The Role of Language in Anthropology

"If you want to hide something in the 21st century world, you don't need to create a James Bond style plot. Just cover it in acronyms".

Gillian Tett is a columnist at the Financial Times, but she initially trained as a cultural anthropologist, studying marriage rituals in Tajikistan.

She joins Michael Rosen to discuss how the study of language has been vital to her work, who continues to see the world through the lens of an anthropologist. The pair talk about the etymology of words like 'company', 'office', and 'bank', why we should all speak more like the Dutch, how Brits in the workplace are more similar to the Japanese, and why it would be useful for all of us to think more like an anthropologist.

Gillian Tett is the author of Fool's Gold, The Silo Effect, and Antho-Vision.

Producer: Eliza Lomas, BBC Audio Bristol.