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Memory Speaks: On Losing and Reclaiming Language and Self
From an award-winning writer and linguist, a scientific and personal meditation on the phenomenon of language loss and the possibility of renewal.
As a child Julie Sedivy left Czechoslovakia for Canada, and English soon took over her life. By early adulthood she spoke Czech rarely and badly, and when her father died unexpectedly, she lost not only a beloved parent but also her firmest point of connection to her native language. As Sedivy realized, more is at stake here than the loss of there is also the loss of identity.
Language is an important part of adaptation to a new culture, and immigrants everywhere face pressure to assimilate. Recognizing this tension, Sedivy set out to understand the science of language loss and the potential for renewal. In Memory Speaks , she takes on the psychological and social world of multilingualism, exploring the human brain’s capacity to learn―and forget―languages at various stages of life. But while studies of multilingual experience provide resources for the teaching and preservation of languages, Sedivy finds that the challenges facing multilingual people are largely political. Countering the widespread view that linguistic pluralism splinters loyalties and communities, Sedivy argues that the struggle to remain connected to an ancestral language and culture is a site of common ground, as people from all backgrounds can recognize the crucial role of language in forming a sense of self.
Distinctive and timely, Memory Speaks combines a rich body of psychological research with a moving story at once personal and universally resonant. As citizens debate the merits of bilingual education, as the world’s less dominant languages are driven to extinction, and as many people confront the pain of language loss, this is badly needed wisdom.
As a child Julie Sedivy left Czechoslovakia for Canada, and English soon took over her life. By early adulthood she spoke Czech rarely and badly, and when her father died unexpectedly, she lost not only a beloved parent but also her firmest point of connection to her native language. As Sedivy realized, more is at stake here than the loss of there is also the loss of identity.
Language is an important part of adaptation to a new culture, and immigrants everywhere face pressure to assimilate. Recognizing this tension, Sedivy set out to understand the science of language loss and the potential for renewal. In Memory Speaks , she takes on the psychological and social world of multilingualism, exploring the human brain’s capacity to learn―and forget―languages at various stages of life. But while studies of multilingual experience provide resources for the teaching and preservation of languages, Sedivy finds that the challenges facing multilingual people are largely political. Countering the widespread view that linguistic pluralism splinters loyalties and communities, Sedivy argues that the struggle to remain connected to an ancestral language and culture is a site of common ground, as people from all backgrounds can recognize the crucial role of language in forming a sense of self.
Distinctive and timely, Memory Speaks combines a rich body of psychological research with a moving story at once personal and universally resonant. As citizens debate the merits of bilingual education, as the world’s less dominant languages are driven to extinction, and as many people confront the pain of language loss, this is badly needed wisdom.
368 pages, Hardcover
Published October 19, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
December 20, 2021
Abandoned after 21% read.
I so wanted to like this book, but it just wasn't meant to be, I guess.
The author laments the loss of Czech, the language her parents spoke, and which she was exposed to exclusively until the age of 2, when her family emigrated to Canada. (She assumes she was "fluent" in Czech - she, of course, doesn't remember being two - though I would argue that a 2-year-old cannot be truly fluent in any language.)
Firstly, this book is very long for what it contains, and is only split into 6 chapters. I got through the first one before I finally gave up.
The writing is dense, which is fine; but the author takes on this victim mentality of sorts that I just didn't feel she was entitled to. Maybe this improves in the remainder of the book, but I'm not sticking around to find out. She seemed negative about everything in her life, never acknowledging the good things that came about from her move to Canada, or hope for the future.
The insights into language learning and loss weren't new to me, even though I don't feel I've read extensively about it. And much of it seemed repetitive.
I received temporary access to this e-book from the publisher via NetGalley.
I so wanted to like this book, but it just wasn't meant to be, I guess.
The author laments the loss of Czech, the language her parents spoke, and which she was exposed to exclusively until the age of 2, when her family emigrated to Canada. (She assumes she was "fluent" in Czech - she, of course, doesn't remember being two - though I would argue that a 2-year-old cannot be truly fluent in any language.)
Firstly, this book is very long for what it contains, and is only split into 6 chapters. I got through the first one before I finally gave up.
The writing is dense, which is fine; but the author takes on this victim mentality of sorts that I just didn't feel she was entitled to. Maybe this improves in the remainder of the book, but I'm not sticking around to find out. She seemed negative about everything in her life, never acknowledging the good things that came about from her move to Canada, or hope for the future.
The insights into language learning and loss weren't new to me, even though I don't feel I've read extensively about it. And much of it seemed repetitive.
I received temporary access to this e-book from the publisher via NetGalley.
January 9, 2022
The topic of this book is fascinating but probably with a specific audience. The idea of linguistics and how we remember multiple languages we have been exposed to is truly an interesting premise. I love the historical nature of this idea, with lesser used languages being "pushed out" by the more commonly used languages. Some of the personal examples as well as the data behind the premise were useful. I think one could make the same argument about regional accents or dialects. A person may begin life with a strong regional accent and then move to a completely new region of the same country and by the time they are an adult the accent is closer to the new region (if moving at a younger age). I think the part that resonated the most with me was the description of Jews after WWII and how various experiences would influence how much of their native German language was retained. The psychological need to remove all aspects of one's native tongue when exposed to atrocities such as war and concentration camps is remarkable.
