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How to Kill a Language: Power, Resistance, and the Race to Save Our Words
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.
“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.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published May 7, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 75 reviews
July 17, 2026
Standing before Mount Rushmore on July 3, President Trump said, “In America, we speak English because that is the language of our founding and for a thousand years that has been the language of freedom.”
As Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1056, “He biþ swā dysig and swā ungewiss.”
Trump’s campaign to promote English is, unfortunately, just one of many fantasies rattling around the rusty roulette wheel of his mind. In early 2025, during a blitz of performative rage, he signed an executive order purporting to make English the official language of the United States.
A more effective way to honor English might be to stop using it to lie, insult, and confuse, but nobody invited Orwell to this rally.
In her new book How to Kill a Language, Sophia Smith Galer neatly dismisses the suggestion that we’re all better off speaking English: “In our insistence that a common language can unite us, we forget that multilingualism is — like all biodiversity — a connective tissue in the grand scheme of our existence.”
Besides, English hardly needs more official defense from the federal government. English already exerts an implacable force: “Bloated and greedy, our language siphons off the words of many of our speakers, benefiting from what multilingual immigrants contribute to our countries but stripping them of their own language within two generations.”
That linguistic crisis, she explains, is far more dire than most people realize.
“This is the century that will make or break the future of languages around the world,” she writes. Thousands of local tongues are already as endangered as pandas. “In the next one hundred years, up to half of the world’s languages will die.”
“No funerals will be held; no cemeteries will fill. Some languages will leave behind dictionaries, novels, hours of radio; others will leave nothing save for a relative’s turn of phrase someone still remembers with affection.”
In fact, it’s Smith Galer’s affection for her.....
To read the rest of this review for free, go to my Substack newsletter:
https://roncharles.substack.com/p/the...
As Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1056, “He biþ swā dysig and swā ungewiss.”
Trump’s campaign to promote English is, unfortunately, just one of many fantasies rattling around the rusty roulette wheel of his mind. In early 2025, during a blitz of performative rage, he signed an executive order purporting to make English the official language of the United States.
A more effective way to honor English might be to stop using it to lie, insult, and confuse, but nobody invited Orwell to this rally.
In her new book How to Kill a Language, Sophia Smith Galer neatly dismisses the suggestion that we’re all better off speaking English: “In our insistence that a common language can unite us, we forget that multilingualism is — like all biodiversity — a connective tissue in the grand scheme of our existence.”
Besides, English hardly needs more official defense from the federal government. English already exerts an implacable force: “Bloated and greedy, our language siphons off the words of many of our speakers, benefiting from what multilingual immigrants contribute to our countries but stripping them of their own language within two generations.”
That linguistic crisis, she explains, is far more dire than most people realize.
“This is the century that will make or break the future of languages around the world,” she writes. Thousands of local tongues are already as endangered as pandas. “In the next one hundred years, up to half of the world’s languages will die.”
“No funerals will be held; no cemeteries will fill. Some languages will leave behind dictionaries, novels, hours of radio; others will leave nothing save for a relative’s turn of phrase someone still remembers with affection.”
In fact, it’s Smith Galer’s affection for her.....
To read the rest of this review for free, go to my Substack newsletter:
https://roncharles.substack.com/p/the...
Want to Read
May 14, 2026I'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.
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.
2026
April 1, 2026Non-fiction November TBR
📱 Thank you to NetGalley and Crown
📱 Thank you to NetGalley and Crown
June 10, 2026
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.)
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.)
May 28, 2026
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!!!!!
May 11, 2026
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.
June 6, 2026
What a perfect book to feast on as a linguist. So much fascinating info about different cultures. I LOVE BEING BILINGUAL!!
June 15, 2026
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!!
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!!
July 8, 2026
📚 Put “How to Kill a Language” by Sophia Smith Galer at the top of your must-read book pile.
"How to Kill a Language" shows off why Sophia Smith Galer is a public intellectual in the best sense: she identifies what is important, does the work to deeply understand it, and then communicates in a way that is both informative and interesting—dare we say, even entertaining.
The topic is important. Half the world's roughly 7,000 languages are projected to disappear this century. Language is a defining feature of being human, and the right to one’s language is a human right. Who gets to decide which language counts is a question about whose humanity counts and whose humanity is being lost.
Smith Galer writes a book that manages to weave a story of big issues with the personal. She frames the big issues of nationalism, colonialism, global languages, and linguicide with the experiences of those whose languages are being lost. This includes her own Nonna's dialët (local Italian language) that Smith Galer can understand but never learned to speak herself. It’s a story that shows the experience of language loss. Language is what we inherit, but it can be lost…and it can be saved. The book shows how peoples are resisting and preserving their languages.
And for the actual language nerds, there are insights into the unique features of endangered languages and how they reflect the richness of the human experience. I’m going to get the audio book, too, just to hear Smith Galer manage all the languages she presents. If anyone can do it, she can.
