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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 - 8 of 8 reviews
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
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.
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!
~
• 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!
May 15, 2026
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.
May 12, 2026
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.
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.
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May 19, 2026A "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...
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
I haven't annotated a book like this in a long time. So many mind-blowing moments where I had to stop and digest what I had just learnt. A lot of it is so relatable and mirrors my own story, I, too, am a (great-grand) child of italian immigrants who uprooted their lives to pursue a better life for themselves and their children. I too, lost the language and a whole history when my great-grand mother passed. There's also a dialect that will probably die with my other grandmother when she leaves us too and the thought of it makes my heart ache. I can understand it but I cannot speak it. Essays and non-fiction can sometimes be dense and feel inaccessible. But Sophia Smith Galer weaves meticulous research with her own story, and the result is informative and moving. I urge everyone to pre-order it (with your local indie bookshop) and watch out for any writings and / or projects that Sophia will put out into the world next.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews