00:00Hospital.
00:00Hospital.
00:02Hospital.
00:04Hospital.
00:04Krankenhaus!
00:06There's a cliché that German sounds hard and aggressive compared to other languages.
00:11Ah!
00:12Ich doch!
00:14Mariposa.
00:14Papillon.
00:15Farfall.
00:17Schmetterling!
00:19If you watch until the end, we might change your mind.
00:25Does German really sound bad?
00:27Let's ask people who have learned it as a second language.
00:31At times I've thought people were arguing when they were just having a normal conversation.
00:37Sounds a bit aggressive to me.
00:39Ach, ich dachte hier ist krach.
00:42I'd say German is clear and expressive.
00:46With H or Sch and also R.
00:49Before I learned German, I thought it sounded harsh and severe.
00:55There are a few reasons why German can sound harsh.
00:59Many words are packed with consonants.
01:01And even softer sounds get a harder edge at the end of words.
01:05The D in Hand, for instance, is spoken almost like a T sound.
01:09That can sound especially harsh to unaccustomed ears.
01:13And certain sounds add to that impression.
01:20When I make those sounds one after another, it doesn't sound very soft or gentle.
01:29While these fricative sounds exist in many languages, they occur more frequently in German.
01:36I think there are 11 of them.
01:38And the more often they occur, the harsher the language sounds.
01:45The second characteristic is the glottal stop.
01:49Think of it as those tiny pauses you make between words, micropauses basically.
01:55You can hear them especially clearly when a word starts with a vowel.
01:58Well, here's an example.
02:01Anna ist abends Spiegeleier.
02:05Then you hear that little pause, and it makes the sentences sound a bit choppy.
02:13And because of that choppiness, it doesn't sound like the melodic tapestry created by Italian, for example.
02:22In her book about German, author Andrea Welle-Esses delved into the sounds, words, and idiosyncrasies of the language.
02:31She learned that harsh sounds can be advantageous for comprehension.
02:41That's precisely because the German language, thanks to this glottal stop, for example,
02:46is very clear, distinct, and easy to understand.
02:51So I imagine that if you're learning German,
02:53it's really helpful to be able to hear exactly where a word begins and where it ends.
03:05So that's helpful for the listener.
03:09And maybe that makes the German language a bit more appealing.
03:15German learners Nazifei, Ina, and Irina test how a person speaking influences the impression they make.
03:24I would like to cook a piece of bread.
03:26Friendly.
03:28Excuse me, can you please help me?
03:32It's a long time.
03:33It's a long time.
03:36A language is characterized by more than sounds.
03:39Emphasis, melody, volume, and speed also play a role.
03:42A very sweet little duck.
03:45Do you know?
03:46And the angry German words from before can also sound like this.
03:51Flugzeug.
03:52Ãœberraschung.
03:53Schmetterling.
