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The Babel Message: A Love Letter to Language
“Quite simply, and quite ridiculously, one of the funniest and most illuminating books I have ever read. I thought I was obsessive, but Keith Kahn-Harris is playing a very different sport. He really has discovered the whole world in an egg.” —Simon Garfield 'There is a delicious humor implicit in every page . . . “ — Mark Forsyth, Spectator A thrilling journey deep into the heart of language, from a rather unexpected starting point. Keith Kahn-Harris is a man obsessed with something seemingly trivial - the warning message found inside Kinder Surprise
"WARNING, read and Toy not suitable for children under 3 years. Small parts might be swallowed or inhaled." On a tiny sheet of paper, this message is translated into dozens of languages - the world boiled down to a multilingual essence. Inspired by this, the author what makes 'a language'? With the help of the international community of language geeks, he shows us what the message looks like in Ancient Sumerian, Zulu, Cornish, Klingon - and many more. Along the way he considers why Hungarian writing looks angry, how to make up your own language, and the meaning of the heavy metal umlaut. Overturning the Babel myth, he argues that the messy diversity of language shouldn't be a source of conflict, but of collective wonder. This is a book about hope, a love letter to language. “This is a wonderful book. A treasure trove of mind-expanding insights into language and humanity encased in a deliciously quirky, quixotic quest. I loved it. this will keep you reading.” — Ann Morgan, author of Reading the Confessions of a Literary Explorer
"WARNING, read and Toy not suitable for children under 3 years. Small parts might be swallowed or inhaled." On a tiny sheet of paper, this message is translated into dozens of languages - the world boiled down to a multilingual essence. Inspired by this, the author what makes 'a language'? With the help of the international community of language geeks, he shows us what the message looks like in Ancient Sumerian, Zulu, Cornish, Klingon - and many more. Along the way he considers why Hungarian writing looks angry, how to make up your own language, and the meaning of the heavy metal umlaut. Overturning the Babel myth, he argues that the messy diversity of language shouldn't be a source of conflict, but of collective wonder. This is a book about hope, a love letter to language. “This is a wonderful book. A treasure trove of mind-expanding insights into language and humanity encased in a deliciously quirky, quixotic quest. I loved it. this will keep you reading.” — Ann Morgan, author of Reading the Confessions of a Literary Explorer
336 pages, Paperback
Published October 6, 2022
About the author
Keith Kahn-Harris
31 books56 followersI am a sociologist and writer, based in London. An author of seven books, editor of several collections and many articles and reviews, my career bridges academia and multiple other worlds. I've written about denial, Jews, antisemitism, metal - and the multilingual warning messages inside Kinder Surprise Eggs.
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June 30, 2021Despite the title suggesting either bad science fiction or worse woo, this is undoubtedly the best book I have ever read or ever expect to read about the multilingual warning messages inside Kinder Surprise Eggs. Kahn-Harris does branch out just a little from that starting point, of course – starting with minor details of translation, like how some versions of the Message are in capitals while others are not, and only seven of the 34 versions on the Manuscript* specify 3 as the age below which the toy presents a danger. And why that particular selection of languages? Some of this I saw on his inaugural expedition into this territory, back at the 2017 Boring Conference – ah, those heady days before the whole world was boring! And already it was interesting stuff for anyone curious about translation, about the politics of multilingual messaging, about the ignored structures underpinning the world. But working over a few hundred pages, rather than 20 minutes or so, some of the wider implications can be teased out. The idea of being a 'language fan', for instance – which is to say, enjoying the look and the sound of languages you don't know – and, following on from that, getting the Message translated into still more languages. As a result of which, if nothing else, this book serves as a wonderful introduction to some beautiful scripts. I was already a big fan of the Georgian and Korean alphabets, but was not familiar with Amharic and Tibetan, both equally evocative - or Tifinagh, in which Amazigh (or Berber) languages are written, and which to these Anglo eyes looks like a classic science fiction alphabet**. And it's important to remember that Anglo eyes bit – particularly after getting embroiled in controversy with a translation of the Message into African-American Vernacular English, as a result of which he became more sensitive to the ways in which his project could be construed as condescending or colonialist, Kahn-Harris is keenly alert to the political implications of language, and what is or is not considered one. He references, but doesn't entirely agree with, the old line about a dialect with an army – but one of the most interesting bits is the way that even when a dialect does become enshrined as a language, that often serves only to marginalise other forms of the same dialect. Or, alternately, to enshrine minor differences of usage as something far more concrete than they need be: I was particularly gratified to learn of the 2017 'Declaration on a Common Language', in which intellectuals from four former Yugoslav countries confirmed that as far as they were concerned Serbo-Croatian should still be regarded as one tongue, a position I have long supported but a) from a considerably less solid base and b) principally to torment a friend with Serb heritage. And if you think that's niche, you should have seen my grin at learning some versions of the Manuscript feature a combined Romanian/Moldovan message badged RO-MO.
