What (American) English sounds like to non-English speaking people

[Ecurb]

There's one radio commercial for Ram Pick Up trucks, in which the southern-accented announcer pronounces the word "Ram" as if it contained (almost) every vowel in the English language. "Reyaum" (or something like that).

[Maximilianus]

This is a fun video perspective on what English, with American accents, sounds like to non-English speaking people. http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=Vt4Df...%3DVt4Dfa4fOEY

To me, we sound like snarky casual slow-speaking Germans.

An alternative link to the video, because the first link doesn't seem to be working: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vt4Df...%3DVt4Dfa4fOEY

To those whose first language is not English, do you think the makers of this short movie got it right? Do you like English or find it unpleasant?

If I had found English unpleasant, I would have taken up embroidery instead of the nearly 30 years that I've been trying to make some decent uses of the language I have some trouble with accents I'm unfamiliar with, though, and even more with natives who speak fast. I understand it's normal for them to speed up because it's their mother tongue, but it's problematic for me to make out what they are saying if they speak so fast, and I end up in need of repetition.

To everyone, do you enjoy listening to languages other than your own, or is that annoying for you? Do you prefer one type of English over another? Like, the UK's English over America's English? I should probably include Canada's English in this, but forget you, Canada! ;-)

I'm more accustomed to the US sounds of the language because of Hollywood, but I like English as a whole, whatever the accent. My main frustration is not being able to understand what I'm hearing.

It's interesting to read about How and When Americans lost their British accent.
http://mentalfloss.com/article/29761...ritish-accents

Great article!

I'm afraid I couldn't watch the video either. However, the question is really academic. There are so many different American Accents and there are equally as many British Accents. There are few Englishmen who can understand someone speaking with a broad Glaswegian accent, and Geordie (Newcastle and the North-West) can sound pretty horrible, and when really thick, unintelligible. I once knew the daughter of an admiral (Flag Officer Scotland and Northern Ireland) who sounded positively transatlantic, although I think she was actually Scottish. Some accents are pleasant to the ear and others aren't. It's just a question of what you're used to. Personally I find some American mispronunciations really irritating. Missal for missile is one and Rout for route (root) and an inability to pronounce double Rs in combination with vowels, as in mirror which sounds like merr and warrior which sounds like war-yer. However, these are at least understandable. Where communication breaks down is in the difference in terms for things and relative usage.

PS: I was forgetting another of my pet hates: Nucular for nuclear (new-clear)

Before this post, I would have never imagined that 'nucular' stands for 'nuclear' within some folks' jargon Then again, the other day I was told that some people understand that 'Chester drawers' is a correct way to refer to a 'chest of drawers'

I read once that Spanish is closely related to Italian and they can actually understand each other. That surprised me...and I'm not sure it's true.

I've heard that also. Since both languages are closely related in vocabulary and structure, it probably just means the listener can make out enough to get the gist of what the other is saying. I've heard the same about Spanish and Portuguese.

True to a certain extent, mostly with words that are cognates. There's never anything better than learning each language separately, though, so as to avoid confusion and misinterpretations even with cognates. For example, the word 'gordura' means 'fatness' in Spanish and 'grease' (animal fat) in Portuguese, so the word is the same but the meaning changes slightly from one language to the other. Therefore, the word can't be used in both languages in exactly the same contexts.

[Varenne Rodin]

Sorry about the busted link, everyone. It was working before. So many thanks to Max for the replacement!

[Varenne Rodin]

That's a trippy video. It was like having a radio in the background that you can hear but are not consciously aware of. I agree it did sound somewhat German.

I like listening to other languages. I worked for a couple of years in a Chinese restaurant with an old couple who always spoke Mandarin. My favourite sounding language is Spanish. A beautiful woman with a Spanish accent can utterly own me.

I prefer the way we speak English over here as opposed to how they do back in England. Sometimes I can't even understand what actors are saying in British films.

I like Spanish, too! I live near the border of the U.S. and Mexico, and people complain about it all the time. It has never bothered me. Hearing it makes me want to learn more.

I want to learn how to speak Mandarin. I hope I'm not going to confuse myself by learning Japanese first. I know a lot of the characters look the same, but sound completely different when spoken. I think I read somewhere that Japanese women adapted Chinese in order to create an original language based on sounds rather than just pictures. I think it's neat that the women were tasked with forming the language. Clever girls.

