Series exploring the world of words and the ways in which we use them
Radio 4,·303 episodes
Michael Rosen meets popular YouTuber Simon Roper, who tries to recreate how people spoke.
04 Jun 2026,·28 mins
Michael Rosen and Ella Frances Sanders on her dictionary of language, landscape and life.
28 May 2026,·28 mins
Michael Rosen finds out about fascinating literary errors from editor Rebecca Lee.
21 May 2026,·28 mins
Michael Rosen talks to Amy Gaunt about how children are learning oracy, also known as talk
14 May 2026,·28 mins
Michael Rosen in conversation with Dara Ó Briain on how we talk about and understand time.
07 May 2026,·28 mins
Michael Rosen talks to Sophia Smith Galer about the languages we're losing from the world.
19 Feb 2026,·28 mins
Michael Rosen talks to Ione Georgakis about Tourette syndrome.
12 Feb 2026,·28 mins
Michael Rosen talks to linguist Teddy Mack about Vincy, a language spoken on St Vincent.
05 Feb 2026,·28 mins
Michael Rosen talks to James Geary about aphorisms, AKA literature's hand luggage
29 Jan 2026,·28 mins
Michael Rosen talks to Jennifer Cearns about the rise of AI companions.
22 Jan 2026,·28 mins
Michael Rosen talks about Liverpool English with Professor Tony Crowley.
15 Jan 2026,·28 mins
Michael Rosen journeys down the A-Z on an alphabetical odyssey with linguist Danny Bate.
08 Jan 2026,·28 mins
The Gruffalo author tells Michael Rosen about her writing, reading, speaking and listening
02 Oct 2025,·28 mins
Michael Rosen on clichés, pragmatics and how language is used to connect us beyond words.
25 Sep 2025,·28 mins
Michael Rosen hears how words are used as weapons against women
21 Sep 2025,·28 mins
Michael Rosen and Dr Catherine Laing discuss words that sound like their meanings.
11 Sep 2025,·28 mins
Michael Rosen talks to defence barrister Joanna Hardy-Susskind about courtroom language.
04 Sep 2025,·28 mins
Michael Rosen asks Samantha Ellis about the language spoken by her mum and dad.
28 Aug 2025,·28 mins
Michael Rosen asks what happens to people's sense of identity when speaking becomes hard.
21 Aug 2025,·28 mins
Michael Rosen talks to Dr Haru Yamada about how we listen, and how we can do it better.
12 Jun 2025,·28 mins
Michael Rosen and linguistics researcher Jo Nolan discuss the joy of making lists.
05 Jun 2025,·28 mins
Michael Rosen talks to Welsh radio and TV presenter Huw Stephens about the Welsh language.
29 May 2025,·28 mins
Michael Rosen hears about the origin of all Indo-European languages from Laura Spinney.
22 May 2025,·28 mins
Michael Rosen and Christian Ilbury discuss how online chat is changing how we punctuate.
15 May 2025,·28 mins
Michael Rosen talks to Philip Seargeant about where our street names come from.
08 May 2025,·28 mins
Michael Rosen on the Old English words used in daily life then and now, with Hana Videen.
20 Feb 2025,·28 mins
Michael talks cockney with Andy Green and Saif Osmani from the Modern Cockney Festival.
13 Feb 2025,·28 mins
Michael Rosen asks a linguist how he invents new languages for TV series and films.
06 Feb 2025,·28 mins
Professor Louise Mullany talks politeness, and how it governs every sphere of our lives.
30 Jan 2025,·28 mins
Jackie Kay has written a book in Scots and tells Michael about her love of the language.
23 Jan 2025,·28 mins