"How to Kill a Language" shows off why Sophia Smith Galer is a public intellectual in the best sense: she identifies what is important, does the work to deeply understand it, and then communicates in a way that is both informative and interesting—dare we say, even entertaining.
The topic is important. Half the world's roughly 7,000 languages are projected to disappear this century. Language is a defining feature of being human, and the right to one’s language is a human right. Who gets to decide which language counts is a question about whose humanity counts and whose humanity is being lost.
Smith Galer writes a book that manages to weave a story of big issues with the personal. She frames the big issues of nationalism, colonialism, global languages, and linguicide with the experiences of those whose languages are being lost. This includes her own Nonna's dialët (local Italian language) that Smith Galer can understand but never learned to speak herself. It’s a story that shows the experience of language loss. Language is what we inherit, but it can be lost…and it can be saved. The book shows how peoples are resisting and preserving their languages.
And for the actual language nerds, there are insights into the unique features of endangered languages and how they reflect the richness of the human experience. I’m going to get the audio book, too, just to hear Smith Galer manage all the languages she presents. If anyone can do it, she can.
July 23, 2026
I studied at one of the few Ukrainian-language schools in Crimea. I had the opportunity, as a Ukrainian, to receive my education in my mother tongue. After Crimea was occupied, even the word *Ukrainian* was erased from my school's name. The language of instruction became Russian. Although Ukrainian was still officially offered as an additional subject, teachers encouraged students not to attend Ukrainian language classes, warning that doing so could lead to punishment and even affect their chances of being admitted to a university.
My story could easily be part of this book because what I have experienced in my own life is exactly what this book describes. I hope more people read it and come to understand the harm being done to so many languages and the communities that speak them around the world.
Thank you, Sophia, for writing this book and for sharing your story. It was also a pleasure to listen to your own voice and to hear the story of your Nonna.
My story could easily be part of this book because what I have experienced in my own life is exactly what this book describes. I hope more people read it and come to understand the harm being done to so many languages and the communities that speak them around the world.
Thank you, Sophia, for writing this book and for sharing your story. It was also a pleasure to listen to your own voice and to hear the story of your Nonna.
June 8, 2026
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)
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)
July 7, 2026
a very passionate treatise on the rich inner worlds lost when languages go extinct, and an evaluation of individuals and frameworks all over the world that try and keep them alive. it's upsetting at times but overall hopeful!
June 29, 2026
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 🙏
May 29, 2026
"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.
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.
June 10, 2026
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.
July 22, 2026
When I heard about this book I was very excited to read it, not just because languages and their intersection with geopolitics interests me, but because of the personal connection to Italy specifically. I was mainly curious how our opinions differed despite similar familial backgrounds and more specifically if she could convince me that keeping dialect alive through generations is worth the effort.
Like the author, my family is also part of the Italian diaspora. I however, am and consider myself to be fully American, as my great grandmother, the last speaker of some version of Italian, died before I was born. I have heard all the stories though of the Italian traditions that she kept up through her life and how my great grandparents would chatter among themselves in their native language. Because of this ancestry I was unbelievably fortunate to be able to also receive my Italian Citizenship and move to Italy 13 years ago. Since then I have lived my great grandparents' migration story in reverse, moved to another country, learned the language, worked various odd jobs and eventually built a life in my new country.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and really liked all the insights into many fascinating languages that are facing real threats, whether war, political regimes, or just disuse. It's a great read if you are curious about how languages evolve over time, pick up variations, and become culturally distinct to serve the specific needs of the people that speak the language.
Which is why a major premise of her book, that these endangered languages with tiny clusters of native speakers need to be invested in both with time and money, didn't quite convince me.
I fully agree we should record and save as many written works of the languages as we can, that I fully support investing in, however I am not convinced that people should invest time and effort into learning a language that doesn't serve them.
A dying dialect is spoken in the area of Italy where I have moved to, and I have picked up a word here and there, because it served a purpose. When the elderly locals would come into the shop where I worked I could serve them without having to have them repeat in standard Italian. Hear something enough times you pick it up.
But to learn and then retain a full language you are not using is a big ask. I, by using Italian primarily in my day to day and not living in an English speaking country anymore, have taken a huge hit to my English mother tongue working vocabulary. I’ve never been a fantastic writer but I can tell writing and speaking clearly is getting harder, even when I still use English for my hobbies, to speak to friends and family, and it being a global dominant language!
Now imagine you are an Italian migrant to a new country, where you do move to the “Italian” neighborhood, but all your Italian neighbors speak different dialects. I completely understand the reasoning of my great grandparents to not pass down their language after moving to the US. They were focused on learning and perfecting their English, working, and taking care of their children. Imagine every generation between them and me spending the time and immense effort to keep the language alive, what would I even do with the Italian they would have passed down to me? Even I, having returned to the “Homeland” wouldn't be able to use it. It's a different dialect where I live and it was most likely distinct enough from standard Italian I wouldn't have had much of a leg up in learning that either. Working in the shop I would occasionally have families from New York come in and try to use their 100 year old Sicilian dialect to order a sandwich and they might as well have been speaking Tamil.
