A question for non-native English speakers.

[cgannon64]

What did English sound like to you, before you learned it?

I'm very curious about what my language sounds like to people who don't understand it.

 

[Shaihulud]

Sounds like malay, another foreign language to me.

 

[Birdjaguar]

What did English sound like to you, before you learned it?

I'm very curious about what my language sounds like to people who don't understand it.

Since you are from Brooklyn, I'm sure it sounds, well such things are better not discussed in polite company.

 

[ThERat]

English being a relatively simple language, it has a 'cool' sound to it. I guess especially the first fact makes it so successful, and not German or Mandarin for example.
I really like it when Australians and New Zealanders speak English, sounds great. British English is nice to the ears too, but I don't really like the chewing gum type...

 

[The Yankee]

Since you are from Brooklyn, I'm sure it sounds, well such things are better not discussed in polite company.

Yo man, why you gotta be a playa hata fer? Ah...fuhgetabouddit...

 

[Hitro]

I can't really remember. What I do remember is that I liked it better than French.

 

[MonwarH]

I really like it when Australians and New Zealanders speak English, sounds great. British English is nice to the ears too, but I don't really like the chewing gum type...

Some British accents are just unbelievable, I mean, to a non-native like me, it sounds non-English sometimes. For me, American is the standard, as it has the 'most propaganda', with movies and all. However, the general 'BBC English' along with OZ and NZ is also OK with me (In fact I find the 'Standard British English' to be the best for easy comprehension). However, the rough Scottish and Manchester/Liverpool dialect just don't seem like 'normal' English to me. Especially when you interview Steven Gerrard or Jaime Carragher they must strat with this 'aeeeee, yeay' kind of sound and the words are so rapid... and the Scottish accent, I mean the way they speak it, with a diferent style, makes it sound very different. Does someone have any idea why the Scots speak like that? Also, what is the accent of Andy Gray? His Englsih also seems 'non-standard' to me.

 

[Birdjaguar]

... and the Scottish accent, I mean the way they speak it, with a diferent style, makes it sound very different. Does someone have any idea why the Scots speak like that?

Aye, cuza the kilt lit'l laddie.

Welcome to CFC and OT!

 

[cgannon64]

I can't really remember. What I do remember is that I liked it better than French.

I was afraid of this; I'm guessing alot of you guys here have forgotten. When do you start learning English? I imagine it could happen as early as grammar school pretty easily. It's flattering, really.

Since you are from Brooklyn, I'm sure it sounds, well such things are better not discussed in polite company.

The Brooklyn accent is mostly myth. It depends on what part of Brooklyn you're from. I used to live in Bay Ridge - very bad about that. My older brother spent more time there, and alot more time in bars , and so he has it pretty bad.

I managed to escape that corner of Brooklyn in the 8th grade, so I don't think I have a particular accent.

EDIT: I've only heard alot of Scottish accents in song, and they mostly disappear (like all British accents do when sung). Except, oddly enough, for 'dey'. Why 'dey', and not 'day'?

 

[GeorgeOP]

Some British accents are just unbelievable, I mean, to a non-native like me, it sounds non-English sometimes.

Try listening to some southern American accents, especially from the New Orleans area. As an American, I can sometimes not understand what they are saying.

As far as English being simple, I think it's far from it. I have had little trouble learning the basics of German or speaking or spelling it, but it seems like every rule in English was meant to be broken. I have no basis to compare it to non-European languages, though.

 

[Gr3yL3gion]

Can't remember. My family have a habit of mixing up language(Cantonese, Mandarin, English and Malay) as we speak. I spoke mostly broken English to my father and Mandarin to my mum.

I learned English mostly because I used to like watching Western Movies(the Malay\Chinese subtitle used to be horrible and out of context) and command of English is useful if one would like to graduate from university in Malaysia.

 

[Taliesin]

I've also wondered this, and sometimes I try to block out meaning and just hear words. Normal speech I find impossible to block, but often a choir's song is such that I have to make an effort to understand the lyrics; I simply do not make the effort, and instead listen to the sound. It sounds beautiful, like something between Irish and Old English.

 

[Ramius75]

cant remember, too young for that and most singaporean kids now learn English before their mother tongue...

 

[Birdjaguar]

I've also wondered this, and sometimes I try to block out meaning and just hear words. Normal speech I find impossible to block, but often a choir's song is such that I have to make an effort to understand the lyrics; I simply do not make the effort, and instead listen to the sound. It sounds beautiful, like something between Irish and Old English.

Marc Bolan, on his album Unicorn, when his group was Tyrannosarus rex, and before he went glam rock, (Whew!) sang such that the English words were just musical sounds and it was quite spectacular. The album is very celtic, mystical, Tolkienesque.

 

[Erik Mesoy]

What did English sound like to you, before you learned it?

This is a mixture of what I remember and the comparisons I make now to the other languages I speak:
English seems "rounded off". Prominently, R collapses halfway into W. Many words are pronounced lazily, as though the speaker has been saying them for ten minutes straight. There are very few sharp sounds.
I'd guess that most of the words in English are either: old, so they've been filed down, or new, and stolen from other languages and therefore brushed down.

 

[Stefan Haertel]

I'm not sure. I've been confronted with English since my early childhood. I do remember my first phrases were:

"Butta pleeze" and "Vunn coke pleeze"

 

[Sidhe]

English being a relatively simple language, it has a 'cool' sound to it. I guess especially the first fact makes it so successful, and not German or Mandarin for example.
I really like it when Australians and New Zealanders speak English, sounds great. British English is nice to the ears too, but I don't really like the chewing gum type...

985,955 words roughly in the English language only 300,000 in German and less than 100,000 in French which is probably half the reason it's so succesful as a poetical language. Or a literary one. Madarine is a non alphebetic language, I'd say it's written language is extemely complicated, but I'd say it isn't that hard to learn for say a Japanese speaker. Simplicity of language depends on what language you speak. English to a chinese person is quite hard to learn. But to a German or French speaker it's fairly simple, being as the languages are at least cousins. Anyone know which language has the most words? I'll give you a clue it's not Mandarine or Cantonese

 

[The Last Conformist]

English has a careless, mushy quality to it. Not as bad as Danish, but in that direction.

 

[Sidhe]

English has a careless, mushy quality to it. Not as bad as Danish, but in that direction.

You mean it has alot of words for the same thing, or that it incorporates words into the language willy nilly(also a strength IMO) I would say that makes it more expressive not mushy. I'm not sure what you mean by that, care to elaborate?

 

[Kozmos]

It isnt as frantic as Spanish or Mexican,just easy to speak and has a natural flow to it.