Language supposedly has all these rules.

Most of us never have to think about those rules, but the hidden hand of language guides

nearly every interaction we have with other people, determining whether we connect, entertain,

confuse, insult, or dazzle the people we communicate with.

In Radio Lingo, the new podcast from Duo Lingo and Crooked Media, we explore how language

shapes our world and how our world shapes language.

I'm Amadella Yuckwer.

I'm an audio journalist and James Beard Award winning writer.

I am an awe of language.

It's complexity and it's simplicity.

The way we can use it to create both distance and understanding.

I'm going to be your guide.

Join us as we take you on a linguistic journey.

From Crooked Media and Duo Lingo, this is Radio Lingo.

New episodes of Tuesdays on your favorite podcast apps.

Hey everyone, a quick note before we begin.

At Duo Lingo, it's important to bring you diverse voices from across the French speaking

world.

So today you'll be hearing a powerful true story from Cameroon, but our storytellers' accent

is pretty different from what we're used to hearing on the app.

For example, you may notice that the storyteller pronounces some R sounds as a W, so

DROY becomes DROY.

...