I think it's great if you have the time and interest to learn and improve any language, however the heritage speakers of most of these endangered and dying languages are in the midst of unstable and precarious economic, climate, political, etc. systems. I don't think the additional burden of shame of not passing down a language they can only use with their closest relatives is helpful. Keep records and use vocabulary that isn't present in the dominant language with the hopes it will be absorbed and enrich the ways everyone can communicate.
I know an English to Italian language translator and a huge issue she has is she is not allowed to use dialect words in her translations. Many times standard Italian is missing a term for something that could easily be described beautifully in a dialect. She has told me of a type of low hanging mist that Piemontese has the perfect way of saying, or the descriptive nature that Roman dialect has for their types of floor dust. My personal stance is I think that Italian should be more flexible and absorb dialects but I also think we should have one major language we all speak in (ideally with a huge vocabulary that borrows from these small languages and their expertise), controversial opinions for sure, but this book did not make me reconsider my position as much as I kinda hoped it would.
Like the author, my family is also part of the Italian diaspora. I however, am and consider myself to be fully American, as my great grandmother, the last speaker of some version of Italian, died before I was born. I have heard all the stories though of the Italian traditions that she kept up through her life and how my great grandparents would chatter among themselves in their native language. Because of this ancestry I was unbelievably fortunate to be able to also receive my Italian Citizenship and move to Italy 13 years ago. Since then I have lived my great grandparents' migration story in reverse, moved to another country, learned the language, worked various odd jobs and eventually built a life in my new country.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and really liked all the insights into many fascinating languages that are facing real threats, whether war, political regimes, or just disuse. It's a great read if you are curious about how languages evolve over time, pick up variations, and become culturally distinct to serve the specific needs of the people that speak the language.
Which is why a major premise of her book, that these endangered languages with tiny clusters of native speakers need to be invested in both with time and money, didn't quite convince me.
I fully agree we should record and save as many written works of the languages as we can, that I fully support investing in, however I am not convinced that people should invest time and effort into learning a language that doesn't serve them.
A dying dialect is spoken in the area of Italy where I have moved to, and I have picked up a word here and there, because it served a purpose. When the elderly locals would come into the shop where I worked I could serve them without having to have them repeat in standard Italian. Hear something enough times you pick it up.
But to learn and then retain a full language you are not using is a big ask. I, by using Italian primarily in my day to day and not living in an English speaking country anymore, have taken a huge hit to my English mother tongue working vocabulary. I’ve never been a fantastic writer but I can tell writing and speaking clearly is getting harder, even when I still use English for my hobbies, to speak to friends and family, and it being a global dominant language!
Now imagine you are an Italian migrant to a new country, where you do move to the “Italian” neighborhood, but all your Italian neighbors speak different dialects. I completely understand the reasoning of my great grandparents to not pass down their language after moving to the US. They were focused on learning and perfecting their English, working, and taking care of their children. Imagine every generation between them and me spending the time and immense effort to keep the language alive, what would I even do with the Italian they would have passed down to me? Even I, having returned to the “Homeland” wouldn't be able to use it. It's a different dialect where I live and it was most likely distinct enough from standard Italian I wouldn't have had much of a leg up in learning that either. Working in the shop I would occasionally have families from New York come in and try to use their 100 year old Sicilian dialect to order a sandwich and they might as well have been speaking Tamil.
I think it's great if you have the time and interest to learn and improve any language, however the heritage speakers of most of these endangered and dying languages are in the midst of unstable and precarious economic, climate, political, etc. systems. I don't think the additional burden of shame of not passing down a language they can only use with their closest relatives is helpful. Keep records and use vocabulary that isn't present in the dominant language with the hopes it will be absorbed and enrich the ways everyone can communicate.
I know an English to Italian language translator and a huge issue she has is she is not allowed to use dialect words in her translations. Many times standard Italian is missing a term for something that could easily be described beautifully in a dialect. She has told me of a type of low hanging mist that Piemontese has the perfect way of saying, or the descriptive nature that Roman dialect has for their types of floor dust. My personal stance is I think that Italian should be more flexible and absorb dialects but I also think we should have one major language we all speak in (ideally with a huge vocabulary that borrows from these small languages and their expertise), controversial opinions for sure, but this book did not make me reconsider my position as much as I kinda hoped it would.
June 12, 2026
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.
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.
June 9, 2026
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.
July 23, 2026
This is an amazing book!! The only question I'm left with, is if new languages can emerge as well. Take for example the differences already existing between Canadian French and European French. Would we be able to get a more diverse language landscape again?
