Languages Are Good For Us

Written by Sophie Hardach

Narrated by Laurence Bouvard

A celebration of the huge linguistic diversity that is open to all of us at birth, and that has inspired and fascinated humans since the invention of speech.

The acclaimed novelist Sophie Hardach – a German native who writes in English – explores languages, and multilingualism, as an expression of human creativity and identity, and a way to connect in an often fractured world – a necessary and important pursuit in these politically divided times.

The book's chapters roughly follow the trajectory of a human life, tracing our relationship with language from the first muffled sounds we hear in the womb, to the comfort and companionship it can provide in old age. The author weaves together her own experiences of language as the mother of a multilingual child and explores the science and history of speech. Languages Are Good For Us offers a unique perspective on a subject that affects us all.

2020 Head of Zeus Ltd

• Language: English
• Publisher: W. F. Howes Ltd
• Release date: Jan 7, 2021
• ISBN: 9781800246768

Sophie Hardach

Sophie Hardach is the author of three novels, The Registrar's Manual for Detecting Forced Marriages, about Kurdish refugees, Of Love and Other Wars, about pacifists during World War Two, and Confession with Blue Horses, about the repercussions of the division of Germany on the lives of individuals. Also a journalist, she worked as a correspondent for Reuters news agency in Tokyo, Paris and Milan and and has written for a number of publications including the Guardian, BBC Future and The Economist. Her first non-fiction book, Languages Are Good For Us, was published by Head of Zeus in 2021.

Reviews for Languages Are Good For Us

[Irene · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Absolutely fantastic. One of the best and most thorough books about languages I've ever read.