What English Really Sounds like to a non English speaker

Printable View

10-19-2011, 02:16 AM
tommo

What English Really Sounds like to a non English speaker

What does English sound like to a foreigner? [VID] | Matador Network

This is much better than the other one of the old music video or whatever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=Vt4Dfa4fOEY
10-19-2011, 03:45 AM
greenhavoc

Where did the other video go?
That was the coolest thing I've seen in a really long time.
10-19-2011, 08:18 AM
Ilumirath

That's exactly how I hear English when I'm not really focusing on spoken English on the TV.
10-19-2011, 08:27 AM
Original Poster

Seems those two had a communication error.
10-19-2011, 11:57 AM
khh

I love those moments in the morning when there's a random song on the radio and you're completely unable to identify the language for minutes... or maybe that just happens to me.
10-19-2011, 12:15 PM
tommo

haha yes I've had that happen to me too. Have to laugh at those things lol
10-19-2011, 12:22 PM
Seroquel

Quote:

Originally Posted by greenhavoc

Where did the other video go?
That was the coolest thing I've seen in a really long time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZXcRqFmFa8
10-19-2011, 02:31 PM
greenhavoc

Hey, there it is! :cowbell:
10-19-2011, 02:45 PM
Quantiq

This first video is a weird mix of French culture, English slang and Simlish (The language spoken in The Sims).

The second video made me feel really uncomfortable.

:|
10-19-2011, 07:59 PM
Ne-yo

I found some interesting background on the Prisencolinensinainciusol video. It was released internationally as a single and imitates very accurately the sound of the Afro-American influenced English of US pop songs of the era. Despite the weirdness, it’s being acclaimed as proto-rap, having come out several years before rap as a genre became formally known with the 1979 release of the Sugar Hill Gang’s Rapper’s Delight (itself the phonetic origin of the refrain of the Ketchup Song.
10-23-2011, 04:17 PM
TheSkies

To me it seems like they could be speaking some Nordic language, and I'm a native English speaker. Interesting perspective though
10-23-2011, 04:48 PM
mooseantlers

That's so cool!
10-23-2011, 05:05 PM
khh

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheSkies

To me it seems like they could be speaking some Nordic language, and I'm a native English speaker. Interesting perspective though

I don't get this at all. The sounds are completely wrong.
10-23-2011, 05:10 PM
TheSkies

Quote:

Originally Posted by khh

I don't get this at all. The sounds are completely wrong.

I'm not a linguist, but when I think of those languages, that is what I imagine them to sound like. Evidently I am wrong.
10-23-2011, 06:11 PM
Ctharlhie

This is so bizarre, I can feel my brain straining to find meaning, and I catch the odd word, and then it's gone. How did they do this?
10-23-2011, 06:31 PM
mooseantlers

The part where she says you fucking asshole is fucking priceless.
10-23-2011, 09:39 PM
khh

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheSkies

I'm not a linguist, but when I think of those languages, that is what I imagine them to sound like. Evidently I am wrong.

Not necessarily, what a language sounds like is subjective and I obviously have a strong bias.
10-23-2011, 09:47 PM
Ctharlhie

Quote:

Originally Posted by khh

Not necessarily, what a language sounds like is subjective and I obviously have a strong bias.

How language sounds is not subjective at all, depending on a language's origin its phonology can differ massively. Would you argue that a Germanic language like English and an Asian language like Mandarin can sound similar based on someone's opinion? A stupid example but my point is that the sound of language is not subjective, a lot of things go into what a language sounds like.
10-24-2011, 02:09 AM
DeletePlease

When I went to India with my family, my sister and I would spout random gibberish and pretend we were making fun of people in English. They didn't find it as funny as we did and I ended up getting smacked by my aunt. Good times.