That's the wonderful thing about the book; it can take in so many modes. The tone is fully aware of the ostensible silliness of the project, but never lapses into the snide, wacky, or trendy vicar. At the same time, it can be serious and thoughtful where necessary, without ever falling into the po-faced or green ink. The result being that when Kahn-Harris says something like "As with the Bible or the works of Homer, we will never achieve full knowledge. Does this matter, though?", the comparison seems charmingly audacious, instead of just daft. He can be straightforwardly and usefully informative: I'm now a lot clearer on the extent to which there are, and aren't, languages called Chinese and Arabic. He can call up outrage on the reader's part – it may not be the country's biggest problem, but is still appalling that the Haitian government routinely violates its own constitution by not using Kreyòl. Or equally, a gentle melancholy for all the things which time and homogenisation have taken from the world – "To write the Message in Occitan is, perhaps, to dream of lost glories". There are times when natural languages can seem comical – the Channel Islands, with four different languages derived from Norman French, when even combined they'd be distinctly short of speakers; Abkhazian, a debatable language for a disputed state, written in modified Cyrillic despite having 50+ consonants and only two vowels. But these are as nothing compared to the forays into that reliable monument to hubris, deliberately constructed languages. Yes, we get the message in Esperanto, but the real winner is Lojban, conceived as a wholly logical language (or rather, a schismatic branch from a prior language conceived as such, which is already gold). I've known it as bathetic since I first learned it existed, but it still excels itself here, with three very different versions even of the Message's simple instructions. But just when I thought that had to be the book's big punchline, Kahn-Harris decides to create a language of his own, just to translate the Message into it. And while this is not only a comedy book, that chapter had me properly doubled up with laughter at the linguistic misadventures. All in all, a volume which deserves to be, though it never will be, as widespread as its inspiration.
*The capitals are partly a joke, of course, and partly a useful shorthand. But when we get the brief comparison of a rival product – "This has no manuscript (it cannot be a Manuscript) but it does have a message (it cannot be a Message) in English" – I did get the tiniest flashback to The Napoleon Of Notting Hill, and remember how easily these things can become less and less of a joke. Look, I know that on the list of likely future catastrophes, a holy war between enemy sects devoted to confectionery warning messages is not high on the list, but then two years ago nor was a world-stopping pangolin plague, and it certainly wouldn't be any more absurd than the whole 'filioque' debacle.
**All of which, incidentally, my Kindle app could handle just fine, though eventually I had to download the Netgalley ARC in another format because Kindle was coming a cropper with Sumerian and, of all things, emojis.
That's the wonderful thing about the book; it can take in so many modes. The tone is fully aware of the ostensible silliness of the project, but never lapses into the snide, wacky, or trendy vicar. At the same time, it can be serious and thoughtful where necessary, without ever falling into the po-faced or green ink. The result being that when Kahn-Harris says something like "As with the Bible or the works of Homer, we will never achieve full knowledge. Does this matter, though?", the comparison seems charmingly audacious, instead of just daft. He can be straightforwardly and usefully informative: I'm now a lot clearer on the extent to which there are, and aren't, languages called Chinese and Arabic. He can call up outrage on the reader's part – it may not be the country's biggest problem, but is still appalling that the Haitian government routinely violates its own constitution by not using Kreyòl. Or equally, a gentle melancholy for all the things which time and homogenisation have taken from the world – "To write the Message in Occitan is, perhaps, to dream of lost glories". There are times when natural languages can seem comical – the Channel Islands, with four different languages derived from Norman French, when even combined they'd be distinctly short of speakers; Abkhazian, a debatable language for a disputed state, written in modified Cyrillic despite having 50+ consonants and only two vowels. But these are as nothing compared to the forays into that reliable monument to hubris, deliberately constructed languages. Yes, we get the message in Esperanto, but the real winner is Lojban, conceived as a wholly logical language (or rather, a schismatic branch from a prior language conceived as such, which is already gold). I've known it as bathetic since I first learned it existed, but it still excels itself here, with three very different versions even of the Message's simple instructions. But just when I thought that had to be the book's big punchline, Kahn-Harris decides to create a language of his own, just to translate the Message into it. And while this is not only a comedy book, that chapter had me properly doubled up with laughter at the linguistic misadventures. All in all, a volume which deserves to be, though it never will be, as widespread as its inspiration.
*The capitals are partly a joke, of course, and partly a useful shorthand. But when we get the brief comparison of a rival product – "This has no manuscript (it cannot be a Manuscript) but it does have a message (it cannot be a Message) in English" – I did get the tiniest flashback to The Napoleon Of Notting Hill, and remember how easily these things can become less and less of a joke. Look, I know that on the list of likely future catastrophes, a holy war between enemy sects devoted to confectionery warning messages is not high on the list, but then two years ago nor was a world-stopping pangolin plague, and it certainly wouldn't be any more absurd than the whole 'filioque' debacle.
**All of which, incidentally, my Kindle app could handle just fine, though eventually I had to download the Netgalley ARC in another format because Kindle was coming a cropper with Sumerian and, of all things, emojis.
December 17, 2021
What a ride. I expected a fun and silly little book that spoke to the dormant language nerd in my soul. Instead I was treated to a book that not only spoke to the language nerd in my soul, but also was able to educate me in a friendly and accessible way. Not afraid to shy away from politics, religion, colonialism and more Keith Kahn-Harris touched on all manner of subjects and systems of belief surround language. What makes a language, can you make your own, how much language is enough language? Great for anyone who wants to learn a little something about somewhere they know nothing about.
Caution: will make you want to eat Kinder Surprise Eggs.
Caution: will make you want to eat Kinder Surprise Eggs.