July 20, 2026
“I feel nonna’s love that, just like language, defies seas and borders, life and death.”
Great book!
Great book!
July 15, 2026
I cried at so many points in this book - the quotes that will stay with me for some time.
A loss of connection - 3 generations and the language is lost.
Grief is the last act of love
A loss of connection - 3 generations and the language is lost.
Grief is the last act of love
July 23, 2026
A must read 100% it opens up so many deep relevant conversations. Well researched, entertaining, political and wide opening.
I kept on peer-checking the insights with all the people I know from those countries and communities, and the book served to expand our mutual knowledge and understanding of each other’s cultures and language heritages in a beautiful relevant matter. Brava!
I kept on peer-checking the insights with all the people I know from those countries and communities, and the book served to expand our mutual knowledge and understanding of each other’s cultures and language heritages in a beautiful relevant matter. Brava!
May 29, 2026
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.
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.
June 12, 2026
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."
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."
July 24, 2026
Sophia Smith Galer’s How to Kill a Language is a fascinating and deeply important exploration of linguicide: the forces that drive language death and what humanity loses when languages disappear. As the author writes, “that all languages belong to all of us.” It is a powerful idea that runs throughout the book.
The book begins with Smith Galer’s own family history. Her grandmother speaks a dying language that was long assumed to be simply a dialect of Italian, though its history is far more complex, as the final chapter reveals. From there, she expands outward to a global investigation of language endangerment, traveling to communities around the world to speak with the people who continue to use these languages and fight for their survival.
One statistic appears early in the book and remains impossible to forget: within the next hundred years, up to half of the world’s languages may disappear. Smith Galer explores not only language death, endangerment, and vitality, but also why languages matter so profoundly. As she notes, language is tied to childhood memories, cultural identity, values, and ways of understanding the world. When a language is lost, humanity also loses knowledge, cultural traditions, and unique ways of seeing the world.
Each chapter examines a different “weapon” of linguistic murder, demonstrating that linguicide can occur in many different—and sometimes contradictory—ways. The journalistic approach works especially well. Rather than presenting only abstract research, Smith Galer introduces readers to the people on the front lines of language revitalization, weaving together history, interviews, scholarship, and her own experiences traveling to these communities.
I was particularly fascinated by the chapters on Ladino and Karuk. I had no idea there had once been such a vibrant Ladino-speaking Jewish community in Thessaloniki, nor how completely it was devastated during the Holocaust. The destruction of the city’s Jewish cemetery to make way for Aristotle University was especially shocking. As someone who studies the ancient Mediterranean, I appreciated learning more about this overlooked chapter of Greek history.
The chapter on the Karuk Nation was equally compelling. I was already somewhat familiar with the environmental challenges the Karuk have faced, but I had never fully considered how struggles over land rights and environmental stewardship were intertwined with language loss. The apprenticeship model for teaching the language was an especially interesting example of how revitalization efforts can make meaningful progress.
The chapters are filled with fascinating historical background, thoughtful research, vivid portraits of the people working to preserve endangered languages, and engaging personal anecdotes from the author’s travels. Through these case studies, Smith Galer captures both the complexity of linguicide and the many different ways it can occur. She also presents a range of perspectives on language revitalization, including difficult questions about how languages should be preserved and whether every effort can—or should—be made.
Ultimately, How to Kill a Language argues that all of humanity suffers when we allow languages to disappear. It is an engaging, accessible, and thought-provoking book that introduces readers to communities and histories they may never have encountered otherwise.
I highly recommend this book. The chapters are the perfect length and style to assign in college courses, and the breadth of topics makes them relevant to disciplines ranging from linguistics and anthropology to history, religious studies, and area studies. This is a topic that deserves far more attention in university classrooms.
Thank you to the publisher, the author, and NetGalley for providing me with an advance review copy in exchange for an honest review.
The book begins with Smith Galer’s own family history. Her grandmother speaks a dying language that was long assumed to be simply a dialect of Italian, though its history is far more complex, as the final chapter reveals. From there, she expands outward to a global investigation of language endangerment, traveling to communities around the world to speak with the people who continue to use these languages and fight for their survival.
One statistic appears early in the book and remains impossible to forget: within the next hundred years, up to half of the world’s languages may disappear. Smith Galer explores not only language death, endangerment, and vitality, but also why languages matter so profoundly. As she notes, language is tied to childhood memories, cultural identity, values, and ways of understanding the world. When a language is lost, humanity also loses knowledge, cultural traditions, and unique ways of seeing the world.
Each chapter examines a different “weapon” of linguistic murder, demonstrating that linguicide can occur in many different—and sometimes contradictory—ways. The journalistic approach works especially well. Rather than presenting only abstract research, Smith Galer introduces readers to the people on the front lines of language revitalization, weaving together history, interviews, scholarship, and her own experiences traveling to these communities.