My critique of this is really more a question. Who is the intended audience for this book? The general reader or a more specific audience? It feels like the length of the book and the author's expertise in linguistics lead me to this being more of a source for university level study and discussion. If so, then it works. If it is intended to be a more general audience, then it feels too long and rambling.
#MemorySpeaks #NetGalley #HarvardUniversityPress #BelknapPress
My critique of this is really more a question. Who is the intended audience for this book? The general reader or a more specific audience? It feels like the length of the book and the author's expertise in linguistics lead me to this being more of a source for university level study and discussion. If so, then it works. If it is intended to be a more general audience, then it feels too long and rambling.
#MemorySpeaks #NetGalley #HarvardUniversityPress #BelknapPress
August 16, 2022
I picked this one up because I was intrigued by the idea of a memoir that blended linguistics into the narrative. However, this was more of a linguistics books that blended memoir into the narrative. 😅 Which isn’t a bad thing! It just turned out to be a bit of a slow read for me. I like linguistics, but the intense analysis of various (fascinating!) studies slowed me down.
Even though this took me awhile to read, it was constantly interesting and opened my eyes to so much about language and how we learn! Sedivy focuses a lot on being bilingual—how we learn languages, how languages are lost and rediscovered in our own mind, how you process two different languages in your head, etc. Towards the end, she also explores how people are working to save endangered languages, and it was all so fascinating! There are many stories—of people, and of languages—in this book besides Sedivy's own. Sedivy holds each language she talks about in such high esteem, and examines them with care—it's lovely.
I came to this book knowing very little about linguistics, and I found my reading experience to be quite helpful and easy enough. This is a great starter book to learn about linguistics, especially since there is the inclusion of the author’s own story about her language loss and rediscovery. I think many readers can empathize with that aspect of this book and will find this to be an absorbing and unique read.
Even though this took me awhile to read, it was constantly interesting and opened my eyes to so much about language and how we learn! Sedivy focuses a lot on being bilingual—how we learn languages, how languages are lost and rediscovered in our own mind, how you process two different languages in your head, etc. Towards the end, she also explores how people are working to save endangered languages, and it was all so fascinating! There are many stories—of people, and of languages—in this book besides Sedivy's own. Sedivy holds each language she talks about in such high esteem, and examines them with care—it's lovely.
I came to this book knowing very little about linguistics, and I found my reading experience to be quite helpful and easy enough. This is a great starter book to learn about linguistics, especially since there is the inclusion of the author’s own story about her language loss and rediscovery. I think many readers can empathize with that aspect of this book and will find this to be an absorbing and unique read.
February 20, 2022
Certainly a full-circle book for me on a number of fronts - primarily as a child of two cultures who DID reclaim a language that my social circumstances had led me to reject. As an adolescent I completely lost the ability to speak to my own grandparents, and today Spanish is the only language I have ever truly worked in. At times it seems nothing short of miraculous.
My first semester of college I happened upon my first Anthropology seminar Introduction to Linguistic Anthropology, taught by a German-native PhD whose academic expertise is Ki’che’ Maya and whose teaching methodology was way beyond my 18 year-old cerebral capacity. This book has made me reflect on my linguistic and intellectual evolution since fall of Freshman year, and the many lifetimes I feel have passed since then.
I didn’t always agree with Sedivy or particularly identify with some of the tangents she lead, but 100% recommend this book to any hyphenated culture kid like myself.
My first semester of college I happened upon my first Anthropology seminar Introduction to Linguistic Anthropology, taught by a German-native PhD whose academic expertise is Ki’che’ Maya and whose teaching methodology was way beyond my 18 year-old cerebral capacity. This book has made me reflect on my linguistic and intellectual evolution since fall of Freshman year, and the many lifetimes I feel have passed since then.
I didn’t always agree with Sedivy or particularly identify with some of the tangents she lead, but 100% recommend this book to any hyphenated culture kid like myself.
March 15, 2025
¿Es fácil olvidar la lengua materna? Es una pregunta que me ha preocupado toda mi vida. El inglés de mi madre no tiene ningún acento y su checo está ahora raído por el desuso, pero me sigue preocupando. ¿Podré comunicarme con ella cuando envejezca? ¿Su lengua materna pasa a un primer plano a medida que otras facultades se desvanecen?
En una magnífica mezcla de ciencia y memorias, Memory speaks, de Julie Sedivy, se analiza qué ocurre cuando las personas pierden su lengua materna -y a menudo su cultura- y si ésta sigue siendo accesible en la edad adulta.
Sedivy emigró a Canadá desde Checoslovaquia tras la invasión rusa y era una niña pequeña cuando llegó. Viviendo en Montreal e inmersos tanto en el francés como en el inglés, ella y sus hermanos adoptaron rápidamente las lenguas de su nuevo hogar, trasladando lo que aprendían en la escuela a sus conversaciones en casa. Sedivy observa que este patrón se repite en todas las comunidades de inmigrantes: la adopción de la lengua local es siempre rápida y, al cabo de dos generaciones, casi completa: los nietos rara vez hablan, y menos aún con fluidez, la lengua materna de la familia.