August 2, 2021
There are a lot of languages. And languages don't easily map on to each other. I studied some ideas around the intersection of language and ideas as a student, and there are lots of fascinating roads and cul de sacs to follow when you start thinking about language and translation. As an avid film viewer I know that what I am seeing on the subtitles is often a diluted flavour of the dialogue in the original, and that my experience will be very different to that of a native speaker.
All this and more, much more, is wrapped up in The Babel Message - in what initially (and apologetically) comes across as a slightly gimmicky book about the warning message that you get in a Kinder Egg to be careful as small children can choke on the parts. The message has over thirty translations on it, and even to someone who isn't a linguist, how the messages are structured and capitalised suggest there is more than a passing difference between them. And so Kahn-Hariis uses this Ferrero-Rocher Rosetta Stone to talk about translation, the joys of language and - the slightly more subjective perhaps - joys of reading or viewing a language you don't understand. There is a textural aspect to the textual joys, and he manages to dodge some of the more essentialist issues around appreciating different roman and non-roman scripts, and goes off and gets ample translations which are not on the paper. The first half of The Babel Message, where he describes this joy of language is terrific, a very accessible but also clever whistle-stop tour of the philosophy of language and linguistics, and how language develops.
Kahn-Harris has a project though, as is the way in this kind of book, and he heads off to get the message translated as much as possible into as many languages as possible. There are interesting diversions here, is he just getting translations for performative purposes, people refuse to get it translated into African American slang dialect for this reason. But pretty much this part of the book is a couple of paragraphs about the language, any notable aspects and then the script - which it is down to the reader to take on trust and appreciate as visual art sometimes. And as we slowly traverse the world this gets very samey. And as we move into invented languages - beyond some interesting points about invented languages - it continues. And then he invents his own language... There is a fascinating, tight and amusingly radical book hidden in The Babel Message, but unfortunately the structure and eventual journey the book took let this first half down for me, the exhausting second half sucked much of that joy from it. However that first half is so very good that I still highly recommend the book, just be willing to take the second half a little quicker if it isn't working for you.
All this and more, much more, is wrapped up in The Babel Message - in what initially (and apologetically) comes across as a slightly gimmicky book about the warning message that you get in a Kinder Egg to be careful as small children can choke on the parts. The message has over thirty translations on it, and even to someone who isn't a linguist, how the messages are structured and capitalised suggest there is more than a passing difference between them. And so Kahn-Hariis uses this Ferrero-Rocher Rosetta Stone to talk about translation, the joys of language and - the slightly more subjective perhaps - joys of reading or viewing a language you don't understand. There is a textural aspect to the textual joys, and he manages to dodge some of the more essentialist issues around appreciating different roman and non-roman scripts, and goes off and gets ample translations which are not on the paper. The first half of The Babel Message, where he describes this joy of language is terrific, a very accessible but also clever whistle-stop tour of the philosophy of language and linguistics, and how language develops.
Kahn-Harris has a project though, as is the way in this kind of book, and he heads off to get the message translated as much as possible into as many languages as possible. There are interesting diversions here, is he just getting translations for performative purposes, people refuse to get it translated into African American slang dialect for this reason. But pretty much this part of the book is a couple of paragraphs about the language, any notable aspects and then the script - which it is down to the reader to take on trust and appreciate as visual art sometimes. And as we slowly traverse the world this gets very samey. And as we move into invented languages - beyond some interesting points about invented languages - it continues. And then he invents his own language... There is a fascinating, tight and amusingly radical book hidden in The Babel Message, but unfortunately the structure and eventual journey the book took let this first half down for me, the exhausting second half sucked much of that joy from it. However that first half is so very good that I still highly recommend the book, just be willing to take the second half a little quicker if it isn't working for you.
July 2, 2022
Ce livre semble viser un public assez précis et peu nombreux : les passionnés de langues en général. Certains chapitres, en particulier dans la deuxième partie du livre, m’ont semblé moins captivants, mais le livre plaira à tout fan des langues. Du français à l’espéranto, du romanche au(x!) portugais ou encore de l’irlandais au quechua en passant par le monégasque, il est d’abord difficile à croire que ces 300 pages se basent sur une étiquette de Kinder, et pourtant. Il est question de presque tout dans le langage : dialectes, langues inventées, minorités. (+ : la couverture est très belle)
December 5, 2022
A very interesting, curious, book. Perfect for all language lovers
April 10, 2022
I'm always inspired by people like Keith who are so obviously passionate about an intimidating topic and choose to invest energy into sharing their findings with the general masses. I know next to nothing about linguistics besides the fact that I am always intrigued when the topic comes up. This book was not what I expected, though. I was hoping for a focus on psycholinguistics but I found there was a lot of syntax linguistics and comparative linguistics instead. This love letter read more like a dictionary with entries, and boy, were there many entries. Information overload - not a book to try and binge!
December 3, 2021
We love this book.
A read it with a friend and we both agreed that the whole concept of the book was 'mad' but brilliant.
The discussions of language origins and meanings were fascinating and informative.
Interesting also how alphabets dissolve and then rearrange, letters coming in and out of use as do words.
A book for writers all. Authors read and learn. The vocabulary will give you richness to your text as will the understanding of language origins and development.
A read it with a friend and we both agreed that the whole concept of the book was 'mad' but brilliant.
The discussions of language origins and meanings were fascinating and informative.
Interesting also how alphabets dissolve and then rearrange, letters coming in and out of use as do words.
A book for writers all. Authors read and learn. The vocabulary will give you richness to your text as will the understanding of language origins and development.
