What English Sounds Like to Non-English Speaking People

[Caveman]

Thought this was interesting... It's something I've always wondered about...

Looking for English as a second language folks to weigh in...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vt4Dfa4fOEY&feature=watch_response

 

[NikolaeVarius]

Wasn't the video i was thinking of. The title was similar to a video posted several years ago and reminded me of that

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2033972&highlight=italian+singer+english

 

[gorcorps]

Wasn't the video i was thinking of. The title was similar to a video posted several years ago and reminded me of that

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2033972&highlight=italian+singer+english

I was just going to say... check the links before you cry repost

 

[Smoblikat]

Is there anyone here who can confirm that I sound like this? Or even understand what theyre saying

 

[lxskllr]

You can hear that in the cities. I've stood in line half listening to someone talk, and after a couple minutes think "Holy shit! That's English!" :^D

 

[Six]

English sounds like this ---> ruff ruff ruff ruff whoof whoof ruff bow-wow bow-wow (iambic pentameter)

Chinese sounds like this ---> chi-chong chi-chong chi-chong chi-chong (ask a chinese person to say "hello how are you doing" really fast

"Arabic" sounds like this ---> eh le le le le le le, eh le le le le le le,

 

[Crono]

Without clicking the link, I'm guessing English sounds to non-English-speaking people like German does to me.

 

[davmat787]

Is there anyone here who can confirm that I sound like this? Or even understand what theyre saying

Can you be so kind as to fix your sig? The way your system specs are arranged someone has to scroll over to see them all. The byproduct of this is that it messes up the page formatting, making it wider than intended. If one is on a lower rez screen, it is a real pain in the ass.

And really, who is going to use the scroll bar in your sig just to see your specs? More people will see them if your list them normally. Please consider doing us a solid and changing it.

Thanks,
Those of us who surf on shitty old 1024x notebooks, iPads, .etc.

This is the second time I have asked you nicely, there will not be a third.

 

[OVerLoRDI]

English speakers are "lazy". Meaning we drop a lot of sounds when we speak, and I think that is the point the video is trying to illustrate. Notice words that we properly enunciate to add emphasis are what allow you to pick up bits and pieces of the conversation.

The thing that I wonder is what criteria did they use to alter the dialog to make it "sound like english does to a non-speaker". It seems like trying to show someone who is color blind what the world looks like to you.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

I don't get it; the people in the op's video are speaking normal English, just a little mumbled. Or is that the point?

EDIT: Well, maybe not entirely normal, but they're using real words.

This one (from the older thread) is much better.

 

[Smoblikat]

Can you be so kind as to fix your sig? The way your system specs are arranged someone has to scroll over to see them all. The byproduct of this is that it messes up the page formatting, making it wider than intended. If one is on a lower rez screen, it is a real pain in the ass.

And really, who is going to use the scroll bar in your sig just to see your specs? More people will see them if your list them normally. Please consider doing us a solid and changing it.

Thanks,
Those of us who surf on shitty old 1024x notebooks, iPads, .etc.

This is the second time I have asked you nicely, there will not be a third.

Oh, sure thing man

If I had known you asked before id have changed it then

 

[Craig234]

Hasn't Sarah Palin already answered this?

 

[davmat787]

Oh, sure thing man

If I had known you asked before id have changed it then

Thank you! Very much appreciated. I know it was a silly request, but I also know I was not the only one annoyed by the formatting it caused. Thanks again, you are a solid dude.

 

[SaDiZTiKStyLeZ]

I'm going to assume just as much as other languages sound foreign to us.
Until you begin looking into words & such it all sounds jibberish.
Have been doing casual studying of Spanish & get excited every time I understand more & more.
Went to medical clinic & understood the receptionist when speaking about dates & times in spanish. That was pretty cool.

 

[Arcadio]

Before I learned it, English used to sound like this to me:

Shan wesh corshtatin klink senk mansh walf clesh stamation....

Note the abundance of the "sh" sound and the large number of words that end in consonant sounds. Those are the details that we used to exaggerate when imitating English, since in Spanish the "sh" sound doesn't exist and most words end in vowels.

I used to speak fake English with my siblings all the time. I even remember one specific instance when I wrote a note on my bedroom door asking my siblings not to bother me (in Spanish), but at the end of the note I wrote the word "senkiyu". That's what "thank you" sounded like to me. The "th" sound in "thank" is not used in Spanish either (in Latin America).

 

[yuchai]

I don't get it; the people in the op's video are speaking normal English, just a little mumbled. Or is that the point?

EDIT: Well, maybe not entirely normal, but they're using real words.

This one (from the older thread) is much better.

I mean...you kind of get overall what's going on, but I couldn't understand any of the details. For example, are you able to explain what the guy said that made the woman cry?

 

[Soundmanred]

Before I learned it, English used to sound like this to me:

Shan wesh corshtatin klink senk mansh walf clesh stamation....

Note the abundance of the "sh" sound and the large number of words that end in consonant sounds. Those are the details that we used to exaggerate when imitating English, since in Spanish the "sh" sound doesn't exist and most words end in vowels.

I used to speak fake English with my siblings all the time. I even remember one specific instance when I wrote a note on my bedroom door asking my siblings not to bother me (in Spanish), but at the end of the note I wrote the word "senkiyu". That's what "thank you" sounded like to me. The "th" sound in "thank" is not used in Spanish either (in Latin America).

We still can't understand a damn thing you say.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

I mean...you kind of get overall what's going on, but I couldn't understand any of the details. For example, are you able to explain what the guy said that made the woman cry?

(1:50)

So I can sell that love you offer, for the rancher choose-em-all, yeah Chad's a long way from the rainbow seasonal and uh, all that kind of uh, mark. Sucks, so we uh, wrapped the party head? We uh, round the cake crab trail? You well enough? Splain for me, display the Joe drink all around the mass-portation table. I fermast the poper cream and fffffff want to why I chose Irene and all? Want to why I bleed the whole chase for treen? You wanna get for what?

Some gibberish and bad grammar, but it kind of makes sense.