I was particularly fascinated by the chapters on Ladino and Karuk. I had no idea there had once been such a vibrant Ladino-speaking Jewish community in Thessaloniki, nor how completely it was devastated during the Holocaust. The destruction of the city’s Jewish cemetery to make way for Aristotle University was especially shocking. As someone who studies the ancient Mediterranean, I appreciated learning more about this overlooked chapter of Greek history.
The chapter on the Karuk Nation was equally compelling. I was already somewhat familiar with the environmental challenges the Karuk have faced, but I had never fully considered how struggles over land rights and environmental stewardship were intertwined with language loss. The apprenticeship model for teaching the language was an especially interesting example of how revitalization efforts can make meaningful progress.
The chapters are filled with fascinating historical background, thoughtful research, vivid portraits of the people working to preserve endangered languages, and engaging personal anecdotes from the author’s travels. Through these case studies, Smith Galer captures both the complexity of linguicide and the many different ways it can occur. She also presents a range of perspectives on language revitalization, including difficult questions about how languages should be preserved and whether every effort can—or should—be made.
Ultimately, How to Kill a Language argues that all of humanity suffers when we allow languages to disappear. It is an engaging, accessible, and thought-provoking book that introduces readers to communities and histories they may never have encountered otherwise.
I highly recommend this book. The chapters are the perfect length and style to assign in college courses, and the breadth of topics makes them relevant to disciplines ranging from linguistics and anthropology to history, religious studies, and area studies. This is a topic that deserves far more attention in university classrooms.
Thank you to the publisher, the author, and NetGalley for providing me with an advance review copy in exchange for an honest review.
July 23, 2026
Thank you NetGalley and Crown Publishing for the chance to read this ARC!
This is an eye opening, not just about how languages have been killed-not just by diaspora moving to another country and striving to master the language which I expected-but also about perseverance, humanity, and a bit of anthropology.
As travel with the author around the world, interviewing those who are working to keep their languages alive, we see how many different ways people live and work. There's the children of Italian immigrants-like the author-trying to connect with their heritage through various schools in England. We see women trying to keep the language of Kichwa alive through midwifery, how farmers in Omata keep speaking Sheret, despite the modernization of the nation shifting to Arabic, how Hebrew was 'revived' into being Israel's national language using ulpans-language schools for Jewish adults, while other Jewish languages starve for speakers-such as Ladino spoken by immigrants from the Spanish Inquisition who made their home in Greece and is the subject of its own chapter.
It can be a bit dense sometimes, which sometimes the subject changing such as talking about the chapter's subject language, bring up another language as an example of what the author speaks about, a bit of the country of the chapter's subject, and back to the first language. I didn't expect it to be just about language and politics, but it can be confusing to have some much information all at once. Sometimes, I also struggled with the location of the languages. I wish there could have been maps to not just so the countries talked about in each chapter, but also show how the language has moved. Because for Dagabani of Ghana in Africa you don't have to leave a country to lose a language while Ladino of Greece has traveled so much in its lifetime, though imagining the locations of either language required a bit of googling.
I did enjoy the the arguments on how rather than being monologue-or everyone learning the same language we should embrace learning other language. After all, there's a lot to learn-expressions, idioms, all kinds of things that may be lost in translation. Like in a graphic novel I read-translated from French describes a phrase-to feed jam to pigs. I know that English has pearls before swine but I feel like the first feels more natural since we are talking about food. Who knows what kinds of phrases and even knowledge would be lost if we just decided to learn one language. I know it's scary and hard-I had a native speaker for my first year of Spanish, so hardest difficulty really, and only this year I found a language app that really sticks. But we've got to try.
Overall, a very satisfying read for those like learning about humanity, history, and culturally things I'm going to do some Lingo Legends in hopes of learning new languages-first Spanish, second Japanese, then I'll see about Celtic since apparently that's an endangered language-the more you know!
Favorite quote: "For every LinkedIn bro recommending you get this AI agent or that expensive course to communicate better, there is a (far cheaper) language textbook waiting for you to open the first page. Languages are skills we get the privilege of working on our entire lives. But apart from helping ourselves, it also helps us appreciate all the language diversity out there, the language we don't get a chance to learn as well as the ones that we do." (Love the shot at AI here, also we've learned languages long before AI was a thing, we can keep doing it. Just gotta be patient with ourselves.)
This is an eye opening, not just about how languages have been killed-not just by diaspora moving to another country and striving to master the language which I expected-but also about perseverance, humanity, and a bit of anthropology.
