Review of The Novel “Mother Tongue”

I am very excited to say that this is my first book review on this blog. Although I have read many books about languages in the past, I had not started my blog then, but recently read a novel, which I was thought was worth sharing to any aspiring language-learner. The reason why I decided to review “Mother Tongue”, written by Christine Gilbert, in particular was because I could see its relevance to anyone who happened to find this blog.

Starting off with its cover and its description “My Family’s Globe-Trotting Quest to Dream in Mandarin, Laugh in Arabic, and Sing in Spanish” automatically catches your attention and makes you curious about how she reached to that point in three completely different, and what are oftentimes considered to be difficult languages for native English speakers. Christine takes you on a journey living in Thailand, China, Lebanon, and finally in Mexico by dedicating an entire part to all three countries, as well as mentioning her occasional temporary visits and stays in Thailand. Her commitment of doing so demonstrates her careful attention to detail, and all of the research that she had done prior to writing the book about multilingualism, bilingualism, the cognitive benefits of acquiring languages by a certain age, and about polyglots.

What is quirky about this book is that her mission was to raise her child bilingually, so that he could speak at least two languages natively as a child. Without spoiling too much, her journey takes its twists and turns as she realizes the challenges, the rewards, and the peaks of teaching herself some of the world’s most highly spoken languages almost completely from scratch. My favorite lines that I believe best summarize the novel are: “The gift of language is…opening up your worldview. If we want to prepare our children for the future- one that will no doubt be more globalized than ever- then that broadened sense of identity is the most useful tool a young person can have. It makes them adaptable, it helps them think about issues across cultures, and it will be a required skill for the next generation of workers” (Gilbert, p. 270).

You may be asking yourself what distinguishes this novel from other language-related novels, and this what I have to say. Christine’s and her family’s experiences differ from most in that she and her husband were monolingual before embarking on a lifelong journey and commitment to living in communities with their locals abroad. Instead of simply living in Beirut and only interacting with Americans, Christine made a sincere and conscious effort to use her Arabic skills in markets, in restaurants, and, most importantly, in her everyday life.

If you were looking for an enjoyable read that mixed scientific data and findings about multilingualism, along with real-life anecdotes of a monolingual who eventually became multilingual in many respects, then I would highly recommend this novel. Feel free to write your personal opinions after reading this novel in the comments down below.