December 3, 2023
This is wonderfully wacky – when I saw it involved the safety message in a Kinder egg, I assumed that would be a chapter, but no, the whole book is about translating that message. On the way we look at all things language, translation and orthography. The book isn't really intended to be linguistically sound, which in some places it clearly isn't, and if it were then it wouldn't be structured the way it is. The focus is more on enjoying language and languages aesthetically, and it's a great bit of fun doing that!
September 4, 2024
I was fascinated by what I read, but there's too much that's very similar.
It's just too niche for me. I only made it to page 59.
It's just too niche for me. I only made it to page 59.
May 31, 2022
If you are fascinated by the origins of words, the history of languages, or like to fiddle with Duolingo in your free time and marvel at the foreign phrases, this book is for you. Keith Kahn-Harris, a polyinterested author and sociologist, takes an unusual object and turns it into a narrative about multilingual love. Harris makes a witty case for readers to embrace being language fans if they are not already. I am a trilingual person fluent in English, Hindi, and Bengali. I have a beginner’s knowledge of Sanskrit still I am not fluent in any other language. I have stacks of foreign language books on my shelves like Urdu and Arabic, but all I do is enjoy the peculiarities of tongues I don’t understand. Lately, Latin and Greek claimed my attention during the pandemic. It is no wonder this book was a delight for a person like me. The author himself admits to his only fluency in English, but he is fascinated by the diversity of languages. The entire book is about translations of a warning message found in the Kinder Surprise eggs manufactured by Ferrero. For those who don’t know the details, Kinder Surprise eggs are egg-shaped chocolate shells containing a small toy inside them. The warning message reads:
WARNING, read and keep: Toy not suitable for children under 3 years. Small parts might be swallowed or inhaled.
In the first part, the author introduces us to the linguistic complexity of the warning message inside the package. The tiny slip of paper the author writes about holds 37 languages in eight different scripts. I think this complexity exists in many internationally distributed products. How many of us pause and read the scrimp lines on a tiny piece of paper? We probably throw it away. Who knew a warning message could open Pandora’s box of linguistic detective work?
The message pays tribute to the superficiality of loving languages. It invites the reader to embrace learning new words, phrases, and translations, and get joy out of collecting details. A collector’s joy is as glorious as a specialist’s. As we dive deep into the translations of the warning message, it transports us to the vibrant and variable tongues around the world. To give away these exercises in linguistics classes is to spoil the book. Nevertheless, a few bits and bobs will interest the reader to grab a copy soon.
Indian readers are familiar with the visual diversity of foreign scripts. Many of us are familiar with Indo-Aryan, Dravidian, and Tibeto-Burman languages. Fans of Asian and Arabic calligraphy will notice the stark difference in these scripts from others. Harris goes into a charming discussion about diacritics and ligatures found in Spanish, Hungarian, Danish, etc. He writes that ‘English is plain vanilla diacritic-wise.’ Once your eyes start noticing the various scripts on the pages, you realize how many ticks, squiggles, and dashes accompany letters in languages other than English. You don’t have to be a language expert to admire this beauty.
The book delves into the complex socio-political landscape of countries through closely-related languages and dialects. Whether it’s the official two variants of Norwegian, the Gheg and Tosk variants of Albanian, the multiple tongues of Serbo-Croatian, or the Moldovan-Romanian duo, the translations will deeply interest you in the histories of these nations. It begs the question of nation-states and nationalism itself. Harris writes,
National languages were often originally regional languages, raised to domination by a mixture of deliberate efforts and natural selection. […] Standardization usually involved disparaging ‘non-standard’ tongues. This process has proceeded at different rates and is tied to the wider extent of political centralisation.
How does language diversity heal the recent turmoil of border disputes, immigration, and the rise of right-wing nationalistic agendas? How are languages disappearing all over the world? Do we need to preserve endangered regional and Indigenous tongues? These are some of the questions that crept up on me while I read about various endangered dialects. Midway through the book, I had to keep the world map handy. Quite frankly, this book is a lesson in international diplomatic relations. Also, I was curious to know how Maghrebi Arabic, spoken in North Africa, differs from Yemeni Arabic. The book can do this to you. Fair warning for a tumble down the rabbit hole.
One of my favorite chapters in the book is devoted to ancient languages. Curiously the chapter begins with the warning message translated into Braille. Language as a tactile experience is exemplified in the origin, history, and use of Braille. Harris also includes QR codes in the book which the reader can scan and see videos for translations in American Sign Language (ASL). This isn’t simply an exercise in creating additional content for the book. Harris writes,
I chose to include QR codes to link to the videos to make the point that, even if a mode of communication may only employ a limited range of our human capacity, humans have found ways to ‘extend’ ourselves.
In a world where language has moved on to tapping fingertips on a glass panel, it is difficult to trace the origins of the first language in humankind’s history. It must have involved making gestures, noises, music, or even touching like hand-holding to convey meaning. The importance of context surfaces when the message is translated into ancient Sumerian and Egyptian. Some ancient languages do not have words for their modern counterparts. Old Norse does not have a word for ‘inhale’ whereas Biblical Hebrew lacks a word for ‘toy’.
Finally, if the linguistic nitty-gritty gets too complex, the reader can enjoy the chapter on ‘constructed’ languages or ‘conlangs.’ There’s some Klingon and Mando’a (language of the Mandalorians in the Star Wars universe) for readers. David Peterson, the creator of Valyrian and Dothraki gives a translation of the message in Dothraki:
ASSIKHOF, vitihiri majin vineseri: koholi vo movekkho entaan. Saccheya zoli lazim che ijela che leshita.
