Mother Tongues: Travels Through Tribal Europe

by Helena Drysdale

Over a period of eighteen months, the author, her husband and their two young daughters rattled over the roads and motorways of Europe in their mobile home. Their journey took them to the heart of tribal to the Fresian Islands, Samiland, the Basque country; to Macedonia, Corsica and Provence. Drysdale sought out Europe's indigenous tribes and took stock of their place in our modern world, analyzing the link between language and identity and capturing many of the voices and cultures that are already fading away.

Genres: Language, Travel, Nonfiction, Linguistics

Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Helena Drysdale was born in London and has a degree in History and Art History from Trinity College, Cambridge. After a brief stint working for Walker Books, she wrote reviews of contemporary art for Artscribe Magazine, of which she became co-editor. She has written for a range of newspapers and magazines; lectured to hundreds of institutions; and appeared on many radio programmes. She tutors for the Arvon Foundation and runs writing courses, and edits non-fiction for the Writers' Workshop, an editorial agency. She is currently a Royal Literary Fund Fellow at Exeter University. She has received writing awards from the Authors' Foundation and the Kay Blundell Trust, and judges the Society of Authors' Travel Award, and the Travel Writers' Guild Travel Book Award.

She is married to painter Richard Pomeroy and they live in Somerset with their two daughters.

Reviews

[Andrew Macfarlane · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dreadful. An 18 month drop out and travel diary describing how Helena has 2 children, they are very important to her (that is good), she gives them any latitude to do whatever they want to do irrespective of others beliefs or respect (Not good) and she thinks everyone else will be interested in her family (Not at all a sound assumption) oh and happens to travel through areas where there is a small cultural or lingual minority (this should be good if it was possible to wade through the uninteresting family stuff). If an edited version could be produced it would carve the book down to a manageable and readable size. Till then it is the most disappointing book I have ever looked forward to reading, only to find that it is an absolute dog

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd liked Drysdale's book about Madagascar, so picked this one up when I saw it for sale at a used bookstore a while ago. A strictly socio-linguistic book would have been too dry, but this one, with it's travel-narrative framework was exactly what I was looking for. Barcelona came off as a scary place - they were burgled twice in a short period of time there.

[Tori]

2011- This book was not exactly what I was expecting, which was a look at European minority cultures struggling to survive. Although there was some focus on language, a good deal of the book was also dedicated to history and her family's experiences traveling around Europe in their camper. It wasn't always immensely readable, but I did learn quite a bit.

[Gideon Yutzy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Helena's Drysdale views Europe as being comprised of many individual tribes, like a patchwork quilt. Traveling in an RV called 'the Mob', she took a several-month-long trip with her husband and two small daughters to document some of these tribes, such as the Occitans and the Basques. Bear in mind that she wrote this 20 years ago, but as of then she reckons that every two weeks the world loses another unique dialect or language (the difference between which she discusses in her book). Crazy, right.

It seems, however, that Ms Drysdale took too much on herself in that she was fighting this Herculean battle to quickly document the dying languages and she couldn't keep up...sort of like fighting a Hydra, you know? Does your life ever feel like that? Mine does sometimes. But anyway, her writing is exquisite, on par with Peter Hessler. She knows how to do a sentence quite well, I must say. I DNF the part where she was in the Tyrol and surrounding regions (too many other good books waiting to be read, including...are you ready for it...Thomas Merton! Whoopee. And Alan Jacobs, AJ Swoboda, and Brian Zahnd!) I might go back and skim parts of it still though if I were you I wouldn't stake much money on it; the subject matter of the book isn't something I naturally gravitate toward so reading any of it was sort of a discipline, but still I'm glad I did! Ok, buh-iee!

[Dushyant · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can relate to this book very well. My country India has a rich heritage of multiple languages and the struggle to preserve them keeps going on by the people who identify themselves with their languages. It was an interesting read. The author's kids give us some moments of entertainment throughout the book. I would like to encourage people to "adopt a language" and cherish it. It is possible.

[Sara Bainbridge · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book - I learnt loads about identity and language in Europe, and I admired the honesty of Drysdale regarding the difficulties of travelling with young children. I wish it was more easily available as I borrowed it from the library but struggled to find a copy to give to a friend. Highly recommend!

[Simone · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read it when it was published, but certain elements have always stayed with me. Will re-read and re-evaluate.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the second time I've read this and I still enjoyed it. I think I've also gained more from it than the first time (over 10 years ago), having learned Welsh in the meantime and started Basque.

[Deki Napolju · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four stars for the range and thoroughness of linguistic and historical references, three stars for the travel memoir components.

[Babak Fakhamzadeh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most of the time, Drysdale is able to communicate the excitement of traveling through 'tribal Europe'; the collection of small communities fighting for some form of independence. From Finland to Spain, From the UK to Greece. Peoples want to teach in their own language, uphold their own culture or just want complete independence.

Together with her husband and two small children, travelling in a mobile home, she visits peoples like the Sami in Finland, the Frisians in the Netherlands and Germany, the Bretons, the Basques, the Sardinians and the Macedonians.

Although Drysdale writes well, it is mostly her focus on 'everyday life' in the 'Mob' that starts to get irritating after a while. Although at first it's enjoyable to read about everyday trials and tribulations, combined with brief history lessons on out of the way regions of Europe, at some point it really becomes annoying to read how Drysdale needed to change a diaper again.

As a result of her focusing on everyday life, she mostly only briefly is able to delve into specific historical or cultural details of a specific culture. Something she does change for the better near the end of the book, only by then it's too late.

A couple of things that I found very striking. One was that her descriptions of typical Frisian life were descriptions of 'old-Dutch' characteristics. Another was that the old German word for foreigner, Wal, was at the basis for the names Wales, Wallachia (Romania), Walloon (southern Belgium) and Gaul (France).

[Margaret Barnes · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fascinating book, which takes an obscure subject, minority languages and weaves a travel book with the authors interest in that subject. Helena Drysdale travels around Europe in a camper van with her artist husband and two small children, visiting the lands where minority languages are spoken, and she investigates the relationship between language and identity. She weaves her interest in languages with descritions of the places and peoples she encounters, and the problems of travelling with very small children. I particularly admired the way she chose to interperse the academic with the banalisty of family life. Definitly one to read.

[Rosamund · Rating 5 out of 5]

A truly wonderful non-fiction book, ideal for language nerds / Europhiles like me.

[Beth Harper · Rating 4 out of 5]

See reveiw at my blog: http://bethlikesbooks.blogspot.com/20...