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Don't Believe a Word

The Surprising Truth About Language

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Don't Believe a Word

By: David Shariatmadari
Narrated by: Damian Lynch
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An entertaining and highly informed guide to what languages are and how they function.

Everyone likes to think they know a bit about language: There are some words that you simply can't translate into English. The origin of a word tells you how it should be used. A dialect is inferior to a language.

The problem is, none of these statements are true. In Don't Believe a Word, linguist David Shariatmadari explodes nine common myths about language and introduces us to some of the fundamental insights of modern linguistics. By the end of this eye-opening tour, listeners will understand that grammatical "errors" are in fact the foundation of modern English; that the meaning of a word is not what a dictionary says, but how it's used; and that the difference between what gets labeled a "language" or "dialect" is political, rather than scientific.

Don't Believe a Word offers an accessible and thorough introduction to the science behind one of the most essential aspects of our daily life.

©2019 David Shariatmadari (P)2020 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books Linguistics Social Sciences Words, Language & Grammar
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Interesting book about languages, their history , the book is a treasure for any language nerd or author. I enjoyed the book as I am interested in languages, very detailed

everything you need to know about languages

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The New York Times review for this title provoked me to read it, and I just finished it. As a word geek from way back, I savored every syllable. Lots of freshness here for anyone familiar with the field, and easily digestible for those not as inclined to nerd out on grammar, etymology, and language.

Superb primer for language and linguistics

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There were parts of this that were very compelling and interesting. The rest of it, not so much.
I am fascinated by linguistics, and I really wanted to love this, but this did little to inform or influence me.

Disjointed and unfocused

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Language not being an instinct is presented as a fact without solid evidence, without substance. Verdict for the last chapter: don't believe a word.

last chapter was not convincing at all

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I was excited to listen to this book but it is really much much less than the title or reviews say it is. Somewhere in it is about 20 minutes worth of idea and hours and hours of padding and pedantry (really, more babble than information). My overall impression was that the author had an interesting idea/theory and was convinced to write a book; after the 1000 words to explain the idea, etc. he had to pad it out with something, anything. As a result, this is the "book", which is really a compendium of naive opinion making, commentary on nothing and uninteresting drivel. Stick with someone like McWhorter, who, whatever his faults, appears to actually respect the audiences' time and money

Don't waste your money

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