I like British accents very much. I think it's because I grew up watching Monty Python. Words in general fascinate me. I can almost dislike Thai because my friend's mom used to scream it at us to alert us that breakfast was ready every time I slept over. She also screamed it at her sister on the phone. I couldn't get used to the screaming.

[Varenne Rodin]

I clicked on your link but it said "not found". Americans have a lot of different accents and some have no accent.
I'm an American and took a quiz that determined I have no accent which they said is "good for TV and radio"...ha, I don't know about that.
http://www.gotoquiz.com/what_america...nt_do_you_have
Southern accents sound closest to British accents as compared to other regions in America I read.
An Aussie once told me I have an "intelligent accent"...I think that was his complimentary way of saying, you have no accent.
It's interesting to read about How and When Americans lost their British accent.
http://mentalfloss.com/article/29761...ritish-accents

Thanks for the quiz, Melanie! I got this:

96% The West

"Your accent is the lowest common denominator of American speech. Unless you're a SoCal surfer, no one thinks you have an accent. And really, you may not even be from the West at all, you could easily be from Florida or one of those big Southern cities like Dallas or Atlanta."

It's funny they said Florida. When I lived in Florida people said I clearly had a California accent, and that I sounded "too sophisticated for Miami." A person from Maryland laughed at my accent, saying it was "VERY California." People from the South think I have no accent. I'm like a newscaster with a tiny touch of So-Cal beach speak. Friends in Georgia thought it was uproariously funny that I used the word "cool" for other than a description of temperature. They were also very amused that I said "soda" instead of calling every carbonated beverage "coke."

[Varenne Rodin]

I'm afraid I couldn't watch the video either. However, the question is really academic. There are so many different American Accents and there are equally as many British Accents. There are few Englishmen who can understand someone speaking with a broad Glaswegian accent, and Geordie (Newcastle and the North-West) can sound pretty horrible, and when really thick, unintelligible. I once knew the daughter of an admiral (Flag Officer Scotland and Northern Ireland) who sounded positively transatlantic, although I think she was actually Scottish. Some accents are pleasant to the ear and others aren't. It's just a question of what you're used to. Personally I find some American mispronunciations really irritating. Missal for missile is one and Rout for route (root) and an inability to pronounce double Rs in combination with vowels, as in mirror which sounds like merr and warrior which sounds like war-yer. However, these are at least understandable. Where communication breaks down is in the difference in terms for things and relative usage.

PS: I was forgetting another of my pet hates: Nucular for nuclear (new-clear)

I agree about those mispronunciations! I say mirror the correct way. I also say my double Ts correctly. My southern friends make fun of me for saying kitten, button and bottle properly. Nucular is TERRIBLE to me! I will try to work on saying missile the right way.

I get confused when people pronounce pin and pen exactly the same.

[hannah_arendt]

I'm never annoyed by other accents unless I can't understand them. I also have a difficult time with some British films (not all). I read once that Spanish is closely related to Italian and they can actually understand each other. That surprised me...and I'm not sure it's true.

Some spanish words seem to be similar to the italian ones but very often it`s an example of so called "false friends". It occurs also in Polish and Russian very often.

[hannah_arendt]

According to this quiz:http://www.gotoquiz.com/results/what...nt_do_you_have
I have 89% The Inland North whatever it means

[Hawkman]

I agree about those mispronunciations! I say mirror the correct way. I also say my double Ts correctly. My southern friends make fun of me for saying kitten, button and bottle properly. Nucular is TERRIBLE to me! I will try to work on saying missile the right way.

Good for you!

There's one French accent, from the Picardie region, which when speaking English makes any s sound buzz like a bee! Oh, and "th" sounds too, if I remember rightly. It's quite grating. I keep wanting to swat them lol. Sometimes, of course, it's not the accent but the quality of the voice. A shrill, harsh voice is less pleasant to listen to than a soft, well-modulated one, regardless of the accent. City accents tend to be more pronounced than country ones. I think one of the most pleasant is the Southern Irish. On the whole, I prefer Dublin to Belfast.

I get confused when people pronounce pin and pen exactly the same.

Ah, that'd be the Antipodeans

[Hawkman]

An alternative link to the video, because the first link doesn't seem to be working: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vt4Df...%3DVt4Dfa4fOEY

Thanks for the link Max. That's hilarious!