Y cuando uno llega, como hizo la familia de Sedivy, es fácil desprenderse de la lengua materna. Fuera del hogar familiar, nadie quería que hablaras otra cosa. Los recuerdos de Sedivy se refieren a la escuela en los años setenta, pero las normas eran las mismas en mi escuela en los noventa y principios de los 2000: sólo se podía hablar la lengua local en la escuela, incluso en el patio. Desde el punto de vista de la escuela, era una forma de integrar a los niños más rápidamente y evitar que se formaran camarillas. Pero en nuestro cerebro hay un espacio limitado para las lenguas y las que ya existen se resienten cuando se aprende una nueva:
Para Sedivy, esta pérdida no fue demasiado grande al principio. El checo no es una lengua práctica: se habla en un país pequeño, la mayoría de cuyos habitantes hablan al menos otra lengua (más común). Y durante las primeras décadas que vivió en Canadá, era una lengua difícil de encontrar fuera de casa, algo que es muy diferente para los inmigrantes hiperconectados de hoy en día:
Al llegar a la edad adulta y con el fallecimiento de su padre, Sedivy estaba ansiosa por volver a aprender su lengua materna. Pero, ¿cuánto quedaba de aquel idioma bizarramente complejo (¡en caso de duda, declínalo todo! Verbos, sustantivos, pronombres, numerales, ¡todo!) quedaba por descifrar y cuánto tendría que volver a aprender?
La investigación que Sedivy comparte es fascinante: las lenguas maternas pueden resurgir tras décadas sin uso. Pero para los que nunca llegaron a dominarlas hasta la edad adulta, los que cambiaron de lengua en la infancia, el proceso es más difícil y hay que aprender además de recordar. Pero, ¿cómo aprender? Sedivy llama a los estudiantes como ella «aprendices de lenguas de herencia»: personas que quieren aprender la lengua de su familia para conectar mejor con su herencia y su cultura. No sólo necesitan saber cómo pedir una comida o comprar un billete de tren, sino aprender la etiqueta de una lengua y una cultura: ¿cómo se habla a los mayores? ¿Cómo expresar afecto? ¿Intenta alguien ser gracioso o insultante? Y la mayoría de las escuelas no están preparadas para enseñar esto:
Y no todas las lenguas están al alcance de los estudiantes adultos. Es habitual encontrar estudiantes internacionales de todas las edades aprendiendo inglés o francés, alemán o mandarín. Los hablantes nativos están acostumbrados a que los visitantes pongan a prueba sus conocimientos lingüísticos y les ayudarán amablemente en intercambios confusos. Pero en los países donde esto no ocurre, la cortesía es menor. Tuve que reírme cuando vi este típico encuentro que Sedivy y su hermano tuvieron en una tienda:
Me encantó cada página. La ciencia del lenguaje y la memoria es absolutamente fascinante y leería con mucho gusto un libro enteramente dedicado a ello, pero las experiencias personales de Sedivy hicieron de éste algo muy especial y memorable.
En una magnífica mezcla de ciencia y memorias, Memory speaks, de Julie Sedivy, se analiza qué ocurre cuando las personas pierden su lengua materna -y a menudo su cultura- y si ésta sigue siendo accesible en la edad adulta.
Sedivy emigró a Canadá desde Checoslovaquia tras la invasión rusa y era una niña pequeña cuando llegó. Viviendo en Montreal e inmersos tanto en el francés como en el inglés, ella y sus hermanos adoptaron rápidamente las lenguas de su nuevo hogar, trasladando lo que aprendían en la escuela a sus conversaciones en casa. Sedivy observa que este patrón se repite en todas las comunidades de inmigrantes: la adopción de la lengua local es siempre rápida y, al cabo de dos generaciones, casi completa: los nietos rara vez hablan, y menos aún con fluidez, la lengua materna de la familia.
Y cuando uno llega, como hizo la familia de Sedivy, es fácil desprenderse de la lengua materna. Fuera del hogar familiar, nadie quería que hablaras otra cosa. Los recuerdos de Sedivy se refieren a la escuela en los años setenta, pero las normas eran las mismas en mi escuela en los noventa y principios de los 2000: sólo se podía hablar la lengua local en la escuela, incluso en el patio. Desde el punto de vista de la escuela, era una forma de integrar a los niños más rápidamente y evitar que se formaran camarillas. Pero en nuestro cerebro hay un espacio limitado para las lenguas y las que ya existen se resienten cuando se aprende una nueva:
No hay una edad en la que una lengua, aunque sea la materna, esté tan firmemente arraigada en el cerebro que no pueda ser desplazada o alterada por una nueva. Como un hogar que acoge a un nuevo niño, una mente no puede admitir una nueva lengua sin que ello repercuta en otras lenguas que ya residen en ella. Las lenguas pueden coexistir, pero se disputan, como los hermanos, los recursos mentales y la atención. Cuando una persona bilingüe intenta articular un pensamiento en una lengua, las palabras y estructuras gramaticales de la otra lengua a menudo claman en el fondo, compitiendo por la atención. Y si la atención se dedica desproporcionadamente a la nueva lengua, la anterior sufre las consecuencias.
