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[Q] What does English sound like to foreigners? - Page 2

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Arrian
Profile Blog Joined February 2008
United States889 Posts
December 31 2008 21:50 GMT
#21
Well, I don't know quite what it sounds like being a native speaker, but I know that segments like the 'th' sound in english (IPA theta and eth) are pretty strange sounding to speakers of most other languages because (as I understand it), they are exceedingly rare as is the vowel sound unfamiliar in words like 'bird.'

When you're talking about how a language sounds, it's almost exclusively in the phonetic inventory of that language because such a question is somewhat superficial and exclusive of syntactic analysis. So, for how it sounds, considerations for, say, how quickly it is spoken (which is, in many varieties of English, rather slowly) must also be taken into account. But the inventory of sounds in generalized 'English' are not that unusual, excepting those mentioned above. Some dialects of (particularly Scottish) English have some sounds that are rather unique among English dialects, but very native sounding to speakers of Slavic tongues.

English consonants are fairly straightforward and somewhat impoverished in comparison to other languages, so there's a lot shared in that respect. What is remarkable about English phonology is the relatively large amount of consonant fricatives, or sounds that nearly constrict the vocal tract. Of vowels, English is somewhat undistinguished.

That's a pretty dry way of looking at it, and from only the perspective of phonetics, but it's something.
Writersator arepo tenet opera rotas
InfeSteD
Profile Blog Joined December 2006
United States4658 Posts
December 31 2008 21:50 GMT
#22
I think for us spanish folks, it sounds like

"washu, washy, wanna wosh fuckin' foshy" I think its the "sh" sound I dunno

Chineesse(spanish(hispanics) are very ignorant towards asians, they think everybody is from china, etc..) for us sounds like,

wantong tong tong ting tung

etc~
w/e
oneofthem
Profile Blog Joined November 2005
Cayman Islands24199 Posts
December 31 2008 21:51 GMT
#23
it sounds protoss
We have fed the heart on fantasies, the heart's grown brutal from the fare, more substance in our enmities than in our love
IzzyCraft
Profile Blog Joined June 2007
United States4487 Posts
Last Edited: 2008-12-31 21:55:14
December 31 2008 21:53 GMT
#24
I imagine it's dependent on what is the language that the person speaks. To an English speaker a lot of other languages sound fast or cluttered. So wouldn't that mean that the reverse is true that if you take just plain English like for the north west of America (basically it would sound like a dictionary) i don't think that is a any recognizable accent if you throw out any slang there, that it would just sound slow a very bland if your just speaking normally.
I have ass for brains so,
even when I shit I'm droping knowledge.
jello_biafra
Profile Blog Joined September 2004
United Kingdom6638 Posts
December 31 2008 21:56 GMT
#25
On January 01 2009 06:24 PanoRaMa wrote:
always wondered what british and australians thought about the various american accents, if they're as funny to them as their respective accents are to us

Southern accents can be pretty weird sounding but on the whole I find most American accents to be very similar and not that funny because I've heard them so much I guess. In the UK there's a huge variety of accents and I personally find Welsh and Yorkshire accents to be the funniest.

As for me I don't know wtf accent I have, I live in scotland but people often think I'm english but I've also been asked if I'm from Australia, Canada or the US so I don't know what the fuck is going on :o
The road to hell is paved with good intentions | aka Probert[PaiN] @ iccup / godlikeparagon @ twitch | my BW stream: http://www.teamliquid.net/video/streams/jello_biafra
NuB.xE
Profile Joined September 2008
United States131 Posts
December 31 2008 22:00 GMT
#26
well, to me it was like teefushizkaratz when I first got here lol
Pwnage
AdamBanks
Profile Blog Joined January 2008
Canada996 Posts
Last Edited: 2008-12-31 22:05:38
December 31 2008 22:01 GMT
#27
I've always loved the accents of cajin's, think it came from watching too much xmen (gambit). Its cool how in just a hundred or more years their accent could change from stright arcadian french to this weird french/southren drawlish hybrid.


I wrote a song once.
Hot_Bid
Profile Blog Joined October 2003
Braavos36375 Posts
December 31 2008 22:03 GMT
#28
i think "American" english doesn't sound weird because hollywood movies are global, and just about everyone with access to a TV has become accustomed to the American accent through movies etc.
@Hot_Bid on Twitter - ESPORTS life since 2010 - http://i.imgur.com/U2psw.png
ieatkids5
Profile Blog Joined September 2004
United States4628 Posts
December 31 2008 22:06 GMT
#29
On January 01 2009 06:39 AdamBanks wrote:
Show nested quote +


Chinese dialects are so different from one another, it would be impossible for two Chinese to speak to each other if they do not know a common dialect. You'd be able to pick out a couple words that sound similar, but not enough to understand. Good thing most Chinese know Mandarin in addition to whatever their local dialect is, if any. It's not difficult to understand someone who speaks English with a different accent than you do.





who would understand that without subtitles?

hahaha nice

but, what they were saying were different from the subtitles; the subs translated meaning, rather than their exact words
hiroxx
Profile Joined July 2008
Ireland115 Posts
December 31 2008 22:09 GMT
#30
On January 01 2009 07:03 Hot_Bid wrote:
i think "American" english doesn't sound weird because hollywood movies are global, and just about everyone with access to a TV has become accustomed to the American accent through movies etc.

