Sprachbarriere

When two or more people are unable to speak a common language, a language barrier is said to exist between them. The phrase is interesting because it conveys not only a linguistic separation, but a psychological one: that feeling of distance, exclusion and at times alienation which can be experienced when unable to converse with others.

Using an extract from German writer W.G Sebald’s novel Austerlitz (2001), this project explores how the physicality of a book alongside the arrangement and visual quality of text can convey the sense of separation caused by a language barrier. The book’s structure creates a literal barrier making it an awkward read. The reader becomes an outsider looking in, trying desperately to make sense of it all.