Para Sedivy, esta pérdida no fue demasiado grande al principio. El checo no es una lengua práctica: se habla en un país pequeño, la mayoría de cuyos habitantes hablan al menos otra lengua (más común). Y durante las primeras décadas que vivió en Canadá, era una lengua difícil de encontrar fuera de casa, algo que es muy diferente para los inmigrantes hiperconectados de hoy en día:
Durante mis años de formación, Checoslovaquia era un lugar remoto e impenetrable. Por razones tecnológicas y políticas, poco pasaba a través de sus fronteras, tanto para entrar como para salir. Las llamadas telefónicas al extranjero eran tan caras que no había posibilidad de mantener conversaciones tranquilas con los parientes en casa. Las cartas se abrían, se leían y se censuraban. No había posibilidad de volver de visita, aunque nos lo hubiéramos podido permitir. El gobierno comunista no consideraba legal la salida de mi familia, por lo que habríamos sido condenados a penas de prisión a nuestra llegada. Crecí dudando de poder volver a ese país en mi vida.
Hoy en día, soy testigo de cómo algunos jóvenes a caballo entre países y culturas pueden viajar con sus familias a su país ancestral cada uno o dos años, y de cómo pueden consultar revistas, blogs, películas y vídeos de YouTube en sus pantallas en la intimidad de sus dormitorios y flirtear en secreto con alguien del otro lado del mundo que habla su idioma.
Al llegar a la edad adulta y con el fallecimiento de su padre, Sedivy estaba ansiosa por volver a aprender su lengua materna. Pero, ¿cuánto quedaba de aquel idioma bizarramente complejo (¡en caso de duda, declínalo todo! Verbos, sustantivos, pronombres, numerales, ¡todo!) quedaba por descifrar y cuánto tendría que volver a aprender?
La investigación que Sedivy comparte es fascinante: las lenguas maternas pueden resurgir tras décadas sin uso. Pero para los que nunca llegaron a dominarlas hasta la edad adulta, los que cambiaron de lengua en la infancia, el proceso es más difícil y hay que aprender además de recordar. Pero, ¿cómo aprender? Sedivy llama a los estudiantes como ella «aprendices de lenguas de herencia»: personas que quieren aprender la lengua de su familia para conectar mejor con su herencia y su cultura. No sólo necesitan saber cómo pedir una comida o comprar un billete de tren, sino aprender la etiqueta de una lengua y una cultura: ¿cómo se habla a los mayores? ¿Cómo expresar afecto? ¿Intenta alguien ser gracioso o insultante? Y la mayoría de las escuelas no están preparadas para enseñar esto:
Las clases de idiomas suelen centrarse en un estilo de lenguaje apropiado con desconocidos o conocidos, pero los hablantes del patrimonio cultural pueden necesitar aprender el lenguaje que se habla entre iniciados, o un lenguaje con muchos matices sociales y no sólo gramatical.
Y no todas las lenguas están al alcance de los estudiantes adultos. Es habitual encontrar estudiantes internacionales de todas las edades aprendiendo inglés o francés, alemán o mandarín. Los hablantes nativos están acostumbrados a que los visitantes pongan a prueba sus conocimientos lingüísticos y les ayudarán amablemente en intercambios confusos. Pero en los países donde esto no ocurre, la cortesía es menor. Tuve que reírme cuando vi este típico encuentro que Sedivy y su hermano tuvieron en una tienda:
Una dependienta en particular parecía tener grandes dificultades para entenderle. Le informó, como si estuviera dando instrucciones a un niño, de que no pronunciaba correctamente ciertas palabras, como si el hecho de que se le informara de ello fuera a remediar de algún modo el acento. Lo siento», dijo mi hermano, “mi checo no es muy bueno”. Sí, ya lo oigo», dijo el empleado, sin el menor atisbo de sonrisa o ánimo.
Me encantó cada página. La ciencia del lenguaje y la memoria es absolutamente fascinante y leería con mucho gusto un libro enteramente dedicado a ello, pero las experiencias personales de Sedivy hicieron de éste algo muy especial y memorable.
March 24, 2022
As someone who learnt three languages as a child and two more as an adult, I found this book truly fascinating. Sedivy writes about moving from Czech Republic to Montreal, and how the move affects her Czech language. As I get older, I have been increasingly reflecting upon the role on English in my own life. Yes, studying English offered me new cartographies, but these days I wonder about all that I gained (and lost) in the process. This book was a "behind-the-veil" account of language learning from someone trained as a linguist. There are explanations, which Sedivy intersperses with the personal. I'm not fluent in many of the languages I speak, but there is a moment when a language becomes "habitable" and there is magic there. For me, this book was about looking into that moment of magic and how it comes about.
December 4, 2021
A scholarly tome that reads like a doctoral thesis. This does not minimize its value, but does lessen its use by many who need it most. Bottom line is that there are too many languages being lost globally, but the worst offenders are in North America and are generally government sanctioned. To those who point to the multiplicity of indigenous languages, let me point to Africa, SouthEast Asia, and also to Eastern Europe as having their own multiplicities.
