Why does the idea of “mother tongue” persist? Why mother, why a parent or person? As translators and writers with relationships to multiple languages and cultures, how can we imagine or explore alternatives to the term “mother tongue”? Why do we emphasize language as something that comes from a person and not locations, time, or experiences?

We’ll discuss ways to reshape the way we talk about languages in the world of translation and beyond. Participants are invited to question the value of defining a “native” or a “first” language while also considering other ways to describe how we find and locate ourselves within and across languages.