation - my Financial Times review of this "moving, beautiful and important" book https://as.ft.com/r/0eaf8f40-d879-468...

[Brooke Tyler · Rating 5 out of 5]

how to kill a language is absolutely fascinating!!
it’s clear that Sophia is so passionate about what she’s writing, which i think is what helps make it so digestible. it’s factual and well researched but with a personal edge which makes this as much a love story as it is a rallying cry

[Gabi Yildirim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Urgent read! Leitura urgente! Dringende Lektüre! Une lecture urgente!

[Eben James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Made me weep on the train. Go dda!