Remembering Mother Tongues
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 大象传媒 Audio, Bristol.
From blunk to brickfielder: our wonderful words for weather
Exploring creative descriptions for wind, rainfall and sunny spells from around the world
Digital body language 鈥� how to communicate better online
We need to find new ways of talking to each other 鈥渧irtually鈥�.
Coinages that changed the world 鈥� and some that tried to...
Exploring the hidden histories of obscure words, and common buzz phrases.
Ittibitium, borborygmus, and Ba humbugi 鈥� 14 wonderful science words you鈥檝e never heard of
Michael Rosen puts the language of science under the microscope.
Download this programme
Subscribe to this programme or download individual episodes.
Keywords for Our Time
Series of programmes examining key phrases in public debate.
Smiley face: Seven things you didn't know about emoji
Some facts about emoji - possibly the world's first truly global form of communication.
The funny words that kids invent
Have a look at some of the fantastic words that children invent and reimagine.
Podcast
-
![]()
Word of Mouth
Series exploring the world of words and the ways in which we use them