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Harvard University Press/Belknap Press via NetGalley.
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Harvard University Press/Belknap Press via NetGalley.
November 10, 2021
A remarkable account of the intricacies of language acquisition and loss, the sacredness of language, and the fight to keep them alive. This book is for anyone who may be losing their native tongue, and is questioning the disintegration of their identity as a result.
December 14, 2021
Sometimes, even when I get an advance pre-publication copy of a book, I arrive at the Goodreads page and find that a thought on the book in question has already been stated by another person in a manner that I cannot improve on. In this case, it is the following characterization of this book, written by Jan: “A scholarly tome that reads like a doctoral thesis. This does not minimize its value, but does lessen its use by many who need it most.”
I asked to receive a free copy of this book after getting an email round-up of recently released memoirs for review. The book blurb on this page above calls it a “personal meditation”. Whether you call it a memoir or a personal meditation, this book is mischaracterized, because a lot of this book is dedicated to summarizing published academic articles about learning and remembering (or failing to learn and remember) foreign languages. I teach English to non-native speakers, so this sort of thing holds my interest more than it does for most people, but still there were times when I longed for fewer summaries. This occurs more at the beginning – after a while, the author starts talking about her personal experience learning languages, which had a human interest aspect that summaries of academic research fail to have.
Recommended for those with an interest in the topic. Others will probably find this book difficult to finish.
I received a free electronic advance review copy of this book from Harvard University Press via Netgalley.
I asked to receive a free copy of this book after getting an email round-up of recently released memoirs for review. The book blurb on this page above calls it a “personal meditation”. Whether you call it a memoir or a personal meditation, this book is mischaracterized, because a lot of this book is dedicated to summarizing published academic articles about learning and remembering (or failing to learn and remember) foreign languages. I teach English to non-native speakers, so this sort of thing holds my interest more than it does for most people, but still there were times when I longed for fewer summaries. This occurs more at the beginning – after a while, the author starts talking about her personal experience learning languages, which had a human interest aspect that summaries of academic research fail to have.
Recommended for those with an interest in the topic. Others will probably find this book difficult to finish.
I received a free electronic advance review copy of this book from Harvard University Press via Netgalley.
September 5, 2023
this book got me thinking about the pedagogy of the languages i learned: what would it have been like to have taken language classes centered around cultural inheritance instead of jet-setting? i speak french well enough to pass as a True Francophone, but my adroitness at plug-and-chug grammar does not save me from fumbling over idioms and emotional nuance. need the former precede the latter?
my greek brain is even more of a mess, parsing out the gist of what my interlocutors say and guiding me to pronounce valid phonemes in reply, but unable to build complex phrases. as i formalize my understanding of greek as an adult, i feel myself falling back on the same pattern-matching that got me so good at being a tourist-ready francophone.
sedivy dances across the chasm that can exist between studying and living a language, melding a memoir of her childhood forgetting and adult re-learning of czech with insights from her career as a psycholinguist. i am drawn to people who think (too) hard about interstices, and i enjoyed this experimental blending of science writing and personal essay, inherited and adopted selves.
my greek brain is even more of a mess, parsing out the gist of what my interlocutors say and guiding me to pronounce valid phonemes in reply, but unable to build complex phrases. as i formalize my understanding of greek as an adult, i feel myself falling back on the same pattern-matching that got me so good at being a tourist-ready francophone.
sedivy dances across the chasm that can exist between studying and living a language, melding a memoir of her childhood forgetting and adult re-learning of czech with insights from her career as a psycholinguist. i am drawn to people who think (too) hard about interstices, and i enjoyed this experimental blending of science writing and personal essay, inherited and adopted selves.
February 27, 2024
I hesitated between 3 and 4 because while this was not exactly an enjoyable read, I am extremely interested in the topic of first language attrition and I fully support the main premise of this book: the best way to preserve disappearing languages is to accept multilingualism as the new normal and the way to a more fulfilling life for multiculturals is to accept and nourish their multiple identities. However, I have to admit I really struggled with the form and writing in this book. It had too much of a biography in it for a solid academic publication but not enough storytelling to tie all the pieces together for a general public non-fiction it wants to be.
September 26, 2023
i appreciate how sedivy weaves in her personal experiences with the linguistic case studies/more technical aspects of the book; there were a lot of parts that spoke to my own experience as a bilingual person and trying to keep your heritage language alive in your family. however, i found it really dense at times, and i'm not sure it's the most accessible book for someone outside of linguistics. i'd love to return to certain parts of this when i don't have to read it for class!
January 5, 2022
Sometimes a book comes to you at the exact right moment. This was the case for me at least with Memory Speaks. I had been thinking a lot about language recently, about being bilingual, and why it has become difficult to me to express myself in my native German but easier to talk about my emotions, books, thoughts, in English, a language I have been exposed to only later in life.
The psycholinguist Julie Sedivy, herself a child of Czech immigrants to Canada, has spent a lot of time thinking about questions on language attrition, extinction of languages, multilingualism, and identity. In five chapters (Death, Dreams, Duality, Conflict, and Revival), she guides the reader through these complex issues while interspersing anecdotes from her own life.