I enjoyed this book immensely. Harris has additional content on his website that invites the readers on this translation journey. I bought my first Kinder Joy egg after reading this book to have fun with the warning label. I have read language books like Guy Deutscher’s Through the Language Glass, Daniel Everett’s How Language Began, Coulter H. George’s How Dead Languages Work, and Max Barry’s brilliant novel Lexicon. Harris’s book was a sumptuous buffet of all things linguistic pleasure. I highly recommend this as a great addition to your language books and a gift for language lovers.
WARNING, read and keep: Toy not suitable for children under 3 years. Small parts might be swallowed or inhaled.
In the first part, the author introduces us to the linguistic complexity of the warning message inside the package. The tiny slip of paper the author writes about holds 37 languages in eight different scripts. I think this complexity exists in many internationally distributed products. How many of us pause and read the scrimp lines on a tiny piece of paper? We probably throw it away. Who knew a warning message could open Pandora’s box of linguistic detective work?
The message pays tribute to the superficiality of loving languages. It invites the reader to embrace learning new words, phrases, and translations, and get joy out of collecting details. A collector’s joy is as glorious as a specialist’s. As we dive deep into the translations of the warning message, it transports us to the vibrant and variable tongues around the world. To give away these exercises in linguistics classes is to spoil the book. Nevertheless, a few bits and bobs will interest the reader to grab a copy soon.
Indian readers are familiar with the visual diversity of foreign scripts. Many of us are familiar with Indo-Aryan, Dravidian, and Tibeto-Burman languages. Fans of Asian and Arabic calligraphy will notice the stark difference in these scripts from others. Harris goes into a charming discussion about diacritics and ligatures found in Spanish, Hungarian, Danish, etc. He writes that ‘English is plain vanilla diacritic-wise.’ Once your eyes start noticing the various scripts on the pages, you realize how many ticks, squiggles, and dashes accompany letters in languages other than English. You don’t have to be a language expert to admire this beauty.
The book delves into the complex socio-political landscape of countries through closely-related languages and dialects. Whether it’s the official two variants of Norwegian, the Gheg and Tosk variants of Albanian, the multiple tongues of Serbo-Croatian, or the Moldovan-Romanian duo, the translations will deeply interest you in the histories of these nations. It begs the question of nation-states and nationalism itself. Harris writes,
National languages were often originally regional languages, raised to domination by a mixture of deliberate efforts and natural selection. […] Standardization usually involved disparaging ‘non-standard’ tongues. This process has proceeded at different rates and is tied to the wider extent of political centralisation.
How does language diversity heal the recent turmoil of border disputes, immigration, and the rise of right-wing nationalistic agendas? How are languages disappearing all over the world? Do we need to preserve endangered regional and Indigenous tongues? These are some of the questions that crept up on me while I read about various endangered dialects. Midway through the book, I had to keep the world map handy. Quite frankly, this book is a lesson in international diplomatic relations. Also, I was curious to know how Maghrebi Arabic, spoken in North Africa, differs from Yemeni Arabic. The book can do this to you. Fair warning for a tumble down the rabbit hole.
One of my favorite chapters in the book is devoted to ancient languages. Curiously the chapter begins with the warning message translated into Braille. Language as a tactile experience is exemplified in the origin, history, and use of Braille. Harris also includes QR codes in the book which the reader can scan and see videos for translations in American Sign Language (ASL). This isn’t simply an exercise in creating additional content for the book. Harris writes,
I chose to include QR codes to link to the videos to make the point that, even if a mode of communication may only employ a limited range of our human capacity, humans have found ways to ‘extend’ ourselves.
In a world where language has moved on to tapping fingertips on a glass panel, it is difficult to trace the origins of the first language in humankind’s history. It must have involved making gestures, noises, music, or even touching like hand-holding to convey meaning. The importance of context surfaces when the message is translated into ancient Sumerian and Egyptian. Some ancient languages do not have words for their modern counterparts. Old Norse does not have a word for ‘inhale’ whereas Biblical Hebrew lacks a word for ‘toy’.
Finally, if the linguistic nitty-gritty gets too complex, the reader can enjoy the chapter on ‘constructed’ languages or ‘conlangs.’ There’s some Klingon and Mando’a (language of the Mandalorians in the Star Wars universe) for readers. David Peterson, the creator of Valyrian and Dothraki gives a translation of the message in Dothraki:
ASSIKHOF, vitihiri majin vineseri: koholi vo movekkho entaan. Saccheya zoli lazim che ijela che leshita.
I enjoyed this book immensely. Harris has additional content on his website that invites the readers on this translation journey. I bought my first Kinder Joy egg after reading this book to have fun with the warning label. I have read language books like Guy Deutscher’s Through the Language Glass, Daniel Everett’s How Language Began, Coulter H. George’s How Dead Languages Work, and Max Barry’s brilliant novel Lexicon. Harris’s book was a sumptuous buffet of all things linguistic pleasure. I highly recommend this as a great addition to your language books and a gift for language lovers.
