This book is great for anyone wanting more knowledge on cultural barriers in different countries. Very insightful and interesting.

Thank you for this ARC!

Unfortunately, my access appears to have expired so I will give FOUR WORDS FOR FRIEND by Marek Kohn a neutral rating of 3 even though Kohn's argument about the importance of learning a language seems especially relevant with so much news about growing nationalism. I originally requested access to this title because I had a student this year who was researching the value of learning a second language. I had downloaded FOUR WORDS FOR FRIEND prior to its publication and read portions, which were rather scholarly, but I do think my student would have benefited from looking at it and may consider its future purchase.

This book is relevant today and I love how the author explores language, the ability to relate to different people and cultures and what role language plays in all this.
It's an engaging read and for someone who speaks three languages fluently and struggled to learn Chinese and Spanish later on in college, I'd say that the author explores aspects about language and how powerful it is in relationships on any level-and though that's always been said, what's fresh with this book is research on the historical accounts on language.
Thanks Netgalley for the eARC.

In a world full of nativism, xenophobia, and rampant nationalism, Marek Kohn’s book, Four Words for Friend: Why Using More Than One Language Matters Now More Than Ever is a breath of fresh air.

As someone who has learned 2 foreign languages (and subsequently forgotten important parts of both) I found this book fascinating. While Kohn’s work is not entirely new information for anyone who has read widely on linguistics and bi(multi)lingualism (he delves into the Whorf-Sapir hypothesis of linguistic relativism as well as studies regarding language acquisition and its effects on brains of multilinguals), the main thesis of the books seems to divert from common widely-held views of distinct language preservation at all costs as the holy grail, and instead suggests a social well-being favouring openness, mutual exchange, and knowledge sharing by a willingness to communicate across languages (however imperfectly) as far more beneficial. “Integrating languages within communities or within individual minds is a way to turn competition into co-operation, suspicion into trust,” says Kohn.

While not to suggest that language preservation is not an important way to maintain culture, having grown up in New Brunswick, the only officially bilingual province in Canada, I witnessed both the social-cohesion that can happen across language barriers and the deep-seeded animosity that still exists between speakers of each language for the other. Kohn’s idea that we must use languages “to illuminate each other, rather than having a world where one strives to outshine the other,” is perhaps a solution to the perfect being the enemy of the good and a bridge in places like New Brunswick, still deeply segregated by language divide.

Really enjoyed this. Refreshing read, great job. Full review on the blog coming shortly. . Really great job!