Word of Mouth

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Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Series exploring the world of words and the ways in which we use them

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Word of Mouth: Remembering Mother Tongues

Remembering Mother Tongues

BBC Radio 4 - Word of Mouth, Remembering Mother Tongues

Michael Rosen asks Julie Sedivy about what happens when we lose our first language.

Michael Rosen asks Julie Sedivy about memory and mother tongues, when a language once spoken has been lost.

Michael Rosen asks Julie Sedivy about what happens when we lose our first language. 

Julie Sedivy's family left their home country, the former Czechoslovakia, when Julie was a small child. They arrived in Canada as refugees with no English. Michael and Julie discuss the role of language within Julie's family story: how young children assimilate, how parents adapt and what can learned from these family experiences for the whole of society.

Julie Sedivy is a Canadian writer and language scientist, whose book on losing and reclaiming her first language is called Memory Speaks.

Producer: Eliza Lomas for BBC Audio, Bristol.

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