Memory Speaks has helped me find words to describe my own process of learning and losing the ability to speak multiple languages fluently. I think anyone speaking two or more languages can take something valuable out of this book.
While academic in content, I found her tone more colloquial than some of the other reviews I've read make it seem. Yet, I struggled with the longform essay style she employs. I found it difficult to stay focused for 50+ pages of rather abstract concepts.
All in all, I found the content fascinating, in particular the first and third chapter, and Sedivy is clearly very knowledgable, I just wish the chapters had been further broken down into shorter segments for me to hold onto.
The psycholinguist Julie Sedivy, herself a child of Czech immigrants to Canada, has spent a lot of time thinking about questions on language attrition, extinction of languages, multilingualism, and identity. In five chapters (Death, Dreams, Duality, Conflict, and Revival), she guides the reader through these complex issues while interspersing anecdotes from her own life.
Memory Speaks has helped me find words to describe my own process of learning and losing the ability to speak multiple languages fluently. I think anyone speaking two or more languages can take something valuable out of this book.
While academic in content, I found her tone more colloquial than some of the other reviews I've read make it seem. Yet, I struggled with the longform essay style she employs. I found it difficult to stay focused for 50+ pages of rather abstract concepts.
All in all, I found the content fascinating, in particular the first and third chapter, and Sedivy is clearly very knowledgable, I just wish the chapters had been further broken down into shorter segments for me to hold onto.
December 30, 2021
Memory Speaks is a combination memoir and research book that delves into the author's own experiences of language learning and retention and recent scholarship in the area. The result is an intriguing blend of information and ideas that got me thinking about my own language learning and memory, and generated a lot of conversations on the topic. The blend of autobiographical information and case studies makes for an enjoyable read, and while I personally want to see more citations and information on some of the studies referenced, this book should be a good fit for anyone interested in how we learn languages, retain them, and lose them, and how community, activities, and age factor into those aspects of communication.
June 29, 2022
Interesting book, however a bit too complex at times for me.
Living a country with different language than my native, I recognized myself in many of the struggles the author described. She is quite knowledgeable and clearly passionate about languages. Living in Canada, it was particularly intriguing as a number of examples were drawn from the country, also home of the author. My only issue is that, not being a linguist myself, parts of the book were too complex for me, making me lose interest, drop up, and pick it up again after a long time - took me quite a bit of time to ultimately finish the book.
I found it a very engaging read overall and learned a lot from it - would definitely recommend to anyone interesting on languages study.
Living a country with different language than my native, I recognized myself in many of the struggles the author described. She is quite knowledgeable and clearly passionate about languages. Living in Canada, it was particularly intriguing as a number of examples were drawn from the country, also home of the author. My only issue is that, not being a linguist myself, parts of the book were too complex for me, making me lose interest, drop up, and pick it up again after a long time - took me quite a bit of time to ultimately finish the book.
I found it a very engaging read overall and learned a lot from it - would definitely recommend to anyone interesting on languages study.
July 11, 2022
Excellent. A lot of personal history intertwined with her linguistics knowledge, but the linguistics is more of a hypothetical or likely argument rather than a traditional scholarly argument. Really interesting to me that she considers the costs of bilingualism so seriously (though she ends up with the idea that bilingualism is more benefit than cost). Really interesting for taking seriously the idea that language does create culture significantly, in ways that we can't always measure and provide clear evidence for.
August 26, 2023
This book is very validating for people whose native language varies from the one spoken in the country where they live and to all bilinguals and their parents.
It’s densely packed with linguistic facts as well as the lyrical story of the author who has as born in Czech Republic but her family moved to Canada when she was a toddler. She writes a lot about this experience and the connection between language and identity, but sometimes these personal notes get too repetitive and it was my only problem with the book.
It’s densely packed with linguistic facts as well as the lyrical story of the author who has as born in Czech Republic but her family moved to Canada when she was a toddler. She writes a lot about this experience and the connection between language and identity, but sometimes these personal notes get too repetitive and it was my only problem with the book.
September 25, 2025
While there are moments when this book falls down the slippery slope of being overly sappy, its still an excellent reflection on bilingualism and language. The author is an expert, but does not speak with condescending authority. Instead, she engages the reader with hard questions about language and culture, using her expertise, personal anecdotes, and literature. It really makes the case for the importance of linguistic diversity, not just for scientific interest, but for making a better world.
November 8, 2023
I really enjoyed reading this book, and it was a nice departure from my fiction-drama reads. I compiled a list of things I put down in my notes when I was reading that I thought were interesting;
- the discourse surrounding the word “the” and how it’s been to used to place distance between the speaker and subject
- the Eyak term of vodka roughly translates to “utterly rotten water” and how this “Hints at subtly different ways in which a culture fixes its beam of attention on the human experience- documenting these languages reminds us that there are many different ways of understanding the world and our place in it”
- How Italian and French (as they are spoken today) were formed under a focused, deliberate effort to unify a collection of language communities and local cultures in the 19th/20th centuries
- “In truth, almost all inner lives involve chasms of some form that must be bridged, and it is precisely this work, that is the key to happiness. The work of coming to be at peace with complicated allegiances, a graceful, moving between competing frameworks, or fusing them in unique ways, of holding within the self seemingly contradictory values and aspirations, of calling upon the norms of one culture to rein in the excess of another.”
