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I thought this was interesting. It really is like not being able to understand your own language.

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this one is just shite/ probably the equivalent of shitty french accents which pass for convincing in British sitcoms

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this is shit as well. interesting how they're cracking up, thinking it's very authentic.

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hmm... better but still not much good to my ears.

conclusion? either the phonetics of the english language are harder to approximate than the more distinct european accents... or they're not more distinct at all, and what sounds convincing to you would sound unrecognisable to johnny foreigner.

Quote from: CrustClock;1566290conclusion? either the phonetics of the english language are harder to approximate than the more distinct european accents... or they're not more distinct at all, and what sounds convincing to you would sound unrecognisable to johnny foreigner.

Euhm im fairly sure English is one of the easiest languages to learn.

Quote from: PirateClock;1566308Euhm im fairly sure English is one of the easiest languages to learn.

what i mean is: is it harder to make up plausable english words? when an english person does a nonsense french voice he ends everything in "-et" and throws in a few "a la"s and "oui"s. For a german accent throw in few "-stein"s, "sh" and "ss" sounds, "-hausen" etc etc.

I'm presuming this isn't this case, and its just because I'm so used to the english accent that I can see the flaws in those video examples. adding random "stein"s and other phonetic stereotypes would be just as unconvincing to a german.

here's a question for you:

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he doesn't do a Dutch accent, unfortunately, but do the other accents (which you are more familiar with than me) sound stupid and inaccurate? cos to me they sound very convincing.

That was really interesting. I wonder if this is how they came up with the babble language in the sims?

hmm, that is interesting, I wonder if theyre doing what we do to spanish, like speak words and then add an -o at the end to make it spanish. Would they speak in an english accent? do people who don't know english make fun of us like this? INTERESTING

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what distinguishes english from other languages? as far as i know, we don't have any sounds that occur a lot in the language like -ein or the others crust mentioned

English is a big dumb language. Thats why its taking over the world.

Oh well the reason making up English words is harder is because pretty much everyone speak English (on the internetz at least). It's real easy for English people to make up German, French or Spanish words because they don't speak it. Just as it's easy for me to make up Chinese, Russian or Japanese words.  

You know those bollywood songs where people add English subs to what they think they hear? Well you can do the same thing to French or Spanish songs. We also do it to English songs but it's much harder because we understand the lyrics, so it's difficult to listen without identifying English words..  i don't really know where i was going with that.

Quote from: PirateClock;1566308Euhm im fairly sure English is one of the easiest languages to learn.

English is considered the most complex Germanic language of the Indo-European family. I should think it's only easy for those who already speak a language like  Dutch or German.

Quote from: PirateClock;1566330Oh well the reason making up English words is harder is because pretty much everyone speak English (on the internetz at least). It's real easy for English people to make up German, French or Spanish words because they don't speak it. Just as it's easy for me to make up Chinese, Russian or Japanese words.  

You know those bollywood songs where people add English subs to what they think they hear? Well you can do the same thing to French or Spanish songs. We also do it to English songs but it's much harder because we understand the lyrics, so it's difficult to listen without identifying English words..  i don't really know where i was going with that.

do you mean interpreting the english songs to made up dutch lyrics?

Quote from: PirateClock;1566330You know those bollywood songs where people add English subs to what they think they hear? Well you can do the same thing to French or Spanish songs.

Its probably exceptionally easy to do with the bollywood, Indian languages, because the Indo-languages have many roots in English and other bigger modern languages.

Quote from: GodClock;1566335do you mean interpreting the english songs to made up dutch lyrics?

yah!

Quote from: TremcladClock;1566334English is considered the most complex Germanic language of the Indo-European family. I should think it's only easy for those who already speak a language like  Dutch or German.

What? Compared to German and Dutch it's easy peasy, the grammar is much much simpler IMO

Quote from: PirateClock;1566341yah!

alright!

Quote from: GodClock;1566327hmm, that is interesting, I wonder if theyre doing what we do to spanish, like speak words and then add an -o at the end to make it spanish. Would they speak in an english accent? do people who don't know english make fun of us like this? INTERESTING

FURTHERMORE

what distinguishes english from other languages? as far as i know, we don't have any sounds that occur a lot in the language like -ein or the others crust mentioned

Apparently the stereotypical features are the long "aaah" (British, not American), generally longer vowel sounds and the "-ly" sound at the end of adverbs.

I'd like hear a non-english speaker doing an impression of an English tourist - i.e. speaking their language, but in a very stilted, British accent. 'The French Tourist' is one of the more popular xenophobic stock characters over here.

Quote from: CrustClock;1566345I'd like hear a non-english speaker doing an impression of an English tourist - i.e. speaking their language, but in a very stilted, British accent. 'The French Tourist' is one of the more popular xenophobic stock characters over here.

The stereotype for a British tourist is usually a really white, ginger, dumb, drunk guy that ruins everything and takes no effort what so all to communicate with the locals in a way they understand. But i've never seen a sketch or anything portraying a British tourist trying to speak another language.. probabbly because they never do.

Quote from: SirClock;1566328English is a big dumb language. Thats why its taking over the world.

It actually isn't 'dumb' at all. English has the largest vocabulary of any language in the world by far (having double the number of the second; Russian). We have absurd numbers of synonyms which help create a language perfect for poetic expression and subtle ambiguity, but thanks for the obligatory cynicism.

Quote from: PirateClock;1566347The stereotype for a British tourist is usually a really white, ginger, dumb, drunk guy that ruins everything and takes no effort what so all to communicate with the locals in a way they understand. But i've never seen a sketch or anything portraying a British tourist trying to speak another language.. probabbly because they never do.

haha

I don't really get it

Quote from: CrustClock;1566348It actually isn't 'dumb' at all. English has the largest vocabulary of any language in the world by far (having double the number of the second; Russian). We have absurd numbers of synonyms which help create a language perfect for poetic expression and subtle ambiguity, but thanks for the obligatory cynicism.

Actually I really do feel its obligatory.
I wasn't talking about the vocabulary, I was talking about the sound of the language. And thats really what this thread is entirely about, so great point!

Honestly, it may seem handy that we have the greatest vocabulary, but considering how incredibly limited everyone's vocabulary is, it can only be so helpful. The English language isn't expanding vocabulary-wise as fast as its shrinking. Language only goes as far as its limitations, and while it is very nice that we're quickly creating a universal language, this will not solve the problems of the limitations of vocabulary itself.

This entire point becomes void too, when we realize that in many other languages a single word can carry numerous definitions.

Quote from: PirateClock;1566308Euhm im fairly sure English is one of the easiest languages to learn.

To learn the basics is very simple, however we have far too many connective words that rely solely on situation and sentence structure. We have lots and lots of words that mean the same thing yet at the same time aren't interchangable, this makes it somewhat difficult.

Quote from: PirateClock;1566341What? Compared to German and Dutch it's easy peasy, the grammar is much much simpler IMO

English invents a wide variety of grammatical rules that don't carry over from other Germanic or Italic languages, so becoming absolutely fluent in English tends to be a far more daunting task than becoming Fluent in German.  I found German to be fairly simple and fun to learn as a second language.

I've always just wondered why the Midwestern accent has become the norm for American accents. Is it that it's the most common or something?

Cause I havn't been outside the Midwest for long, so Idno how widespread the accent is.