Language — How Does it Sound?
On March 16th, I posted “The Translator,” which was a video clip of a comedian pretending to speak several languages other than English. For comedic effect, she zeroed in on the phonemes that English speakers often associate with certain foreign languages. It was a riot.
I have often wondered which phonemes non-English speakers associate with English. I had this discussion years ago (albeit in halting German) when I asked my beer-drinking buddy how English “sounded†to him. Unlike the comedian in the “Translator†post, he was unable to reproduce the signature sounds of English, but he described English as sounding “Hard, much like the noises made by a cat.†I found that observation to be fascinating.
If there are any non-native English speaking readers out there (and I know of a handful), I ask you, “How does spoken English sound to you?â€
Better yet, can anyone direct me to a site where someone with the skill of the comedian in “The Translator†where I can hear “Fake-English†(i.e. English as it sounds to a non-English speaker?)
Thank you and Gute Nacht.
Update: Originally in this post I had made several references to the “Woids” post, when I really meant the post entitled “The Translator”. Thanks to Erica for pointing out my dumbshittery.
Another Update: Do not miss the comments to this post. They are terrific, and many contain entertaining and informative links. No kidding.
I worked once with an Ethiopian fellow named Abdi, who worked part of the day in the middle of 8 or 10 loud, middle-aged, southern women.
Every now and then, I’d see him and ask him how it was working in the midsts of that group.
All he’d say in response to that question is perhaps the funniest sound I’ve ever heard a man make. Somewhere in between “Blah Blah Blah” and the Bleat of a Sheep, with quite a bit of Jim Nabors’ drawl thrown in for good measure.
I don’t know if that’s what English sounded like, or the disjointed harpy version of it that those women directed at him on a daily basis, but it made me laugh every time I saw him….
Comment by Tommy — March 19, 2007 @ 8:47 pm
Not what you are looking for, but check out the following site.
http://www.otago.ac.nz/anthropology/Linguistic/Sounds/Sounds7.html
Comment by Jerry — March 20, 2007 @ 3:59 am
When Germans make fun of Americans, they usually just go “Rrrr-rrr-rrrr, rrr-rrr-rrrrrr-rrrrr.” Americans and Irishmen are the only people on the planet that actually pronounce the letter R; it doesn’t exist as such in Asian languages, and in other European languages one drops it or rolls it.
When we were in London in December, my girlfriend was freaking out because she couldn’t stand the way British people speak. She said it sounded like they were gagging on something the whole time. It struck me as weird because, being a typical American, I enjoy listening to other accents.
Comment by Rube — March 20, 2007 @ 4:13 am
Tommy kinda beat me to this, but there is a woman at my job with a thick South London accent, which I suppose could be compared to on our end as their equivalent of Bayonne or Bensonhurst.
I’ve heard her actually attempt her impression of an American accent, and it comes out sounding like a hybrid of Jim Nabors (I think Jim Nabors is the only person who actually sounds like Jim Nabors…now clue how he came to represent the archetypical American accent), and John Cleese mocking Kevin Kline in “A Fish Called Wanda.”
In short, when she does this, it grates on the ears and we beg her to stop.
Comment by Thy Faithful & Humble Pointer Outer of Dumbshittery — March 20, 2007 @ 6:23 am
I used to entertain my colleagues (or mostly myself) with my Dutch impression which mainly consisted of clearing my throat and adding a some hard “ch” and “g’s”. It was much like your “translator”. My German friend also just used rrr rrr for making fun of Americans. He relates the tale of his first visit to America trying to understand Southern/black/Atlanta accents. On a side note, no one can understand a Scottish accent.
Comment by hoosierboy — March 20, 2007 @ 7:49 am
If you want to entertain your German friends with an American English impression, you do the “rrr-thing”, go over the top with the intonation and simply fake chewing on a chewing gum whilst trying to talk properly. That should lead to drown-out vowels and gives an impression of the “easy-going-ness” that is associated with Americans. Heh.
Ruby, sweetheart: can you hear the difference between this and that? That’s what’s all about 🙂
Btw, you might get a kick out of that.
And now it’s your turn, Jimbo and commenters: How does Fake-German sound?
Comment by Ann — March 20, 2007 @ 3:00 pm
Another fake genius! You might also like to watch the response videos.
Comment by Ann — March 20, 2007 @ 3:31 pm
I love this post and the comments, as I’ve often wondered about this. RRRRRRR! I love that there are vowels to emphasize our laid back-ness. I need to find a Jim Nabors clip…
Annm
Fake German sound involves:
– Switching “W”s to “V”s
– Overemphasizing hard consonant combinations (like “SCH”)
– Lots of SHOUTING
Hope this helps!
TJ
Comment by TJ — March 20, 2007 @ 4:04 pm
For those who are serious about this sort of thing(G), the following site has people from around the world reading a short passage using English. Then take a look at the generalizations to see the problem areas.
http://accent.gmu.edu/browse.php
Comment by Jerry — March 20, 2007 @ 7:47 pm
Great. Now you got me listening to accents. Like I got nothing better to do. The Southern ones make me giggle. My knees buckle in vapors at the Oirish ones.
I must say, however, this one takes the cake. It is most definitely definitely definitely my absolute favorite.
Comment by Erica — March 20, 2007 @ 9:33 pm
[…] Seit ein paar Tagen verfolge ich ein lustiges Hin und Her bei Jim, über den ich auch zu dem Fake-Ãœbersetzer-Posting eins weiter unten gekommen bin. […]
Pingback by Sistaweb — March 21, 2007 @ 1:21 am
…. thanks, Hoosierboy, that explains a lot…..
Comment by Eric — March 21, 2007 @ 9:31 am
I agree that most Americans sound like Tim the toolman Taylor to non-native speakers of English. The “r”-sound overshaddows just about everything else.
I’m German and have been living in the states for over 5 years now. When I first came here, I could hardly tell if people tried to imitate bellowing stags (after all the first day of deer hunting season is a holiday in some areas of WI) or if they actually tried to communicate with me. Besides their “r”-sounds, people tend to drawl their vowels in some American dialects. They make extreme diphthongs out of monophthongs and it really sounds as if they chewed gum while trying to speak.
But, I have to admit, the longer I live in this country, the more I love the language. Some Americans are so cute when they try to speak German with their American “r”s. :o)
Comment by Nici — March 22, 2007 @ 12:06 am
Here ya go:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAA_qbiOQ5k
Comment by Harvey — March 25, 2007 @ 2:17 pm