What does your accent say about you?
For Steven Feraru, the answer is about much more than sound. In his TEDxArendal 2025 talk, he explores how the way we speak shapes the way we’re seen, and why accents reveal more about our society than about the speaker.
Playful, thought-provoking, and a little uncomfortable, his talk will make you listen differently.
Steven Feraru doesn’t just play with words — he plays with the way we say them. Half Danish, half Romanian, and raised in the Danish countryside, he’s always been curious about the subtle sounds that shape how we’re seen.
His language sketches have reached millions of viewers — not because he speaks “properly,” but because he reveals that sounding different says more about the listener than the speaker. Why do people from western Denmark sound less intelligent? Why do southern European accents come off as sexy? And who gets to decide which voices deserve to be taken seriously?
Steven uses the stage, the screen — and his own voice — to explore the hidden hierarchies behind how we speak. His TEDx talk is a playful and thought-provoking journey into a world where language doesn’t just connect us — it ranks us.
He studied communication at the Danish School of Media and Journalism in Aarhus and Bilbao, and works professionally with social media. Through workshops, lectures, and viral content, he has taught thousands how humor, language, and self-presentation shape not just our online presence — but our place in the world.