- “People who have been shaped by two cultures flourish Best, when they are not forced to choose between them; if they’re able to stay grounded in both, perhaps they could also help knit fragmented, societies together.”
- On heritage language learners taking classes - “it’s like as if we required someone who learned to ride a bike as a child- but hasn’t been on one in many years- to attend a lecture on the mechanics involved before letting them back into a bike”
- the discourse surrounding the word “the” and how it’s been to used to place distance between the speaker and subject
- the Eyak term of vodka roughly translates to “utterly rotten water” and how this “Hints at subtly different ways in which a culture fixes its beam of attention on the human experience- documenting these languages reminds us that there are many different ways of understanding the world and our place in it”
- How Italian and French (as they are spoken today) were formed under a focused, deliberate effort to unify a collection of language communities and local cultures in the 19th/20th centuries
- “In truth, almost all inner lives involve chasms of some form that must be bridged, and it is precisely this work, that is the key to happiness. The work of coming to be at peace with complicated allegiances, a graceful, moving between competing frameworks, or fusing them in unique ways, of holding within the self seemingly contradictory values and aspirations, of calling upon the norms of one culture to rein in the excess of another.”
- “People who have been shaped by two cultures flourish Best, when they are not forced to choose between them; if they’re able to stay grounded in both, perhaps they could also help knit fragmented, societies together.”
- On heritage language learners taking classes - “it’s like as if we required someone who learned to ride a bike as a child- but hasn’t been on one in many years- to attend a lecture on the mechanics involved before letting them back into a bike”
March 28, 2024
I read this as prep for Julie Sedivy's forthcoming Linguaphile, and I was smiling and giggling and kicking my feet the whole way through.
Sedivy deftly brings linguistic research into conversation with her personal experience, and the result is an impressive, albeit rambling, exploration of the worlds contained within our languages. She is primarily concerned with the intersection and inseparability of language and the self, which could easily be too abstract for the layperson, but she continually finds ways to help readers identify where the subject connects with their lives.
The book is very accessible, and I would recommend it to readers who are unfamiliar with linguistics but have a vague notion that something kind of magical is happening below the surface of our words. More than anything, Memory Speaks is as fun as it is urgent, and the author balances both realities effectively while inviting all readers to the conversation.
Despite how much I appreciated the majority of the book, parts of the more memoir-oriented sections feel a bit inessential, to the point that they become actively distracting. For example, Sedivy compares her experience as a Czech migrant to that of displaced indigenous people, and it reads a little disingenuously, an issue compounded by the academic hollowness of her recurrent, obligatory land acknowledgments.
Overall, though, Memory Speaks is an excellent primer in language, politics, and identity, and Julie Sedivy displays such careful skill in her approach to communicating the stakes of language loss.
Sedivy deftly brings linguistic research into conversation with her personal experience, and the result is an impressive, albeit rambling, exploration of the worlds contained within our languages. She is primarily concerned with the intersection and inseparability of language and the self, which could easily be too abstract for the layperson, but she continually finds ways to help readers identify where the subject connects with their lives.
The book is very accessible, and I would recommend it to readers who are unfamiliar with linguistics but have a vague notion that something kind of magical is happening below the surface of our words. More than anything, Memory Speaks is as fun as it is urgent, and the author balances both realities effectively while inviting all readers to the conversation.
Despite how much I appreciated the majority of the book, parts of the more memoir-oriented sections feel a bit inessential, to the point that they become actively distracting. For example, Sedivy compares her experience as a Czech migrant to that of displaced indigenous people, and it reads a little disingenuously, an issue compounded by the academic hollowness of her recurrent, obligatory land acknowledgments.
Overall, though, Memory Speaks is an excellent primer in language, politics, and identity, and Julie Sedivy displays such careful skill in her approach to communicating the stakes of language loss.
January 17, 2023
Thanks to NetGalley and Harvard University Press, for the review copy!
"Memory Speaks - On Losing and Reclaiming Language and Self" by Julie Sedivy is a book about speaking, about language and about life. It is a book that shows just how important language is.
This book is very fact-based, which works perfectly. A book like this surely needs to be fact-based. We hear about the importance of language and learning a language in the country you live in or try to have a life in. Language is probably the most important thing to have the best possible life. In this book, we also learn about learning a new language. How easy is it to learn a new language? When is the most ideal time to learn a new language? What is the most ideal way to learn a new language? And just how important is it to learn a new language? All these questions are answered in this book.
This book will teach you so much about languages!
"Memory Speaks - On Losing and Reclaiming Language and Self" by Julie Sedivy is a book about speaking, about language and about life. It is a book that shows just how important language is.
This book is very fact-based, which works perfectly. A book like this surely needs to be fact-based. We hear about the importance of language and learning a language in the country you live in or try to have a life in. Language is probably the most important thing to have the best possible life. In this book, we also learn about learning a new language. How easy is it to learn a new language? When is the most ideal time to learn a new language? What is the most ideal way to learn a new language? And just how important is it to learn a new language? All these questions are answered in this book.
This book will teach you so much about languages!
