Multitrack: My Mother's Tongue

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My Mother's Tongue

BBC Radio 4 - Multitrack, My Mother's Tongue

Cat’s mother is Austrian. Cat can’t speak German. Does she really know her?

Cat’s mother is Austrian. Cat can’t speak German. Does she really know her own mother?

Cat Gough has found that there’s a side of her mother’s personality concealed by a language barrier. 

Cat’s Mum is from Austria, but Cat was never taught a word of German. Does she really know her mum at all? 

In the early 1960s, Doris grew up in a small village in Austria.  After living and working overseas throughout her 20s, she settled in London and started to learn English. She met her husband and they had a daughter, Cat. 

Doris chose not to share her mother tongue with her daughter, but brought Cat up in English, a language that was still foreign to her. Cat never thought twice about it. By the time she was at school, her mother was fully fluent in English.

Then, one day, Cat learnt something that made her question whether she knew her mother at all. 

So she decides to follow her mum on a trip to her old home town in Austria, to learn more about her family’s history and uncover this Austrian side of her mother. 

This trip speaks of conflicted nationality and identity, and of stories in families that remain unspoken and submerged underneath the surface of everyday life. It illustrates the bravery and the sacrifices made by migrant parents for their children and the stories of the countries they have left behind.

What we find is a parent who reflects on her desire and willingness to do all she could to assimilate herself into her new country, to become English. Behind the mother wanting to do the best for her own children, we find the story of a woman who broke away from a society struggling to come to terms with its own past.

Producer and Presenter: Cat Gough 
A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4
Commissioned as part of the Multitrack Audio Producers Fellowship

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