As travel with the author around the world, interviewing those who are working to keep their languages alive, we see how many different ways people live and work. There's the children of Italian immigrants-like the author-trying to connect with their heritage through various schools in England. We see women trying to keep the language of Kichwa alive through midwifery, how farmers in Omata keep speaking Sheret, despite the modernization of the nation shifting to Arabic, how Hebrew was 'revived' into being Israel's national language using ulpans-language schools for Jewish adults, while other Jewish languages starve for speakers-such as Ladino spoken by immigrants from the Spanish Inquisition who made their home in Greece and is the subject of its own chapter.
It can be a bit dense sometimes, which sometimes the subject changing such as talking about the chapter's subject language, bring up another language as an example of what the author speaks about, a bit of the country of the chapter's subject, and back to the first language. I didn't expect it to be just about language and politics, but it can be confusing to have some much information all at once. Sometimes, I also struggled with the location of the languages. I wish there could have been maps to not just so the countries talked about in each chapter, but also show how the language has moved. Because for Dagabani of Ghana in Africa you don't have to leave a country to lose a language while Ladino of Greece has traveled so much in its lifetime, though imagining the locations of either language required a bit of googling.
I did enjoy the the arguments on how rather than being monologue-or everyone learning the same language we should embrace learning other language. After all, there's a lot to learn-expressions, idioms, all kinds of things that may be lost in translation. Like in a graphic novel I read-translated from French describes a phrase-to feed jam to pigs. I know that English has pearls before swine but I feel like the first feels more natural since we are talking about food. Who knows what kinds of phrases and even knowledge would be lost if we just decided to learn one language. I know it's scary and hard-I had a native speaker for my first year of Spanish, so hardest difficulty really, and only this year I found a language app that really sticks. But we've got to try.
Overall, a very satisfying read for those like learning about humanity, history, and culturally things I'm going to do some Lingo Legends in hopes of learning new languages-first Spanish, second Japanese, then I'll see about Celtic since apparently that's an endangered language-the more you know!
Favorite quote: "For every LinkedIn bro recommending you get this AI agent or that expensive course to communicate better, there is a (far cheaper) language textbook waiting for you to open the first page. Languages are skills we get the privilege of working on our entire lives. But apart from helping ourselves, it also helps us appreciate all the language diversity out there, the language we don't get a chance to learn as well as the ones that we do." (Love the shot at AI here, also we've learned languages long before AI was a thing, we can keep doing it. Just gotta be patient with ourselves.)
July 26, 2026
This book details the ways in which some languages disappear. I’ve read about the forced disappearances of various languages both in the US and abroad in other sources, and this book goes further by giving little details about the features of each of the languages the author covers.
I gave the book 4 stars because of the issues below.
There were a number of instances in the book where the subjects were plural while the verbs were singular or vice versa. Likewise, there were instances of subjects in the singular, but the corresponding pronouns referring to those were in the plural. I found those sentences were confusing.
One drawback throughout the book: The author gave many examples of real foreign words spelled with the actual letters from each of the languages she covered, but she didn’t provide phonetic pronunciations of many them using English letters. There were some words containing letters that had no semblance to English letters at all, and I had no idea how to pronounce those words, because there were no pronunciation keys following those words.
In the chapter “The Story of Hebrew” the author does give English pronunciations for MOST of the Hebrew words, like the single word on page 161, (which by the way is non-vowelized, so I would not have been able to pronounce it without the key). However, she gave two Hebrew phrases on page 173, with NO pronunciation keys. More confusing: I can’t read non-vowelized Hebrew. In each phrase on page 173, one word was lacking the vowels, so I couldn’t pronounce them, but I could pronounce the other words in the two phrases.
She mentions the word “aliyah”, but doesn’t show how to pronounce it and doesn’t seem to know there are two different pronunciations: “al-i-YAH” (last syllable accented; meaning to emigrate to Israel) and “a-Li-yah” (second syllable accented, meaning to ascend to the Torah to read it).
The author used the term “Hebrew Bible” many times, but it should be called the “Jewish Bible”. “Hebrew” is the language; Jewish is the faith. Did she mean the bible was written in Hebrew? If a Jewish bible were written in, let’s say French, would she have called it the “French Bible”? It’s a Jewish bible.
The author also used “Old Testament”many times instead of “Jewish Bible”. Jewish writers never called the Jewish Bible the “Old Testament”. That’s a Christian invention to disparage it and imply that the “New” one is better.
The author mentioned Yiddish numerous times, but she probably didn’t mention that Jewish immigrants to the US who spoke fluent Yiddish were killing Yiddish as they tried to assimilate by not teaching their children Yiddish. And in the early days of Israel, Yiddish was suppressed there in favor of Hebrew. Even on Yiddish websites, the words are sometimes only spelled using English letters. I can read Yiddish fairly well. The author mentioned that the ultra-orthodox use Yiddish in daily conversations (not in religious circumstances), but they are doing their own version of linguicide: Yiddish spelling was standardized by the YIVO institute in the 1920’s. The ultra-orthodox have changed the spellings so much with unnecessary vowels and other differences that it's more difficult to read.
