mother tongue

Julie Sedivy and other family members visiting her father’s family gravesite in his village of Moravská Nová Ves.

‘Memory speaks’: How to reclaim your mother tongue without having to relearn it from scratch

Language

When Julie Sedivy was four, her family fled their native Czechoslovakia and settled in Canada. Years later, a return trip to the Czech Republic made her realize she could quickly recover her mother tongue through memories. Sedivy recounts her linguistic journey in a new book called “Memory Speaks.”

Alina Simone's daughter Zoe teaches her Russian-speaking grandfather some basic Chinese.

Russian-speaking New Yorker would rather her daughter learn Chinese