November 7, 2021
The warning message inside a kinder egg, not exactly high literature but it forms the basis for this exploration of language. Looking at which languages are included and which are not, Kahn-Harris considers the important of society and the connections between languages. His etymology considers the families of language and the subtle differences between them and how this relates to history and politics. He also explores the obscure languages of the world, either those where kinder eggs may never be seen, eg. languages that have no words to translate the message, or those that are so obscure they are only spoken by a handful of people. He also considers 'new' languages, ones that are being added to all the time eg. Hebrew, and those that are purely fictional eg Klingon, Dothraki. All in all this book takes a preposterous premise and produces something magical.
July 22, 2022
This book talked about a subject that I usually don't read about: Kinder Surprise Eggs. One day, Keith Kahn-Harris sees the Warning Message about the little toys inside these chocolate eggs that is translated into 34 different messages and he gets inspired. He decides to look more into all these translations of the warning message, and he gets wrapped up into a project that turns into this book: "The Babel Message: A Love Letter to Language."
Throughout this book, Khan-Harris goes into the history behind Kinder Surprise Eggs, into the art of translation, and he talks about what being a "language fan" is. He also "liberates" the message by translating it into many other tongues and languages spoken around the world. Khan-Harris talks about colonialism, religion, and political implications of languages and how this has impacted what languages the Kinder Surprise Egg Warning Message shows. And he doesn't stop there -- he even creates a language of his own and translates the warning message into that. Kahn-Harris ends by saying that language should never be a cause of division, but it should bring communities together. I loved this. Even if you don't know something or completely understand it, you can still appreciate it and be curious about it.
I'm thoroughly impressed with all the research Kahn-Harris did for this book, and the many different scripts and languages that I saw within it. Told in a thoughtful and straightforward manner, this book opened my eyes to how many aspects of life language touches and it definitely brought out the language nerd in my soul. This book was a fascinating linguistic adventure that I can't recommend enough.
Throughout this book, Khan-Harris goes into the history behind Kinder Surprise Eggs, into the art of translation, and he talks about what being a "language fan" is. He also "liberates" the message by translating it into many other tongues and languages spoken around the world. Khan-Harris talks about colonialism, religion, and political implications of languages and how this has impacted what languages the Kinder Surprise Egg Warning Message shows. And he doesn't stop there -- he even creates a language of his own and translates the warning message into that. Kahn-Harris ends by saying that language should never be a cause of division, but it should bring communities together. I loved this. Even if you don't know something or completely understand it, you can still appreciate it and be curious about it.
I'm thoroughly impressed with all the research Kahn-Harris did for this book, and the many different scripts and languages that I saw within it. Told in a thoughtful and straightforward manner, this book opened my eyes to how many aspects of life language touches and it definitely brought out the language nerd in my soul. This book was a fascinating linguistic adventure that I can't recommend enough.
October 17, 2021
This was a fascinating book, starting with the warning message in a Kinder surprise egg and branching off into a history of languages and cultures. I have to admit though that, in the end, I felt a bit overwhelmed by all the information and quite how many rabbit holes the author went down during his research. There is definitely a really good shorter book hidden in here and I feel that, maybe like the Kinder egg, the essence would be better with less wrapping.
Thank you to netgalley and Icon books for an advance copy of this book
Thank you to netgalley and Icon books for an advance copy of this book
March 12, 2024
Probhoudhos: lege segheqe. Ənəptom pútlomos upo trisú wétessi rebhṛ. Paulãs áitejes en qémōntor ánōntorwe.
December 21, 2021
3 stars
This review is based on an ARC ebook received for free from NetGalley. I am not being paid to review this book and what I write here is my own opinion. My rating scale is below.
This is a book about the warning label inside a piece of candy. No, really. Kahn-Harris has based this book on the multilingual warning messages found inside that most dangerous forbidden treat, the Kinder Surprise Egg*. It became a project of the author’s around 2017 and by 2020 he had enough material for a whole book. I feel I ought to mention that as a United States citizen born in 1989, I have never owned, opened, or consumed a Kinder Surprise Egg, even when traveling abroad, which adds an extra layer of intrigue for me.
Kahn-Harris’s love of languages he doesn’t understand is highly relatable (at least to this reader), as is his approach to acquisition and the faint sadness he expresses that, as a native English-speaker, he is unlikely to achieve true fluency in any language other than English because there are just not enough opportunities to use non-English languages, and that English speakers, particularly monolingual ones, have a distinct degree of privilege. The opening caveat about the likelihood of errors in languages the author does not speak natively is a good introduction to the book to follow, which is written by a sociologist who really enjoys language, rather than a linguist, a fact which should be kept in mind throughout the reading process.
It is a very self-indulgent work of the sort that only an academic or a seriously bored YouTuber doing a deepdive might undertake, and as such it is full of the author’s personal thoughts and feelings alongside the more useful and (generally) more interesting facts about the capital-M Message. Some of these can feel more than a little twee, but there is a sense of wonder running throughout which prevents Kahn-Harris’s writing from becoming truly obnoxious, even when it takes on a faintly (or more than faintly) sardonic tone. It is hard to stay annoyed at someone who seems so positively enthralled by something so harmless (unless you are with the FDA, in which case your official stance must be that Kinder Surprise Eggs are Very, Very, Dangerous and Verboten).