Yeah this sums it up. Generally though in the UK people sometimes make fun of the American accent because at times it seems so enthusiastic I guess, but I suppose thats because in the UK people are more reserved
when yoü aim for Perfection yoü discover it's a Moving target.
lololol
Profile Joined February 2006
5198 Posts
December 31 2008 22:17 GMT
#31
In the words of my grandfather: "it's like they have a potato in their mouth".
I'll call Nada.
XenOsky
Profile Blog Joined March 2008
Chile2277 Posts
December 31 2008 22:19 GMT
#32
On January 01 2009 06:50 InfeSteD wrote:
I think for us spanish folks, it sounds like

"washu, washy, wanna wosh fuckin' foshy" I think its the "sh" sound I dunno


etc~

oimg dude you're 100% right
StarCraft & Audax Italiano.
AdamBanks
Profile Blog Joined January 2008
Canada996 Posts
December 31 2008 22:20 GMT
#33
On January 01 2009 07:06 ieatkids5 wrote:

hahaha nice

but, what they were saying were different from the subtitles; the subs translated meaning, rather than their exact words

Yea to understand the exact meaning you would have to explain all the metaphors, meme's and even specific grammerical rules that have been assimilated from french, english, Norse, Basque, Spanish, Portuguese, German, French, Irish Gaelic, and Scots Gaelic, and whoever else could build a big enough ship to sail the across the Alantic.
I wrote a song once.
XenOsky
Profile Blog Joined March 2008
Chile2277 Posts
December 31 2008 22:21 GMT
#34
On January 01 2009 07:03 Hot_Bid wrote:
i think "American" english doesn't sound weird because hollywood movies are global, and just about everyone with access to a TV has become accustomed to the American accent through movies etc.

actually it does sound weird to me. i like the way they speak english in england, maybe the beatles did affect me in this way when i was really little
StarCraft & Audax Italiano.
Tadzio
Profile Blog Joined October 2006
3340 Posts
December 31 2008 22:26 GMT
#35
InfeSteD
Profile Blog Joined December 2006
United States4658 Posts
December 31 2008 22:47 GMT
#36
On January 01 2009 07:03 Hot_Bid wrote:
i think "American" english doesn't sound weird because hollywood movies are global, and just about everyone with access to a TV has become accustomed to the American accent through movies etc.


Your too smart~
w/e
freelander
Profile Blog Joined December 2004
Hungary4707 Posts
December 31 2008 23:16 GMT
#37
I have problems to understand spoken native English well, mainly UK English. I am not used to processing English so fast. I could understand perfectly the Nony goes to courage video for example, so American English is easier for me.
I don't have any problem though with people whose English is 2nd language.
And all is illuminated.
0xDEADBEEF
Profile Joined September 2007
Germany1235 Posts
Last Edited: 2008-12-31 23:21:33
December 31 2008 23:19 GMT
#38
Hmm...
British English speakers sound a bit funny but "classy"
American English speakers sound very colloquial, "chewing gum English". I never liked that Americans pronounce "can't" like they pronounce "can"... this is confusing sometimes. British speakers pronounce "can't" with a long aaa sound, it's more clear but doesn't sound so badass.
Still, I prefer AE over BE in every other case.
I absolutely hate German accent when speaking English... for example if you watch a Mondragon interview you'll immediately know what I mean. It's ugly. I always take care not to sound like that when speaking English.
In general I like English very much... always did. So it doesn't really sound strange to me... it has almost become as familiar as German since I read and write so much English, and also watch a lot of English movies, and play English games all the time. Oh, and my operating system and programs, even my keyboard layout, is all US English.
MeriaDoKk
Profile Blog Joined July 2007
Chile1726 Posts
December 31 2008 23:28 GMT
#39
On January 01 2009 06:50 InfeSteD wrote:
I think for us spanish folks, it sounds like

"washu, washy, wanna wosh fuckin' foshy" I think its the "sh" sound I dunno


etc~


hahaha that is so true. you always hear drunk people trying to speak english that way xd
LordWeird
Profile Blog Joined November 2007
United States3411 Posts
December 31 2008 23:31 GMT
#40
On January 01 2009 06:39 AdamBanks wrote:
Show nested quote +


Chinese dialects are so different from one another, it would be impossible for two Chinese to speak to each other if they do not know a common dialect. You'd be able to pick out a couple words that sound similar, but not enough to understand. Good thing most Chinese know Mandarin in addition to whatever their local dialect is, if any. It's not difficult to understand someone who speaks English with a different accent than you do.



+ Show Spoiler +
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3m-y-qAbpL0


who would understand that without subtitles?


Haha, well, where I live there's a place called Guinea (it's like 30 minutes from where I live) which is a totally different place than my area. The mosquitoes there are rumored to be as large as small birds. EVERYONE who lives there, or has been raised there, talks almost completely like that. Sometimes the Guinea Bubbas (this is what we call them) venture out into our land and that's how I learned to understand it

BTW, Hugh Laurie NAILED the American accent, kudos to him. As far as that first video goes, that guy does a really good job sounding those languages, especially if you don't speak them :D
Chains none
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