Read
September 24, 2023I'm fascinated by the topic of this book -- the influence of language, especially of being bilingual, on one's internal and external experience, social opportunities, and reactions to the world. The author speaks with authority, both as a linguist and an immigrant whose first language is not English. Nevertheless, I just couldn't finish this. I abandoned it about midway, after a valiant, multi-month effort.
One problem was that the book seemed very repetitious, hammering home the same points again and again. I couldn't really see any development of an elaborated theme. In addition, the tone is so even as to be soporific.
I might go back to this in the future. The research it cites may be worth chasing down. For now, though, I've put it aside. There are too many other unread books on my shelves.
One problem was that the book seemed very repetitious, hammering home the same points again and again. I couldn't really see any development of an elaborated theme. In addition, the tone is so even as to be soporific.
I might go back to this in the future. The research it cites may be worth chasing down. For now, though, I've put it aside. There are too many other unread books on my shelves.
Read
July 30, 2024Someone else wrote that this reads too much like a "doctoral thesis." I disagree. Sedivy is good at getting across complex ideas via example and analogy — maybe too good, in fact, with an endless litany of them dragging the book away from the point.
And what is the point? "On Losing" is the most telling part of the title. I was interested in the book as a similar bilingual who learned English as a second language at the age of 7/8, but who's someone others, like Sedivy, would be hard-pressed to describe as a non-native speaker, because learned early enough, a second language does become native. There are some flitting, perspicacious comments on bilingualism, the role of language, and fascinating linguistic details. But it meshes incoherently into memoir loaded with self-victimization. It's very difficult to return to a mother language as an adult, charged as it is with emotions, but one must do it and one can do it. I did it. The author is evidently intelligent. I don't understand why she couldn't have read more Czech, especially as an academic. The theme of lost, mismanaged time and false priorities is shot through the book: what do we value, what do we spend time on, and why, how much of that is our own decision. That's the meat of the matter, not linguistics; or, as she shows in several examples, that the two are connected.
This is not a difficult read. In fact, Sedivy could've used an editor to cut out redundant examples or faux-illustrative language. It suffers too much from the strained, pained NPR/Atlantic/NYT voice of an author searching so deeply for meaning in every single line that profundity ultimately escapes them, page after page after page, and one grows tired after the 200th page of yet another monologue on the loss of childhood and another world illustrated through italicized Czech words. A shame.
And what is the point? "On Losing" is the most telling part of the title. I was interested in the book as a similar bilingual who learned English as a second language at the age of 7/8, but who's someone others, like Sedivy, would be hard-pressed to describe as a non-native speaker, because learned early enough, a second language does become native. There are some flitting, perspicacious comments on bilingualism, the role of language, and fascinating linguistic details. But it meshes incoherently into memoir loaded with self-victimization. It's very difficult to return to a mother language as an adult, charged as it is with emotions, but one must do it and one can do it. I did it. The author is evidently intelligent. I don't understand why she couldn't have read more Czech, especially as an academic. The theme of lost, mismanaged time and false priorities is shot through the book: what do we value, what do we spend time on, and why, how much of that is our own decision. That's the meat of the matter, not linguistics; or, as she shows in several examples, that the two are connected.
This is not a difficult read. In fact, Sedivy could've used an editor to cut out redundant examples or faux-illustrative language. It suffers too much from the strained, pained NPR/Atlantic/NYT voice of an author searching so deeply for meaning in every single line that profundity ultimately escapes them, page after page after page, and one grows tired after the 200th page of yet another monologue on the loss of childhood and another world illustrated through italicized Czech words. A shame.
June 1, 2024
Fascinating
This book is a dive into language learning, specifically a second language. The story begins poignantly as the author, pushed by normal social forces, loses the ability to communicate with her own father. This story is repeated in households all over the world, as immigrant children race to learn the dominant language of wherever they live.
Luckily for us, she relearns her first language in time to get to know her uncle.
There's lots of data about other languages too
I recommend
This book is a dive into language learning, specifically a second language. The story begins poignantly as the author, pushed by normal social forces, loses the ability to communicate with her own father. This story is repeated in households all over the world, as immigrant children race to learn the dominant language of wherever they live.
Luckily for us, she relearns her first language in time to get to know her uncle.
There's lots of data about other languages too
I recommend
January 4, 2024
As a bilingual immigrant trying to bilingual children , this book has appealed to me at several different levels. It touched on questions of language and identity , language and relationships, learning patterns , biases based on language and so on. I have bothered just about everyone in my home continuously sharing anecdotes from the book
December 23, 2024
This is a beautiful linguistic and personal exploration of the important role that mother languages play in the lives of individuals and cultures. Sedivy expertly intertwines her own Czech linguistic heritage with the experiences of other heritage language learners and the global trends of disappearing languages.
January 31, 2023
Fascinating look at language and how it effects thought, memory, and who we are.
February 3, 2024
This book is for a niche crowd, but if you're one of them, it's got a lot to offer.
February 21, 2024
really good. made it clear that she's a linguist and cares about language from an academic perspective but it's also so deeply personal. made me want to explore Czech poetry honestly
January 17, 2025
Really interesting content but unfortunately often reads like the world’s longest thesis
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