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How to Kill a Language
- Author
- Sophia Smith Galer
- Narrator
- Sophia Smith Galer
- Publisher
- HarperCollins Publishers
- Publish Date
- 7 May 2026
- Run Time
- 9 hours 38 minutes
- Format
- x-book®
- Genre
- Language: history and general works, Bilingualism and multilingualism, Languages: revitalisation / revival, Geopolitics, Globalization, Nationalism and nationalist ideologies and movements, Reportage, journalism or collected columns, Social discrimination and social justice
- Rating
- 5.0 (1 review)
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What to expect
'Moving, beautiful and important' FINANCIAL TIMES, BEST SUMMER BOOKS 2026
'Punchy and persuasive' SUNDAY TIMES
As Sophia Smith Galer’s Nonna lay dying, she realised it wasn’t just a beloved grandmother she was losing – it was the language she spoke, too. From Northern Italy, she spoke a dialët that Sophia, like so many children and grandchildren of migrants, can understand but can’t speak. With the death of the language, Sophia would lose a culture, a history, an inheritance – a whole world.
This tragedy reaches far beyond her family. Globally we are witnessing an unprecedented mass extinction event. By the end of this century half of the world’s 7000 languages will be gone, killed by war, climate breakdown, migration, nationalism or neglect, along with the vital knowledge that they have sustained for centuries.
Award-winning journalist Smith Galer has journeyed across continents and generations to report from this disappearing world. From Ghana to Greece, Ecuador to Oman, California to the UK, she meets people experiencing this loss at first hand – but also campaigners and linguists who prove that a multilingual future is still possible. Her travels ultimately lead her back to where she began: to Italy, and the tiny mountainside village where the church bells still ring out for her Nonna.
How to Kill a Language is an impassioned investigation into a hidden global crisis, and a call to speak, read and write the languages of our world, before it’s too late.
'An extremely moving, passionate plea' CAL FLYN
'Everyone should read this book' OLIA HERCULES
Critics Review
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'Punchy and persuasive … speaking an endangered language is an act of defiance and connection – of love' SUNDAY TIMES
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‘Moving, beautiful and important … The narrative grips from the outset … The driving spirit of How to Kill a Language is, despite its title, not death, but life’ FINANCIAL TIMES
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‘A rallying cry against linguistic extinction … This is a necessary book, with a message that English speakers need to hear’ NEW STATESMAN
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‘Urgent and timely … what animates it above all is the curiosity and pleasure of language learning – a curiosity that is its own form of hope’ THE TELEGRAPH
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'An essential voice' THE GUARDIAN
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'Galer casts a bright light on the massive linguistic diversity that the world seems set to lose … Every language that dies takes with it such fascinating stories' NEW YORK TIMES
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'[A] deep dive into 10 of the 7,000 languages predicted to be extinct by the turn of the century … a fascinating account' THE i PAPER
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'Everyone should read this book. Impressively researched, full of empathy and a page-turner to boot' OLIA HERCULES
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‘An extremely moving, passionate plea. This fascinating book digs down into what it really means to translate, conserve, comprehend, colonise’ CAL FLYN, author of Islands of Abandonment
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‘I have long marvelled at the work of Sophia Smith Galer … she is a passionate advocate for language diversity – most recently in her fascinating new book’ PANDORA SYKES
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'Beautiful, thought-provoking and compelling' SUSIE DENT
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'Erudite, heart-wrenching … a spirited reconsideration' PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
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‘Shines an intimate light on a pressing issue … revealing the powerfully human stakes behind language death and revitalization’ ADAM ALEKSIC, author of Algospeak
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'Hits the intersection of language and power as few other books have' ROSS PERLIN, author of Language City
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‘This is the best book on language endangerment I have ever read. A love letter to languages … both intellectually rigorous and yet profoundly moving’ DAVID CRYSTAL, author of Language Death
User Reviews
Book 5.0
Narration 5.0
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5.0 5.0
Really informative and interesting to see the different case studies on how languages can be destroyed. The Narration is great at being able to hear all the difference languages and their pronunciation.
Izzy-616 2026-07-20
Details
- Author
- Sophia Smith Galer
- Narrator
- Sophia Smith Galer
- Duration
- 9 hours 38 minutes
- Release Date
- 7 May 2026
- ISBN
- 9780008723750
- Format
- x-book®
- Publisher
- HarperCollins Publishers
- Genre
- Language: history and general works, Bilingualism and multilingualism, Languages: revitalisation / revival, Geopolitics, Globalization, Nationalism and nationalist ideologies and movements, Reportage, journalism or collected columns, Social discrimination and social justice
- Rating
- 5.0(1 review)
- Narration
- 5.0(1 review)
Synopsis
'Moving, beautiful and important' FINANCIAL TIMES, BEST SUMMER BOOKS 2026 'Punchy and persuasive' SUNDAY TIMES As Sophia Smith Galer’s Nonna lay dying, she realised it wasn’t just a beloved grandmother she was losing – it was the language she spoke, too. From Northern Italy, she spoke a dialët that Sophia, like so many children and grandchildren of migrants, can understand but can’t speak. With the death of the language, Sophia would lose a culture, a history, an inheritance – a whole world. This tragedy reaches far beyond her family. Globally we are witnessing an unprecedented mass extinction event. By the end of this century half of the world’s 7000 languages will be gone, killed by war, climate breakdown, migration, nationalism or neglect, along with the vital knowledge that they have sustained for centuries. Award-winning journalist Smith Galer has journeyed across continents and generations to report from this disappearing world. From Ghana to Greece, Ecuador to Oman, California to the UK, she meets people experiencing this loss at first hand – but also campaigners and linguists who prove that a multilingual future is still possible. Her travels ultimately lead her back to where she began: to Italy, and the tiny mountainside village where the church bells still ring out for her Nonna. How to Kill a Language is an impassioned investigation into a hidden global crisis, and a call to speak, read and write the languages of our world, before it’s too late. 'An extremely moving, passionate plea' CAL FLYN 'Everyone should read this book' OLIA HERCULES
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