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.
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.
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
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 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.
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
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
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
EPT
