What English Really Sounds like to a non English speaker

**tommo** · 10-19-2011 02:16 AM

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.

**greenhavoc** · 10-19-2011 03:45 AM

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

**Ilumirath** · 10-19-2011 08:18 AM

That's exactly how I hear English when I'm not really focusing on spoken English on the TV.

**Original Poster** · 10-19-2011 08:27 AM

Seems those two had a communication error.

**khh** · 10-19-2011 11:57 AM

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.

**tommo** · 10-19-2011 12:15 PM

haha yes I've had that happen to me too. Have to laugh at those things lol

**Seroquel** · 10-19-2011 12:22 PM

Originally Posted by greenhavoc

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

**greenhavoc** · 10-19-2011 02:31 PM

Hey, there it is!

**Quantiq** · 10-19-2011 02:45 PM

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.

**Ne-yo** · 10-19-2011 07:59 PM

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.

**TheSkies** · 10-23-2011 04:17 PM

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

**mooseantlers** · 10-23-2011 04:48 PM

That's so cool!

**khh** · 10-23-2011 05:05 PM

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.

**TheSkies** · 10-23-2011 05:10 PM

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.

**Ctharlhie** · 10-23-2011 06:11 PM

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?

**mooseantlers** · 10-23-2011 06:31 PM

The part where she says you fucking asshole is fucking priceless.

**khh** · 10-23-2011 09:39 PM

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.

**Ctharlhie** · 10-23-2011 09:47 PM

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.

**~~DeletePlease~~** · 10-24-2011 02:09 AM

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.