The book actually covers a great deal under the guise of examining a warning message. It discusses how languages unite and divide people, and how people unite and divide languages, the difference between written and spoken language, the politics of selecting which languages to represent on an international warning label, the idea of code switching or changing register (which is when a person changes how they speak based on their circumstances). I particularly enjoyed the breakdown of how the Message might vary from its written form to being announced in a supermarket down to how the author might deliver it to a family member who’s just purchased a Kinder Surprise Egg for their under-three. It was also pleasing to me to read translations into ancient and endangered languages, and a true delight to see it translated into various conlangs (though the Kahn-Harris has mistakenly titled David Peterson’s book on conlangs as The Art of Language Creation rather than The Art of Language Invention, which I only know because I’ve read it and may be corrected in the finished copy) and Kahn-Harris’s efforts at invention his own conlang.
As an aside, the use of QR codes to link to videos of folks signing the Message was, I feel, a fairly inspired choice, though also evidence of the author’s privilege: it assumes the reader owns a smartphone, whereas a simple URL could be copied and entered into a web browser at the local library.
Personally, it took me a very long time to finish this book because it just did not hold my attention for long stretches of reading, though other readers’ mileage may vary. I did genuinely enjoy this book, and though I doubt I'll care to reread it, I wish very much that I knew other people who shared my dilettante-ish linguistic leanings because I think for those people, this would be a great read.
rating scale
1 star - I was barely able to finish it. I didn't like it.
2 stars - It was okay. I didn't dislike it.
3 stars - It was interesting. I liked it.
4 stars - It was excellent. I really liked it.
5 stars - It was extraordinary. I really hope the author wrote more things.
This review is based on an ARC ebook received for free from NetGalley. I am not being paid to review this book and what I write here is my own opinion. My rating scale is below.
This is a book about the warning label inside a piece of candy. No, really. Kahn-Harris has based this book on the multilingual warning messages found inside that most dangerous forbidden treat, the Kinder Surprise Egg*. It became a project of the author’s around 2017 and by 2020 he had enough material for a whole book. I feel I ought to mention that as a United States citizen born in 1989, I have never owned, opened, or consumed a Kinder Surprise Egg, even when traveling abroad, which adds an extra layer of intrigue for me.
Kahn-Harris’s love of languages he doesn’t understand is highly relatable (at least to this reader), as is his approach to acquisition and the faint sadness he expresses that, as a native English-speaker, he is unlikely to achieve true fluency in any language other than English because there are just not enough opportunities to use non-English languages, and that English speakers, particularly monolingual ones, have a distinct degree of privilege. The opening caveat about the likelihood of errors in languages the author does not speak natively is a good introduction to the book to follow, which is written by a sociologist who really enjoys language, rather than a linguist, a fact which should be kept in mind throughout the reading process.
It is a very self-indulgent work of the sort that only an academic or a seriously bored YouTuber doing a deepdive might undertake, and as such it is full of the author’s personal thoughts and feelings alongside the more useful and (generally) more interesting facts about the capital-M Message. Some of these can feel more than a little twee, but there is a sense of wonder running throughout which prevents Kahn-Harris’s writing from becoming truly obnoxious, even when it takes on a faintly (or more than faintly) sardonic tone. It is hard to stay annoyed at someone who seems so positively enthralled by something so harmless (unless you are with the FDA, in which case your official stance must be that Kinder Surprise Eggs are Very, Very, Dangerous and Verboten).
The book actually covers a great deal under the guise of examining a warning message. It discusses how languages unite and divide people, and how people unite and divide languages, the difference between written and spoken language, the politics of selecting which languages to represent on an international warning label, the idea of code switching or changing register (which is when a person changes how they speak based on their circumstances). I particularly enjoyed the breakdown of how the Message might vary from its written form to being announced in a supermarket down to how the author might deliver it to a family member who’s just purchased a Kinder Surprise Egg for their under-three. It was also pleasing to me to read translations into ancient and endangered languages, and a true delight to see it translated into various conlangs (though the Kahn-Harris has mistakenly titled David Peterson’s book on conlangs as The Art of Language Creation rather than The Art of Language Invention, which I only know because I’ve read it and may be corrected in the finished copy) and Kahn-Harris’s efforts at invention his own conlang.
As an aside, the use of QR codes to link to videos of folks signing the Message was, I feel, a fairly inspired choice, though also evidence of the author’s privilege: it assumes the reader owns a smartphone, whereas a simple URL could be copied and entered into a web browser at the local library.
Personally, it took me a very long time to finish this book because it just did not hold my attention for long stretches of reading, though other readers’ mileage may vary. I did genuinely enjoy this book, and though I doubt I'll care to reread it, I wish very much that I knew other people who shared my dilettante-ish linguistic leanings because I think for those people, this would be a great read.
rating scale
1 star - I was barely able to finish it. I didn't like it.
2 stars - It was okay. I didn't dislike it.
3 stars - It was interesting. I liked it.
4 stars - It was excellent. I really liked it.
5 stars - It was extraordinary. I really hope the author wrote more things.
June 1, 2022
This is a book about the warning message inside a Kinder egg. The little slip of paper that says to be careful with the small parts and young children. The whole book riffs on that message. It is brilliant and I loved it. The book takes off from the variety of languages shown on the leaflet into how language is created, how language adapts, how each language deals with "warnings". It looks at differences and similarities, roots of language, how to create one (Klingon or Tolkien’s in middle earth).
The book and the concept might sound boring, but they are anything but. This is a fascinating exploration of the whole idea of language, of warnings, of who gets to choose and the impact of those choices. Mr Kahn-Harris is a nerd of the highest order and I salute him. I salute him for taking scholarship of this level and making it accessible to ordinary people by framing it with a simple idea.
