Before reading this book, I hadn't considered languages and how they can die out. It is depressing to discover that of course colonialism and politics are to blame. It is also horrible to read about what is happening in China, where the government is systematically wiping out minority languages.

Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience

"Speak Not: Empire Identity & the Politics of Language" by James Griffiths is a must-read for anyone interested in the intersection of language, power, and identity. Griffiths explores the history and politics of language use in the context of empires, highlighting the ways in which language has been used as a tool of domination and resistance.

Speak Not explores Welsh, Hawaiian and Cantonese with interludes featuring Afrikaans, Esperanto and Hebrew,

One thing I really appreciated about the book is its clarity and accessibility. Griffiths writes in a way that's easy to understand, avoiding academic jargon, which can be a major hurdle when reading books like this. I also liked that his personal experience of being a Welshman gave him the additional insight to centre the other endangered languages.

Overall, I highly recommend "Speak Not" to anyone interested in the intersection of language, history, and identity. It's a fascinating read that provides a fresh perspective on some really important issues.


***Thank you Netgalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.***

Thank you so much to the publisher for the advanced copy of this book, and I'm sorry it took me SO long to finish!!

If you enjoyed the linguistic lectures in Babel by R.F. Kuang, you will LOVE this. The book is written in an incredibly accessible manner, and I never found myself struggling to understand or get absorbed in anything.

It did exactly what it set out to do - explained the way that languages can become lost, shared success stories from past revitalized languages, and imparted some fascinating linguistic history along the way.

I knew a decent amount about the decline of Cantonese, but very little about Hawaiian and Welsh, and I learned A TON!

Imagine how many languages are currently spoken today. Now, imagine how many have been lost due to colonialism and integration into larger communities (I am not only referring to the Western world, but global colonialism as a whole). History and culture are directly linked to the language spoken of the period studied and learning more about the linguistic behavior provides greater context in the long run. The most amazing part of reading this book was learning the author had experience with all three of the main languages he spoke of and explored in each part. I was also pleased to see the acknowledgement of Duolingo and how that technology has contributed to an increase in foreign language speakers while also a tool of preservation for languages of decreasing popularity.

I really wanted to dive right down into this topic, and there are some good points about imperialism and identity and language, but those points are drowned in the nitty gritty of historical events recounted in what felt like unnecessary detail. All in all, I wanted more analysis of what these things mean, rather than a blow by blow of how restoring a language in one place and time was accomplished over a long struggle.

I found this book really enjoyable and well-written. The author, James Griffiths, is a Welsh and English speaker, who lives in Hong Kong. The book explores various languages and the politics and history of colonization behind them - starting with Welsh, a language the author knows well, its decline and its revival; then Hawai'ian, then Cantonese. There are shorter chapters in between on other languages - Afrikaans, Modern Hebrew, Esperanto, Yiddish. I found it really interesting and well-researched, and I particularly enjoyed reading the history of the language preservation and revival in Hawai'i - it is a miracle that there is still a language - and the creation of Modern Hebrew (despite the name I had no idea it was in fact this modern!). Very thought-provoking.

A deep dive into the history and cultural politics of Welsh, Hawaiian, and Cantonese, with smaller sections about Afrikaans, Hebrew/Yiddish/Esperanto, and Tibetan languages. The author is Welsh, so it clearly is an outgrowth from his own interest in and/or knowledge of the Welsh linguistic revival, but the other major sections get plenty of detail; it's not like he seems to have just wanted to write a book about Welsh and tacked on other sections as a fob to marketability. Overall quite interesting. Despite it only being an interlude between the major Welsh and Hawaiian sections, I particularly found the section on Afrikaans thought-provoking -- how does a country balance dismantling the apartheid-era power structures which gave preeminence to Afrikaans and give more equitable access to speakers of Zulu, Xhosa, etc., while resisting the not-entirely-unjustified impulses of many to expunge Afrikaans entirely (it's not the language's fault it was used in oppression, after all, and there are many nonwhite native speakers of Afrikaans and a rich history of linguistic evolution incorporating contributions from its neighboring African languages that is worth preserving), while <i>also</i> dealing with the fact that many defenders of Afrikaans are doing so for more-or-less-veiled racist reasons.

Worth a read.

I expected so much from this book and sadly it fell flat. It seems like this is just a random jumble of thoughts instead of the well thought out piece I was expecting. Reads like a very early first draft of a book as opposed to the polished finalised version.

An interesting look at how minority languages are disappearing around the world. Overall a good concept and research study, but at times felt more like a draft of his research. Might just be me, but would have liked a bit more organization. Still though, would recommend as it does make the reader think about the issues and others. The loss of any language is a tragedy.

I really liked the idea of this book: a look at how language is instrumental in shaping empires and politics, with special reference to the endangered languages of Welsh, Hawaiian and Cantonese as case studies. The reader is led through each part with stories of real people whose lives shed light on one of these languages, and how it intersects with power.

No small task indeed, and this book doesn't over-simplify the matter, or patronise the reader. One of the things I enjoyed about this book was the times I got lost trying to work out which 'side' I supported. This was particularly the case in his excursus into South Africa, where the language of the historical oppressors (Afrikaans) is now at great risk of being lost. Advocates for endangered languages have to perform a fine balance between letting the language die and promoting oppressive powers (which now has alliances in white conservative America).

