English language stereotypes

[ContrarianLemming]

Howdy, just got back from Portugal, was..hot.

When I think of, as a native English speaker, of other languages like Spanish or portugese or German, generally certain - maybe they're "language stereotypes" -.
For example, When I think of Spanish, I think of lots of "O''s and "OZ", or for French, a lot of ER's (the R being silent) and germans with "ich" and "sch"

So, when a non native english speaker thinks of English, what comes to mind? lots of ING's?

I never thought about it before my sister jokes that she could speak Portuese and proceeded to end every word with an O, or for Russian, end words with "ov".

CL

[Tavarisch_Mike]

No idea honestly, since ive had english around me my whole life ive never thought about its specific prenounce sounds.

[ContrarianLemming]

No idea honestly, since ive had english around me my whole life ive never thought about its specific prenounce sounds.

Globalization fucks up again.

[DecDoom]

I've heard Spanish-speakers make fun of the heavy use of the suffix "tion".

Really, a large chunk of the english language is made up of tions, isms and ings.

EDIT: I was thinking "suffix" when I wrote "prefix," I swear. :p

[Kuppo Shakur]

Prefix? I'm sending some Grammar Nazis to Conservatown to get you.

I really should make more useful posts.

[Lenina Rosenweg]

Sometimes I listen to Dutch language internet radio or videos. I don't understand Dutch although having studied German I can understand some writing. Dutch is closely related to English (and Frisian more so) and even though I don't understand it, the language has a sort of eerie familiarity to me, difficult to explain. I can sometimes pick up various accents, which is interesting for a language I don't understand.

I could be wrong but I think the feeling I get listening to Dutch may be similar to a non-English speaker listening to English. I'm not sure if this makes sense.

[Comrade Awesome]

This is supposedly what english sounds like to a native Italian speaker.
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[Wanted Man]

All I can think of is the 'Allo 'Allo episode where Herr Flick and Von Smallhausen disguise themselves as Brits, but they don't know how to speak English, so they go, "fafafafafa, fafafafa..."

[BeerShaman]

Well I don't know what we can use as a stereotype so as to make fun of english but I know these stereotypes while using english accent, like: "A cup of tea, please." or "Sam, bring my umbrella..."

[Jazzratt]

This German bloke once told me that English people sound like they're singing their language. We were both high, so that could be bollocks, but maybe it is a stereotype.

[Rusty Shackleford]

This is supposedly what english sounds like to a native Italian speaker.
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english speakers apparently sound like disco dylan.


This German bloke once told me that English people sound like they're singing their language. We were both high, so that could be bollocks, but maybe it is a stereotype.

to me, the scandinavian languages sound basically like music. i fucking love em. especially swedish.

also, my favorite example of norwegian :D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCXmYMPEAlc

[ed miliband]

Sometimes I listen to Dutch language internet radio or videos. I don't understand Dutch although having studied German I can understand some writing. Dutch is closely related to English (and Frisian more so) and even though I don't understand it, the language has a sort of eerie familiarity to me, difficult to explain. I can sometimes pick up various accents, which is interesting for a language I don't understand.

I could be wrong but I think the feeling I get listening to Dutch may be similar to a non-English speaker listening to English. I'm not sure if this makes sense.

Certain English accents sound very similar to Dutch / German / Scandinavian accent. My dad is often asked if he's from Sweden, oddly.

[Rusty Shackleford]

Certain English accents sound very similar to Dutch / German / Scandinavian accent. My dad is often asked if he's from Sweden, oddly.
if hes form north america then im guessing hes from Minnesota, the Dakotas, Wisconsin or some part of Canada?

[Quail]

I've always wondered what English sounds like to a non-native speaker.. but that's something I'll never know, I suppose. There are loads of stereoptyes of English accents though. In American films, English people are either very posh or Cockneys.

[ed miliband]

if hes form north america then im guessing hes from Minnesota, the Dakotas, Wisconsin or some part of Canada?


He's from very rural Ireland, actually. People are always shocked when he tells them that. He says other people from his town have also been asked whether they are Scandinavian (in particular Swedish). It's a coastal area and most of the local economy is based on fishing, I don't know if that has something to do with it.

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

This is supposedly what english sounds like to a native Italian speaker.

[youtube video]

That was pretty good, actually. It sounded like English without, as far as I could tell, actually being English.

It seems that one can "mimic" any language just by making the right sequence of noises, although I imagine it is easier to get away with that sort of thing among people less familiar with the language thus mimicked, such as English speakers attempting to mimic Chinese.

Speaking of which, I wonder what English sounds like to a native Chinese speaker?

[Tavarisch_Mike]

[/QUOTE]to me, the scandinavian languages sound basically like music. i fucking love em. especially swedish.

also, my favorite example of norwegian :D
aCXmYMPEAlc[/QUOTE]

Yeah i also have been told that our languages sound like singing, if you ask someone to immitate it they go like; "hue-hualeou", sort of.
That clip is particulary funny for swedes, since we understand most of what norweigans say, we think theire accent makes them sound so happy and glad, so seeing a norweigan giving instructions for the ultimate suicide is just hillarious.

@aufklaben; Really? never heard of it before and its hard to imagine that a irish accent would sound like swedish.

[Nwoye]

The English language does sound quite a bit like singing to a non-native speaker, mostly because of the way in which every part of a sentence must be stressed in a certain way in order to make it flow properly.

[ContrarianLemming]

The English language does sound quite a bit like singing to a non-native speaker, mostly because of the way in which every part of a sentence must be stressed in a certain way in order to make it flow properly.

good point.

I really can't think of any stereotypes for english, I'm so used to it.

