May 12, 7:00 pm
As Sophia Smith-Galer’s Nonna lay dying, she realised it wasn’t just a beloved grandmother she was losing, it was the language she spoke, too. From Northern Italy, she spoke a dialët that Sophia, like so many children and grandchildren of migrants, can understand but can’t speak. With the death of the language, Sophia would lose a culture, a history, an inheritance, a whole world.
This tragedy reaches far beyond her family. Globally we are witnessing an unprecedented mass extinction event. By the end of this century half of the world’s 7000 languages will be gone, killed by war, climate breakdown, migration, nationalism or neglect, along with the vital knowledge that they have sustained for centuries.
Award-winning journalist Sophia Smith-Galer has journeyed across continents and generations to report from this disappearing world and she’ll join us to share the scale of the tragedy and the beauty of languages that may soon disappear forever.
Event Schedule
7:00pm: Pre-event socialising and networking
A cash bar will be available for refreshments.
7:15pm: Event begins
8:30pm: Event ends
Sophia Smith-Galer is an award‑winning journalist who writes about language, culture and technology. She hosts the podcast Word for Word with Sophia and writes Glottal Stop, a newsletter dedicated to language. She previously reported for VICE News and the BBC. Her first book Losing It: Sex Education for the 21st Century was published in 2022. Her book How to Kill a Language: Power, Resistance and the Race to Save Our Words will be published in May 2026.
Please note that this event will be recorded and photographed. By attending this event, you consent to being photographed, filmed and recorded (“Recordings”). You further consent to The Conduit, and its assigns’ use of your name and your appearance and voice as captured by these Recordings, in any and all media, worldwide, for any purpose in connection with this event, including promotion of this event.
Share This Event
Dr. Lindsay Branham speaks to Gemma Mortenson about the medicine to be found in the nature right under our feet.
The Conduit and the Media Society explore how organisations should – or shouldn’t – respond during a crisis.
Westminster Foundation for Democracy and the Institute of Development Studies discuss revitalising democracy around the world in an interactive event.