Knotty ethical questions often arose looking at English as well. Very often from a economic or even well-being perspective, English was the sensible choice for children to learn and be taught, because of the many opportunities the language opened up. Many parents and caregivers chose to sacrifice their indiginous language (and sometimes culture as well) for the sake of these opportunities, and one can see why. Griffiths certainly casts no blame here, but rather advocates for governments to do more in the future to avoid putting parents in this invidious position in the future. Griffiths ends with some relatively general (but certainly sound) policy suggestions to promote endangered languages.

I was impressed by Griffith's really solid knowledge of the material, particularly of his native Welsh and of Cantonese through his journalistic work in Hong Kong. His passion he brought to the languages and the book's issues was palpable.

I think my main complaint would be that it was just a bit boring. I'm not sure exactly why this was, because he did his best to keep a narrative aspect to the languages. Certainly I think the book would have benefited from some lighter moments and some humour, to offset the often bleak subject matter. Because I was slightly bored through much of this, it seemed longer than it was.

I also think Griffiths should have made clearer from the outset the book's purpose, conclusions, and ultimate take aways. I think having this as a handrail from the outset might have helped me see the light through some of the tougher bits of the book.

I'm glad this book is hitting the shelves soon. It's a good book with an important message, and one that New Zealand would certainly benefit from.

I wanted to love the story and the premise pulled me in but the strong emphasis on delivering opinions as facts combined with actual facts felt contrived. I needed one style to be presented consistently.

The choice of examples also didn't gel well with me, again with history thrown together in perhaps ways that change a narrative. As they say though, History depends on the narrator.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

Speak Not by James Griffiths was an interesting and informative read. The first section, about Welsh, was more familiar to me, since, having grown up in the UK, I heard some of the debates and was aware of some of the key events from the mid-1990s onwards. However, the sections on Hawaiian and Cantonese were new to me and I found it fascinating to read about those languages and their struggles, having been unaware either were under threat. Griffiths' prose is written in a compelling, story-telling style that never feels dry, and this book will, I believe, appeal to both readers interested in languages and those interested in international politics. Hopefully more endangered languages can be saved the way Welsh was.

Non fiction at its best: makes you learn and makes you think. Which this book made me do. What languages and how languages survive is fascinating. The languages chosen in this book seem to be random which was a drawback for me.

James Griffiths, a Welshman living in Hong Kong, explores how minority languages face extinction in our modern world of “super-tongues” and the race towards globalisation. Taking his native Welsh, Hawaiian and Cantonese as examples, he discovers how some languages have had to fight for their survival and how they are being saved from oblivion.
The section on Welsh resonates strongly with me as a Welshman. An 1846 government report on education in Wales concluded that the Welsh language was a “vast drawback” to the progress of Wales as a country, noting the tradition in schools of the “Welsh Not”, a wooden stick that was hung around the neck of any child heard speaking Welsh. This led to decades of marginalisation of the language. Later nationalistic acts of protest (or terrorism, depending on your outlook) against the perceived attacks on the Welsh language, including the investiture of Prince Charles in 1969, are examined, many of which were part of my childhood and early life. Griffiths skilfully reconstructs these momentous events and makes me hope he will consider writing an expanded book on this subject.
It is a miracle that the Hawaiian language has survived decades of colonisation by the British and the French, culminating in the islands becoming part of the United States in a coup. This had an adverse effect on the language as islanders were forced to learn English fluently. A “renaissance” in recent years has led to the survival of the Hawaiian language, culminating in and being accelerated by protests against the building of the Thirty-Metre Telescope at the summit of Hawaii’s highest mountain, Mauna Kea. The turbulent history of Hawaii is eye-opening because it is so jarring when viewed against the public perception of the islands.
Griffiths admits that including Cantonese in a book about endangered languages is unusual, but this section goes deep into the turbulent history of the Chinese and Tibetan languages, concluding that even Cantonese is at risk given the rapid decline of languages across China and the possibility of losing Hong Kong as a cultural hub.
Interludes are slotted in between the there main sections, one of which explores the birth of the Afrikaans language and how it became the language of apartheid. It’s legacy is still being felt today and this section contains quite graphic depictions of the violence which still splits South Africa, so be prepared.
Griffiths also spotlights the creators of Modern Hebrew and the much-maligned “universal” language Esperanto; the former seeking a language of a new Jewish state, the latter hoping to create a tongue too break down barriers between Jews and Gentiles. Both men shared a disdain for Yiddish, widely considered to be the language of the ghetto by most Jews. The Holocaust resulted in the end of Yiddish as the main Jewish languages as so many of its speakers perished, but it has since seen revival and recognition in recent years.
The main theme of this excellent book is that indigenous languages don’t die out, they are “uprooted by malice or neglect” by the “powerful at the expense of the powerless”. This is usually done through violence, and the reclamation of that lost identity also often leads to violence, as the stories depicted in the book all too clearly confirm. As well as a history of these languages, it takes in politics, religion, identity and mythology. Meticulously researched, profound and often shocking, “Speak Not” is a triumphant celebration of just a handful of the many endangered languages of the world and a reminder of the fragility of national identity. You will also learn how to ask where the toilet is in Welsh, Hawaiian and Cantonese.