Yellow of the Egg

S2E6: Does German bark? (w/ François Conrad)

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Episode notes

Harsh. Angry. Rough. These are words that are often used to describe how German sounds. But why do many people have this impression? What about the German language makes it sound so hard? And does German sound different to native speakers than to non-native speakers?

In this episode I talk to François Conrad, a researcher and teacher of linguistics at the Leibniz University Hannover. We talk about the five features of German he has identified as being responsible for the 'barking' nature of the language. We look at the difference between word languages and syllable languages, how German's 'harshness' actually has advantages, and how other languages such as Spanish and English compare to German with respect to harsh-sounding features.

Episode transcript: https://yellowoftheegg.com/transcripts/s2e6-does-german-bark-transcript/

Guest: François Conrad
- Website: https://www.francoisconrad.com/
- Book: "Warum Deutsch bellt und Franzözisch schnurrt: Eine klangvolle Reise durch die Sprachen Europas" - available at: 
https://shop.duden.de/products/warum-deutsch-bellt-und-franzosisch-schnurrt
- Website of "Die Stadtsprache Hannovers" (a project, led by François, analysing the myth of Hannover German being the "best" High German): https://www.stadtsprache-hannover.de/

Outro music by Euphoniques. This episode the song is "Make A Step".
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/3hH4lQIImpsdZQqAhPlVrN?si=5896558f12e04fd7

Yellow of the Egg is hosted and produced by Luke Green.

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- YOTE theme music by Vincent Tone (PremiumBeat.com)