I'm more accustomed to the US sounds of the language because of Hollywood, but I like English as a whole, whatever the accent. My main frustration is not being able to understand what I'm hearing.

Well those of us what knows 'ow to talk proper gets the same problem, mate.

If you heard this, what would you make of it?

"Toim's oi toid 'noit?"

"Bah Lem'n."

Please feel free to ask for a translation, and then I'll tell you what part of the country it comes from.

Before this post, I would have never imagined that 'nucular' stands for 'nuclear' within some folks' jargon Then again, the other day I was told that some people understand that 'Chester drawers' is a correct way to refer to a 'chest of drawers'

To illustrate my point here's the late great Rod Steiger getting it wrong

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9l6vcoPtaU

And I also possess a lovely little pamphlet entitled, "Let's Talk Strine" which explains how to translate Aussie speak. I'll have to dig this out and quote some examples, other than, "Emma chisset?" (what is the price of this item?)

Live and be well - H

[PeterL]

According to this quiz:http://www.gotoquiz.com/results/what...nt_do_you_have
I have 89% The Inland North whatever it means

m
That's "General American", whih is what many non-natives are taught.

I got Boston, which I do not speak, but non- New Englanders might not understand the differences.

[JuniperWoolf]

I'm embarrassingly crazy for guys with UK accents, it's my second biggest thing (don't ask what my first biggest thing is, you'll treat me different). I also really like Welsh, it's my favorite language. I'd have chosen it for my language option throughout school, but for some reason you find surprisingly few Welsh teachers in Canada.

An easy way to tell if you have the Canadian raising on the "ou" in out and about is if you pronounce it differently from the "ou" in loud.

Well hell, I really do have a Canadian accent.

Hey, we litnetters should do one of those tumblr accent/dialect challenges. I found the questions:

•Your name and username.
•Where you’re from.
•Pronounce the following words: Aunt, Roof, Route, Theater, Iron, Salmon, Caramel, Mirror, Fire, Water, New Orleans, Pecan, Both, Again, Probably, Alabama, Lawyer, Coupon, Mayonnaise, Pajamas, Caught, Naturally, Aluminium, GIF, Crackerjack, Doorknob, Envelope.
•What is a bubbly carbonated drink called?
•What do you call gym shoes?
•What do you call your grandparents?
•What do you call the wheeled contraption in which you carry groceries at the supermarket?
•What is the thing you change the TV channel with?
•Choose a book and read a passage from it.
•Do you think you have an accent?

There's a camera around here somewhere, I'll do it later.

I think I read somewhere that Japanese women adapted Chinese in order to create an original language based on sounds rather than just pictures.

Japanese women weren't allowed to learn kanji (or rather, they weren't allowed to go to school where they would have learned kanji) which is the pictures = words thing, so they made hiragana. Hiragana is like our alphabet, each symbol is a sound. Nowadays both kanji and hiragana are used (within the same sentences mind, it's all scrambled together), as well as katakana for foreign names and words.

Your name is バーレン (baa-re-n) in katakana, assuming I'm pronouncing it right. There's no "V" sound in Japanese.

[Calidore]

Japanese women weren't allowed to learn kanji (or rather, they weren't allowed to go to school where they would have learned kanji) which is the pictures = words thing, so they made hiragana. Hiragana is like our alphabet, each symbol is a sound. Nowadays both kanji and hiragana are used (within the same sentences mind, it's all scrambled together), as well as katakana for foreign names and words.

This was very interesting, thanks! I always wondered how the syllabic writing came about. Did the women invent katakana also, or was it men who refused to let the women have the last word?

[JuniperWoolf]

This was very interesting, thanks! I always wondered how the syllabic writing came about. Did the women invent katakana also, or was it men who refused to let the women have the last word?

Well, I know katakana came a few centuries later, and I know it was created by monks. Maybe they did refuse to use hiragana because it was "women's writing," (seriously, it was called that). They're basically the same alphabet, the symbols are usually a little to a lot different (except "heh," that's the same symbol in both) but as far as format is concerned they're twins. Maybe the monks just created it to make life difficult for language students.

[Calidore]

If katakana is used mainly for foreign words, maybe it's kind of the equivalent of our italics, only more complicated because monks have lots of time on their hands.