Native Tongues (book)

Native Tongues is a book written by Charles Berlitz, a well known linguist.

Berlitz' book 'Native Tongues' is primarily made up of a list of words in various languages, their etymology and questions of speculative nature about the words within.

It mentions how many thousands of languages exist, and explores whether animals have language.

"Native Tongues" aims to explain how languages started and follow their spread and decline. It also demonstrates how similar many languages are, an example used within the book is English and German. It also aims to demonstrate how gender-dependent language can be.

It explains the origins of words and what they really mean to people, examining words of love and insults in different countries, languages and cultures.

A majority of this book relates to listings of good and bad translations. It also shows differences between British and American English.

Charles Berlitz understanding of words is shown to be deeper than grammar, syntax and phonology. Hr presents the ideas that language is connected to culture and is a part of what makes a person and their way of thinking.

ISBN 0-7858-1827-8