I gave the book 4 stars because of the issues below.
There were a number of instances in the book where the subjects were plural while the verbs were singular or vice versa. Likewise, there were instances of subjects in the singular, but the corresponding pronouns referring to those were in the plural. I found those sentences were confusing.
One drawback throughout the book: The author gave many examples of real foreign words spelled with the actual letters from each of the languages she covered, but she didn’t provide phonetic pronunciations of many them using English letters. There were some words containing letters that had no semblance to English letters at all, and I had no idea how to pronounce those words, because there were no pronunciation keys following those words.
In the chapter “The Story of Hebrew” the author does give English pronunciations for MOST of the Hebrew words, like the single word on page 161, (which by the way is non-vowelized, so I would not have been able to pronounce it without the key). However, she gave two Hebrew phrases on page 173, with NO pronunciation keys. More confusing: I can’t read non-vowelized Hebrew. In each phrase on page 173, one word was lacking the vowels, so I couldn’t pronounce them, but I could pronounce the other words in the two phrases.
She mentions the word “aliyah”, but doesn’t show how to pronounce it and doesn’t seem to know there are two different pronunciations: “al-i-YAH” (last syllable accented; meaning to emigrate to Israel) and “a-Li-yah” (second syllable accented, meaning to ascend to the Torah to read it).
The author used the term “Hebrew Bible” many times, but it should be called the “Jewish Bible”. “Hebrew” is the language; Jewish is the faith. Did she mean the bible was written in Hebrew? If a Jewish bible were written in, let’s say French, would she have called it the “French Bible”? It’s a Jewish bible.
The author also used “Old Testament”many times instead of “Jewish Bible”. Jewish writers never called the Jewish Bible the “Old Testament”. That’s a Christian invention to disparage it and imply that the “New” one is better.
The author mentioned Yiddish numerous times, but she probably didn’t mention that Jewish immigrants to the US who spoke fluent Yiddish were killing Yiddish as they tried to assimilate by not teaching their children Yiddish. And in the early days of Israel, Yiddish was suppressed there in favor of Hebrew. Even on Yiddish websites, the words are sometimes only spelled using English letters. I can read Yiddish fairly well. The author mentioned that the ultra-orthodox use Yiddish in daily conversations (not in religious circumstances), but they are doing their own version of linguicide: Yiddish spelling was standardized by the YIVO institute in the 1920’s. The ultra-orthodox have changed the spellings so much with unnecessary vowels and other differences that it's more difficult to read.
July 7, 2026
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.
This book was... something. As a speaker of a largely non-standardised, unwritten minority language myself, reading this book just had me go Aourgh for much of it, because there was so much I related to and so much that made me want to DO something (knowing full well there isn't really anything I can do...). There's definitely a certain feeling involved in being multilingual but not speaking your heritage language like, at all, so in that respect I also really relate to the author.
The book was not as like... linguistic policy focused as I would have hoped and expected, and was a lot more popular science and almost memoir-like, so that was somewhat of a pity, as I was really looking forward to concrete steps and practices that have been taken. Still, I really enjoyed this book and think it is important reading, especially for people that do not consider linguistic diversity a priority, as this book manages to show the importance of languages and varieties to the communities that use them.
One thing I did find quite ironic was that this book talks about minority languages for large parts of it, but then goes on to compare the linguistic diversity of what is now California, with about 20 language families, with the European continent, where "only three main language families" are spoken "across the continent", which like... yeah, sure, MAIN ones, but shouldn't you in particular care to also include languages like Basque, like the Uralic ones (including MULTIPLE endangered or dormant languages), etc.?? Obviously I understand the intent, which is to highlight the linguistic diversity of the area compared to other, larger areas, however it's done pretty poorly in my opinion. I wonder how many "main" language families would be found in what is now California, and why she found it necessary to downplay Europe's linguistic diversity. That's not good academic or journalistic practice so I'm... hm. And maybe I'm overreacting here but it does feel like a pretty significant thing considering the topic of the book.
It's still a good book, but that point was something that really stuck out to me and that I want to raise because it (subconsciously, I would assume) further perpetrates the stereotype of Europe as lacking linguistic diversity and being a continent of linguistic colonisers, while neglecting the fact that Europe is also very much a country of linguistic colonised, and it reinforces a hierarchy between languages that it on the surface sets out to challenge (so what if all the languages WERE Indo-European? Would that make them worth less? Much to consider.)
Anyway here's my rambling review and go check out this book, but check it out with your critical thinking ON.
This book was... something. As a speaker of a largely non-standardised, unwritten minority language myself, reading this book just had me go Aourgh for much of it, because there was so much I related to and so much that made me want to DO something (knowing full well there isn't really anything I can do...). There's definitely a certain feeling involved in being multilingual but not speaking your heritage language like, at all, so in that respect I also really relate to the author.