[Rusty Shackleford]

English speakers view of American English.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpJ3yzUPbL0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdNCEL5JKF8


we all sound like bad car salesmen. :lol:

[Nwoye]

*vid of some english guy saying things with an american accent
that was hilarious.

[Bad Grrrl Agro]

LpJ3yzUPbL0

Okay he sounds like a bro trying to be a nerd.

Since we are on the subject of accents, I was raised around Mexican spanish. I will sometimes be hanging around my Puerto Rican friends and their accent makes them unintelligible when they speak spanish. It sounds funny to me.:blink:

[Magón]

Okay he sounds like a bro trying to be a nerd.

Since we are on the subject of accents, I was raised around Mexican spanish. I will sometimes be hanging around my Puerto Rican friends and their accent makes them unintelligible when they speak spanish. It sounds funny to me.:blink:

Same here, and if you ever get to speaking with a Venezuelan, they talk a mile a minute compared to any other form of Spanish I've been spoken to. I've got this lady friend from there, and each time we start speaking Spanish, I have to back track like five minutes to get all of what she said.

[Rêve Rouge]

The thing that stands out in the English language I would say are the "r" sounds [ ɻ ]. I usually don't pronounce [ ɻ ] correctly. Instead I usually omit it, or pronounce it with a trill [ r ].

[Rusty Shackleford]

The thing that stands out in the English language I would say are the "r" sounds [ ɻ ]. I usually don't pronounce [ ɻ ] correctly. Instead I usually omit it, or pronounce it with a trill [ r ].


can you explain this a bit better?

[Wanted Man]

It means that he pronounces the 'r' in a word like 'red' as a rolling r, rather than the way it is pronounced in, say, American English.

[Rêve Rouge]

can you explain this a bit better?


It means that he pronounces the 'r' in a word like 'red' as a rolling r, rather than the way it is pronounced in, say, American English.

Exactly. Sorry, I tried to post a link to the wiki IPA chart so you'll know specifically what I mean when it comes down to the phonetic pronunciation of [ ɻ ]. But it seems I don't have enough posts to do so.

[Quail]

This video is hilarious. It's a woman trying to teach people how to speak in a British accent :lol:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGTPWbLvrz8&feature=related

[Rusty Shackleford]

she is trying too hard and over pronouncing the differences imo. yeah they are different forms of english but she makes it awkwardly different.


it could be as mild as john olliver or as strong as some cockney dude.

[sanpal]

So, when a non native english speaker thinks of English, what comes to mind? lots of ING's?

CL

Lots of ISM's :lol:

Many ISM's have passed on to my native language during IX - XX centuries.

[NecroCommie]

When I think of the english language, the excessive use of articles comes to mind. This might be, however, because finnish language has no articles.

Oh yes! And tea and moustache! :thumbup1: And ridiculously awesome buildings with ridiculously boring aristocrats.

[Sam_b]

"Sam, bring my umbrella..."

I don't have anyone's umbrella.

[Il Medico]

Since we are on the subject of accents, I was raised around Mexican spanish. I will sometimes be hanging around my Puerto Rican friends and their accent makes them unintelligible when they speak spanish. It sounds funny to me.:blink:
At least you admit it is Spanish. My best friend is from Venezuela and his parents are quite adamant that Mexicans and Puetro Ricans don't speak Spanish. He himself calls Mexcian Spanish 'dirty' Spanish. And insist that Spaniards speak Spanish with lisp.

[Os Cangaceiros]

At least you admit it is Spanish. My best friend is from Venezuela and his parents are quite adamant that Mexicans and Puetro Ricans don't speak Spanish. He himself calls Mexcian Spanish 'dirty' Spanish. And insist that Spaniards speak Spanish with lisp.

Yeah, I know someone from Cuba who claims that Mexicans speak Spanish horribly, too. He claims that Colombians speak the best Spanish.

[revolution inaction]

When I think of the english language, the excessive use of articles comes to mind. This might be, however, because finnish language has no articles.


what are articles?

[Os Cangaceiros]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_(grammar)

[Sasha]

Sometimes I listen to Dutch language internet radio or videos. I don't understand Dutch although having studied German I can understand some writing. Dutch is closely related to English (and Frisian more so) and even though I don't understand it, the language has a sort of eerie familiarity to me, difficult to explain. I can sometimes pick up various accents, which is interesting for a language I don't understand.

I could be wrong but I think the feeling I get listening to Dutch may be similar to a non-English speaker listening to English. I'm not sure if this makes sense.


dont think so, as some lovely american once described dutch as "sounding like a klingon with throathcancer" and thats not what i associate with english, english is an way more softer/melodic language.

if anything i would say it can be a bit nasal, not as bad as french but still, nasal

[ContrarianLemming]

dont think so, as some lovely american once described dutch as "sounding like a klingon with throathcancer" and thats not what i associate with english, english is an way more softer/melodic language.

I can't really see the softness, it really is impossible to tell, but if I was to pick a melodic language then it would be an east asian one, simple because everything just sounds like one long funny sounding word. plus they have names like "\long Wang".

[Sasha]

i was comparing offcourse to (northen) dutch, for example flemmish and scandivaian are way more soft and melodic than either of those

[synthesis]

Perhaps off-topic, but I'm always imitating Brad Pitt's "arrivederci" from Inglourious Basterds. It just sounds awesome.

[Bad Grrrl Agro]

Yeah, I know someone from Cuba who claims that Mexicans speak Spanish horribly, too. He claims that Colombians speak the best Spanish.
I was taught to call the Cubans in the United States gusanos. Puerto Ricans are alright though, I just can listen to their spanish while I'm stoned because I choke on my laughter.:laugh: