Speakers: Martin Puchner, Natasha Lehrer

As a child The Written Word author Martin Puchner was told by his father about the secret code of Rotwelsch. A hybrid language associated with Jews and travellers, it blended Yiddish, Hebrew, Czech and other European languages, giving us expressions like ‘being in a pickle’. Unsettling many in power, no-one tried more vehemently to stamp it out than the Nazis – and Puchner discovered as an adult this included his own grandfather. The Harvard professor discusses his adventurous foray into the mysteries of language and personal journey with writer and translator Natasha Lehrer.