The book was not as like... linguistic policy focused as I would have hoped and expected, and was a lot more popular science and almost memoir-like, so that was somewhat of a pity, as I was really looking forward to concrete steps and practices that have been taken. Still, I really enjoyed this book and think it is important reading, especially for people that do not consider linguistic diversity a priority, as this book manages to show the importance of languages and varieties to the communities that use them.
One thing I did find quite ironic was that this book talks about minority languages for large parts of it, but then goes on to compare the linguistic diversity of what is now California, with about 20 language families, with the European continent, where "only three main language families" are spoken "across the continent", which like... yeah, sure, MAIN ones, but shouldn't you in particular care to also include languages like Basque, like the Uralic ones (including MULTIPLE endangered or dormant languages), etc.?? Obviously I understand the intent, which is to highlight the linguistic diversity of the area compared to other, larger areas, however it's done pretty poorly in my opinion. I wonder how many "main" language families would be found in what is now California, and why she found it necessary to downplay Europe's linguistic diversity. That's not good academic or journalistic practice so I'm... hm. And maybe I'm overreacting here but it does feel like a pretty significant thing considering the topic of the book.
It's still a good book, but that point was something that really stuck out to me and that I want to raise because it (subconsciously, I would assume) further perpetrates the stereotype of Europe as lacking linguistic diversity and being a continent of linguistic colonisers, while neglecting the fact that Europe is also very much a country of linguistic colonised, and it reinforces a hierarchy between languages that it on the surface sets out to challenge (so what if all the languages WERE Indo-European? Would that make them worth less? Much to consider.)
Anyway here's my rambling review and go check out this book, but check it out with your critical thinking ON.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
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!
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• 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!
July 12, 2026
Sophia Smith Galer es simplemente brillante. Mientras que ella abre y cierra el libro con una reflexión a la ridícula pregunta de si no sería más fácil que todos hablaran inglés, yo me pongo a pensar: ¿Como seria mi vida si el día de mañana ya no puedo hablar español? Si se me prohibiera y castigara fuertemente por seguirlo divulgando, si, tal como le sucedió y sucede a tantas comunidades, un día dejara de hablarlo, sin dimensionar que ese era el inicio del fin de mi lengua.
Me queda una noción muy fuerte de que ningún idioma muere pacíficamente. Normalmente comienza a perderse en manos de la violencia, la opresión y una vergüenza infundada en sus hablantes. Si bien estoy de acuerdo en que a medida que el tiempo avanza las cosas se transforman o van desapareciendo, luego de esta lectura siento la inquietud de cuántos idiomas seguiríamos hablando a día de hoy, de no ser por las crueldades históricas cometidas hacia tantas minorías y comunidades diversas.
Cabe resaltar que la redacción y en especial la experiencia con su versión audiolibro es muy atrapante. La autora no solo está exponiendo una investigación, sino mostrando a las personas y culturas que le dan vida a cada idioma y que en muchos casos siguen luchando para mantenerlo vivo, o traerlo de vuelta.
Por último, pero no menos importante. Desde que mi abuela falleció, no dejo de sorprenderme de los lugares en que encuentro cosas que me recuerdan a ella y nuestra conexión. Este libro es ejemplo de eso. Qué agridulce y nostálgica es la historia de la nonna de Sophia, y de su idioma, pero sobre todo, qué bonito ese amor que existe entre ambas. Esta también es una historia de luto, a su manera, y de reconexión con las raices de su ancestra.
Esta lectura se va directa a la lista de mis favoritas del año, sin ninguna duda.
Me queda una noción muy fuerte de que ningún idioma muere pacíficamente. Normalmente comienza a perderse en manos de la violencia, la opresión y una vergüenza infundada en sus hablantes. Si bien estoy de acuerdo en que a medida que el tiempo avanza las cosas se transforman o van desapareciendo, luego de esta lectura siento la inquietud de cuántos idiomas seguiríamos hablando a día de hoy, de no ser por las crueldades históricas cometidas hacia tantas minorías y comunidades diversas.
Cabe resaltar que la redacción y en especial la experiencia con su versión audiolibro es muy atrapante. La autora no solo está exponiendo una investigación, sino mostrando a las personas y culturas que le dan vida a cada idioma y que en muchos casos siguen luchando para mantenerlo vivo, o traerlo de vuelta.
Por último, pero no menos importante. Desde que mi abuela falleció, no dejo de sorprenderme de los lugares en que encuentro cosas que me recuerdan a ella y nuestra conexión. Este libro es ejemplo de eso. Qué agridulce y nostálgica es la historia de la nonna de Sophia, y de su idioma, pero sobre todo, qué bonito ese amor que existe entre ambas. Esta también es una historia de luto, a su manera, y de reconexión con las raices de su ancestra.
Esta lectura se va directa a la lista de mis favoritas del año, sin ninguna duda.
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