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?”

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.