This would be a great gift for any person interested in language or linguistics and it’s totally suitable for beginners.
I was given a copy of this book by Netgalley
The book and the concept might sound boring, but they are anything but. This is a fascinating exploration of the whole idea of language, of warnings, of who gets to choose and the impact of those choices. Mr Kahn-Harris is a nerd of the highest order and I salute him. I salute him for taking scholarship of this level and making it accessible to ordinary people by framing it with a simple idea.
This would be a great gift for any person interested in language or linguistics and it’s totally suitable for beginners.
I was given a copy of this book by Netgalley
December 10, 2022
I will never look at warning messages on or in products with the same eyes ever again. Taking the one found inside Kinder Surprise Eggs as his starting point, Keith Kahn-Harris goes on to examine language in general, the wonderful diversity of the world’s different languages and the cultural differences found in them in this astonishingly intriguing and endlessly fascinating book that kept me enthralled. Who would have thought that a little piece of paper inside a Kinder Egg, a little piece of paper that I wager no one ever actually even reads (I will from now on) and which is simply thrown away could inspire this marvellously idiosyncratic and thoroughly researched exploration. Luckily for us Keith Kahn-Harris was so inspired. A must-read for all linguists, language enthusiasts, whether layman or academic, or simply anyone who wants to have their minds expanded.
March 19, 2023
Such a great book with a truly bizarre premise. Using a single piece of paper with the most utilitarian writing, Keith Kahn-Harris takes us on a journey through language in a way I have never personally experienced before. I feel like I learned a lot (which is the main use of a non-fiction book after all) but I also was made to feel like I was on a treasure-hunting mission in space and time. The protection of linguistic bio-diversity that is championed in this book is beautiful to see and the questions raised throughout it, will be with me for a while. For that exact reason, it is also a good starting point to look into your linguistic interests and have an idea of what to check out next (from its bibliography or the books mentioned throughout).
Iltigõš zānigõmo!
Iltigõš zānigõmo!
November 23, 2023
So, and this is really my bad, this book isn't really what I was expecting it to be.
I thought it would be a more general exploration of how and why language evolved, how languages around the world have moved away from common roots, that kind of thing.
Instead, I got a book about what the Kinder Surprise warning message looks like in different languages. Having said that, it's a testament to the author's writing style that for the most part it was interesting enough to read along!
Not really my bag, but it was a breezy enough diversion for long tram rides anyway :)
I thought it would be a more general exploration of how and why language evolved, how languages around the world have moved away from common roots, that kind of thing.
Instead, I got a book about what the Kinder Surprise warning message looks like in different languages. Having said that, it's a testament to the author's writing style that for the most part it was interesting enough to read along!
Not really my bag, but it was a breezy enough diversion for long tram rides anyway :)
April 5, 2026
The Babel message explores the diversity of languages and the nuances of translation, through the bizarre medium of translating the warning message from inside a Kinder egg. The result is, perhaps surprisingly, a fascinating book that covers the history of various languages and nations, etymology, the sociology of minority languages, what defines a language vs a dialect, fictional languages and more. The use of a single short text allowed me to spot small similarities between distantly related languages, and I appreciated the accompanying lesson in world history. I enjoyed this a lot!
March 11, 2023
3.5 stars! I read this before bed for a couple months. As a linguistics student it’s not the most gripping read, as I think it’s meant for people who know a little less about language. Nonetheless, well written and great discussion about how languages relate to each other.
Would recommend for people interested in linguistic diversity but don’t know where to begin!
Would recommend for people interested in linguistic diversity but don’t know where to begin!
December 23, 2023
Very interesting read - and also very difficult to put the book down once you've started reading it. It deals with the subject in a captivating and amusing way that makes you think far beyond the words on the page. I read most of it while travelling and I've never had a plane ride go by more quickly! Would recommend this book to anyone - even if you think you have zero interest in languages.
August 26, 2024
Such a crazy concept for a book, who would’ve thought a books worth of information could come from a kinder warning message! (I promise that this is not the main focus of the book though, just a springboard to other ideas) - started to feel slightly repetitive towards the end but not a problem since the learning you can take from this book is well worth it!
October 5, 2024
Couldn't stop laughing when the author pondered on what the message meant by "keep". Where should we keep it? Lol
But otherwise felt like this got bogged down in the uninteresting parts of language to me - that is form and structure - rather than what I like it for which is just a tool for more connection.
Didn't finish
But otherwise felt like this got bogged down in the uninteresting parts of language to me - that is form and structure - rather than what I like it for which is just a tool for more connection.
Didn't finish
March 20, 2026
There is something about the voice that this book is written in that I love. The mundane elevated to a window out on the complexities of human conflict, language and communication. It was both highly accessible and nuanced. I recommend this to anyone, regardless of their interest in language. The ability to see the beauty and complexity in everything is a skill more people should have.
July 2, 2022
A very clever and entertaining investigation into language, structure, constructs, international relations, power and more. There’s a brief section when it becomes a bit too slow and obscure for me about two-thirds of the way in but it then finishes with a flourish.
December 30, 2024
Great concept well delivered. Fascinating snippets in an interesting overall meander through many aspects of language.
January 27, 2025
A fascinatingly bonkers book about languages, taking as its starting point the warning message from Kinder eggs.
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